Teacher quality is one of the most pressing concerns currently facing policy makers, the public, teacher educators and teachers themselves. As noted in the OECD Report Teachers Matter, ‘the broad consensus is that “teacher quality” is the single most important school variable influencing student achievement’ (OECD, 2005 p. 26). The debate over teacher quality has become even more heated in the context of the current global economic crisis, the link between the quality of a country’s education system and its economic state now widely accepted. The emergence of a ‘quality movement’ has naturally led to discussions around what constitutes quality teacher education. However, the debate over quality teacher education is compounded by competing perspectives regarding what constitutes quality, how it should be measured, and indeed to what end. The question of what constitutes quality teacher education within the European context is further problematised by the fact that although policies of both the European Commission and OECD have encouraged greater convergence across the EU, diversity still remains a salient feature of teacher education within Europe (Buchberger et al, 2000, p. 11). In contrast to many other European countries, Ireland has a highly regarded system of teacher education and the quality of Ireland’s teaching force is considered to be high by international standards (Coolahan, 2003). Consequently, it is not surprising that teaching is widely viewed as an attractive career option, that entry to teacher education programmes is extremely competitive, and that applicants come from the top echelon of school leavers (MacRuairc and Harford, 2008). Taking Ireland as a case study, this paper proposes a conceptual framework which can be used when evaluating teacher education programmes at European level and indeed on a global scale. The organisational framework is that provided by O’Donoghue and Whitehead (2008, pp 193-197) which is deduced from the views of contemporary senior teacher education scholars across a wide range of English-speaking countries and is based on the central Weberian notion of an ‘ideal type’ (Shils and Finch, 1949, p. 90).

Using Ireland as a case study, this paper proposes that for comparative purposes it is helpful to consider the situation regarding teacher education in Europe by asking the following fundamental questions: 1. who should be selected for teacher preparation? 2. where should teacher preparation take place? 3. what should be the curriculum of the teacher preparation programme? 4. who should the teacher educators be? 5. what is the attitude of the wider societal culture towards teachers? This is a conceptual paper rather than an empirical one, the exposition of which is based on a new and unique interpretation of currently available documentary sources. Each of the above questions is addressed in relation to the current situation regarding secondary school teacher education in Ireland. The above framework is contextualised within recent European policy in relation to teacher education.

Teacher education has a fundamental role to play in efforts to bring about a ‘Europe of Knowledge.’ Despite the unique nature of teacher education cultures across Europe, this paper argues that if policy makers are to bring about a European dimension to teacher education, each of the above factors, as identified by O'Donoghue and Whitehead as a model for evaluating teacher education, needs to be considered when articulating policy at European level in relation to teacher education. The conceptual framework of this paper is presented as a basis from which a more coherent policy agenda at European level in relation to teacher education can be advanced.