teacher education

Recent studies identified that the teacher is the most important factor influencing the quality of education. Following this line of reasoning it is then likely to assume that the teacher educator will be the most important factor influencing the quality of teacher education. Though many studies and policy documents attempt to identify the qualities of teachers, only few publications address the quality of teacher educators. This paper examines the contemporary European policy debate on the quality and status of teacher educators. Two issues will be addressed. Firstly, to what extend is teacher education regarded as a profession? Secondly, what actions and measures are proposed to maintain or increase the quality and status of the teacher educators ’ profession? Based on literature on professions and professionalism a framework has been developed to guide our examination of European policy documents on teacher education to identify to what extent these documents express notions on teacher educators as professionals