As Europe struggles to keep pace with a fast-changing world, the training of its teachers is attracting an increasing amount of attention. As declared in the European Commission document entitled: Supporting the Teaching Profession for BetterLearning Outcomes: ‘Since teaching staff are the most important in-school factor affecting student outcomes, targeting them is likely to bring the biggest returns in terms of efficiency of education systems’ (European Commission, 2012, p. 60).
Until recently, one could not speak of ‘European’ teacher training. Nevertheless, as a result of the effort to design common reference points as manifested by the Bologna process in general, and by a series of documents on teacher training in particular (European Commission, 2005,2011,2012,2013), we are seeing visible signs of convergence, at least when it comes to discourse on teacher training. It is true that teacher education is still a national issue, but there is a growing tendency to take European recommendations into account (Zgaga, 2013). As a result, we are seeing a gradual adaptation of the Teacher Competence Framework. Although the meaning of competence is still debated, the following parameters are widely accepted with regard to teacher education: structured knowledge frameworks; sound knowledge of how to teach specific subjects; classroom teaching/management skills and strategies; interpersonal, collaborative, reflective and research skills; critical attitudes towards professional practice and innovation; positive attitudes and commitment to ongoing professional development, collaboration, diversity and inclusion; adaptive expertise (Caena, 2014).
There is much to say about these parameters, but in this paper we are interested in the dynamics of acquiescence or resistance to European pressures regarding teacher education. Some authors agree that competencies are a way to improve teachers’ education and practice (Caena, 2014). Others warn against the hegemony of these terms, as they lead to the reduction of diversity in educational thought and practice. In addition, they highlight that the key question for teacher education is not how to become competent or skilled in the application of scientific evidence, but how to become educationally wise (Biesta, 2012). In other words, teacher education should not focus on what teachers can do, but rather on developing personal qualities appropriate for managing educational setups well.
Using Spain as a case study, we would like to examine the elements characterising current discourse about teacher education. This is a very pertinent moment for doing so, as Spanish universities are currently embroiled in the process of obtaining national authorisation for their degrees. Thus, every Spanish university carrying out teacher education has drafted a document describing the contents and qualities of its degree. Our idea is to use these documents to characterise teacher education discourse in Spain, evaluating the level of penetration of the discourse on competence. Moreover, we would like to see whether and how it is translated into actual courses on the degrees. Finally, we wish to see whether there are differences between universities belonging to the private or public sector. As our methodology is based on computerised text analysis, we would also like to use the Spanish case to pave the way for a Europe-wide comparison.
