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Current literature suggests that while teacher educators perform a multitude of complex roles, they receive minimal preparation or possibilities for professional development to fulfil these roles. As a result, they need to acquire relevant knowledge and skills after taking on the position of teacher educators. Therefore, it is important to learn what skills and knowledge teacher educators need and how they acquire such skills and knowledge throughout their career. The purpose of this study is to describe the professional development needs and activities of 61 teacher educators across six national jurisdictions (England, Ireland, Israel, Norway, Scotland and The Netherlands) and to reveal influencing factors and affordances conducive to professional development. Semi-structured interviews constituted questions on professional learning opportunities and teacher education and research. Results from the interviews convey themes around the areas of (i) self-initiated professional development, (ii) the importance of experiencing professional development through collaboration with peers and colleagues, (iii) accessing opportunities to improve teacher education teaching practices, and (iv) the inextricable link between teaching and research and, consequently, the need to upskill in research skills. Discussion points that arise include the induction period, frustration and tension in navigation, haphazard professional learning and learning with, and from, each other.

A universal lack of attention to the professional learning needs of teacher educators is the driver for this study, which considers the most effective ways to support the professional learning of higher education-based teacher educators. At a time when many industrialised countries are engaged in systemic educational reform, this study provides an international and comparative needs analysis through a survey of 1158 higher education-based teacher educators in the countries participating in the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development: Belgium, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK. Our results suggest that while teacher educators are only moderately satisfied with their professional development experiences, a strong desire exists for further professional learning. This desire, influenced by their professional context, relates to their current beliefs concerning "best practice" in teacher education, the academic skills required to further their professional careers and knowledge of the curriculum associated with their fields of expertise.

Proposals made by the European Commission in 2007 led to the Education Council adopting, for the first time, a European agenda for improving the quality of teaching and teacher education. This article reports on a small-scale longitudinal interview-based study with teachers in England, Norway and Germany demonstrating that while opportunities for professional development are increasing in all three countries, dissatisfaction is expressed by most teachers in relation to its quality and outcomes.

Many countries in the "developed world" are engaging in what has been described as a "systemic" reform of their education systems, due in part to the competitive economic pressures of globalisation. Much literature has been generated about globalisation, exploring the dynamic interrelationship said to exist between economic convergence and integration, education systems, institutions and social actors at local levels. Explanations that connect the processes of globalisation to what takes place in the classroom abound. This article problematises such overly deterministic themes in the literature on globalisation as applied to the teaching profession in which a convergence and homogenisation of the profession are implied. It focuses on the early experiences of 32 newly-qualified teachers in Norway, Germany, and England and is part of a more extensive study that posed three research questions: (1) What values do "becoming" teachers hold in relation to their proposed occupation?; (2) What similarities and differences in teachers' values are evident in the three national settings under examination?; and (3) What part is played by national pedagogic traditions, national policy contexts and institutional settings in the changing values of newly-qualified teachers? Based on a grounded analysis of interview data with teachers at the end of their teacher training courses and throughout their first two years as qualified teachers, the study shows how their professional values are mediated in different ways through key values surrounding the process of becoming a teacher. The article emphasises the role of the institutional setting and individual agency in professional identity formation that other literature has glossed over when addressing theories of globalisation. The article first examines some of the value ambiguities, tensions, conflicts and dilemmas that many writers argue make up this most dramatic period of teachers' careers. After presenting the methodology used in the study, aspects of similarity and difference, convergence and divergence between the three education systems are then used to focus on generic as well as culturally specific issues raised by some of the interview extracts. These extracts reveal important similarities and differences between the teaching profession in the three countries under examination. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

Proposals made by the European Commission in 2007 led to the Education Council adopting, for the first time, a European agenda for improving the quality of teaching and teacher education. This article reports on a small-scale longitudinal interview-based study with teachers in England, Norway and Germany demonstrating that while opportunities for professional development are increasing in all three countries, dissatisfaction is expressed by most teachers in relation to its quality and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of globalisation, this article problematises some of the literature on teachers’ professional identities in which a convergence and homogenisation of the profession is implied. It achieves this by focusing on the early experiences of 32 newly qualified teachers in Norway, Germany, and England. The article explores conceptions of identity, deployed for this research, relating these to high- and low-trust forms of trust and accountability in teaching. Aspects of similarity and difference between the three education systems are then used to focus on generic as well as culturally specific issues raised by some of the interview extracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]