Between traditions and innovations in the system of training of teachers

The teacher education institutes in the various European countries face similar challenges, like how to support the development of teacher identity, how to bridge the gap between theory and practice, how to find the balance between subject studies and pedagogical studies, how to contribute to a higher status of teachers and how to prepare teachers for the needs of pupils in the 21st century (European Commission, 2007a). Teacher education’s main aim is to provide student teachers with the necessary teacher qualities. In some countries, decisions on these qualities are mainly made on the macro level; that is, the qualities are strictly defined by government regulations: ‘government steering by content and outcomes’. In other countries, teacher education institutes on the meso level have more freedom in defining the content of their curricula: ‘government steering by goals’. Therefore, a distinction can be made between countries with total autonomy, limited autonomy and no autonomy for institutes with respect to the curriculum of teacher education (Eurydice, 2002). The main question in this paper is: Are the traditional system of training of teachers is more efficient than the modern system? Key words: teacher, primary education, secondary education