Research on teacher education shows that programme quality depends not only on curriculum content, but also on the clarity of programme vision, the coherence of learning experiences, and the extent to which programmes are grounded in practice. A clear and shared vision of good teaching within a programme provides direction for teacher learning, coherence supports alignment across coursework and field experiences, and connections to practice enable student teachers to enact theoretical ideas in classroom contexts (Darling-Hammond et al., 2005; Hammerness, 2014). Without such integration, student teachers often struggle to connect theory and practice and may revert to traditional models of teaching from their own schooling.

Over the past decades, research from the United States and Europe has highlighted that high-quality teacher preparation requires sustained opportunities for practice-based learning that are closely connected to the work of teaching (Ball & Cohen, 1999, Grossman et al., 2009; Jenset et al., 2018). When teacher education is deliberately grounded in practice, student teachers are more likely to enact ambitious instructional practices and support student learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Feiman-Nemser, 2001). Conversely, when programmes prioritise reading and discussion about teaching over opportunities to practise and enact teaching, this may limit the extent to which programme visions are realised in classroom practic.

Teacher education in Iceland has undergone substantial reform, including the introduction of a five-year master’s degree, course-based master’s routes, and a paid internship, all intended to strengthen connections between theory and practice. Yet little empirical research has examined how these ambitions are experienced across institutional roles.

The objective of this study is to examine how programme vision and coherence are a enacted in Icelandic teacher education, and how these features shape opportunities to connect theory and practice, from the perspectives of both student teachers and teacher educators. The following questions guided the study:

1. To what degree do student teachers, teacher educators, and programme leaders report clarity of programme vision?
2. To what degree and how do they perceive their programmes as coherent and grounded in practice?

Drawing on data from the Monitoring and Improving Teacher Education (MITE) project, a mixed-methods design was used to investigate programme vision, coherence, and connections to practice from multiple institutional perspectives. Survey data captured student teachers’ perceptions, while interviews with teacher educators and programme leaders provided more detailed insight into how these features are conceptualised and enacted. Survey data were collected from 276 master’s-level student teachers at the University of Iceland and the University of Akureyri using an instrument adapted from the international Coherence and Assignments in Teacher Education (CATE) study. Survey items examined perceived clarity of programme vision, coherence across courses and field placements, and opportunities to connect theory and practice. In addition, semi-structured interviews with programme leaders and teacher educators explored how vision, coherence, and practice-based learning are conceptualised, supported, and enacted within programmes. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed separately and integrated during interpretation

Student teachers generally reported a clear sense of programme vision. Survey findings indicate that around two-thirds of student teachers perceived their programmes as having a coherent pedagogical direction that supported learning over time. Many described encountering consistent perspectives on teaching and learning across courses. These responses , suggest that the programme vision was visible from the student perspective. However, this perceived clarity was not consistently supported by structural connections within the curriculum. More than 70% of student teachers disagreed that instructors explicitly referred to or built on ideas from other courses, and a similar proportion reported that recurring topics were not explored in increasing depth. These findings suggest that while programme vision may be broadly understood, coherence across coursework and practice is uneven and often implicit rather than intentionally designed. Interviews with teacher educators and programme leaders both reinforced and complicated this picture. Teacher educators described strong personal commitments to linking theory and practice, yet many reported limited oversight of the programme as a whole and few opportunities for collective planning across courses within the programme. In contrast to student teachers’ perceptions of a shared and coherent vision, teacher educators were less certain that such a vision was explicitly articulated or collectively enacted at the institutional level. Overall, the findings point to a partially shared programme vision and highlight the need for stronger programme level oversight and increased collaboration among faculty to strengthen coherence and better connect coursework and practice.

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