38 Teacher Education, Quo Vadis? Historical Perspectives on Academic Teacher Education Reform in Flanders, Belgium.
Paul Janssenswillen, Wil Meeus, Mathea Simonsc, Tom F.H. Smitsd
Abstract
Flemish universities have been educating teachers for more than 125 years. A high-quality teacher education programme needs a stable and powerful environment. In this article we examine whether the universities succeed in giving this stable and powerful locus. What evolutions can we recognise? And what consequences do they have for the image and functioning of teacher education? From a historical perspective, we can distinguish three loci as far as academic teacher education is concerned: dispersed over different faculties, as part of the pedagogical sciences or centrally organised. Academic teacher education constantly moves between these three loci and sees its powers (with regard to curriculum, staff, operating resources) divided over them. At the moment, we cannot conclude that the universities succeed in providing a stable and powerful locus for academic teacher education. This fragmentation also remains in the new system of educational master's programmes, which strongly favours the faculty model.