Professional teachers are crucial to a successful school. Teachers must continue to develop throughout their professional lives. EU education ministers and the European Commission were in agreement on this when they met in Göteborg for an informal meeting on Wednesday.

”Education is key to success in a globalised world. But international comparisons show that the European school system is lagging behind. It is our responsibility as politicians to break this trend”, said Minister for Education Jan Björklund.

On the first day of the meeting, ministers discussed how the teaching profession can be made more attractive and how teacher training courses can be made to attract the best students. This could involve improving course content and raising requirements and the tempo in the courses.

Teachers lack feedback

Teachers' working conditions also affect how students view the profession. TALIS, a study conducted among 90 000 teachers within and outside of Europe, shows that three out of four teachers feel that they are not valued for, or given feedback on, the work they do. It is essential that schools have a good system for evaluation and feedback, says Dr Barbara Ischinger, Director for Education at the OECD and one of the invited speakers at the meeting held on Wednesday.

”It is all about spurring the teachers on, rewarding the good work they put in and making sure that the opportunity for further training is available to teachers if necessary. Here, school heads bear a great responsibility", said Barbara Ischinger.

At the meeting, discussions focused on the complexities of the teaching role. In addition to having good subject knowledge, a teacher must be able to adapt lessons to each student, be in contact with parents and use the latest technology as teaching tools. Professor Ilse Schrittesser, researcher at the University of Vienna thinks that it is of great importance that this is reflected in teacher training.

”Teaching must be seen as an expertise. The teaching profession must have the same status as a lawyer or a doctor has. Teacher training should lead to a university degree or equivalent”, she said.

Teacher exchange wanted

Good teacher training and a good introduction is not enough, however. Teachers must continue to develop throughout their professional lives. This involves both theoretical knowledge and practical teaching.

One concrete measure discussed at the meeting was greater cross-border mobility.

“One way of developing as a teacher is to work and study in other European countries for a period of time. At today’s meeting, we have discussed how the European Commission could take new initiatives on exchange programmes”, said Jan Björklund.