Strengthening the identities of teacher educators is critical to quality teacher education and implementing change in the education sector. This study examines the professional identities of Eritrean teacher educators and how these identities can be strengthened through collaborative professional practice in a challenging context currently under…

At present, the idea of teacher professional development is widely highlighted in education. The present qualitative study examines whether coteaching in collaboration between music lecturers at two universities could enable their professional development and improve student learning. Our study consisted of piano courses in two independent primary…

This study explores the complexities that are involved in the development of intercultural competence in music teacher education by examining the accounts of two music teacher educators from Finland and Israel who work extensively in culturally diverse contexts. A semi-structured interview method was used in conducting the interviews. Deardorff's…

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher educators play a key role in the development of university-based teacher education and the preparation of preservice EFL teachers. However, the professional agency of EFL teacher educators in developing their work remains understudied. Employing a Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical perspective, this…

Although different forms of English-medium instruction (EMI) are being recognised, the different ways in which EMI can impact the pedagogical activities and expertise of higher education educators have received less attention. Using face-to-face and written interviews with nine teacher educators at a Finnish university, this study examines the…

Collaboration with parents is widely regarded as important in the education of children and young people, yet teachers rarely feel sufficiently prepared for this task. Several studies indicate that initial teacher education (ITE) programmes struggle to address issues of family-school partnerships (FSP). Our purpose in this study was to assess…

Worldwide, teacher educators and policy makers have called for teacher preparation that is more deeply linked to practice. Yet we know little about how such linkages are achieved within different international programs. We examine the degree to which programs provide opportunities to learn that are grounded in practice, during university…

This article investigates the perceived and actual predictability of teacher educators working as assessors in entrance examinations for the Finnish Primary School Teacher Education (PSTE) programme. The section examining perceived predictability was conducted as a survey. The data for actual predictability, containing student teachers' entrance…

Although teacher educators may perceive their program and courses to be coherent, the question remains to what extent student teachers also are able to perceive the linkages within their programs. Coherence within teacher education programs is important for teacher candidates to build understanding of teaching. Our study draws upon survey data…

Sustainability is internationally often emphasized as an essential aim of higher education, but more as a principle than on the practical level. This is also obvious in the academic education of primary teachers in Finland. Therefore, it is a great challenge for Finnish teachers to include sustainability in their teaching and everyday life in…

Worldwide, scholars and policymakers have called for teacher education to link fieldwork and coursework. This article examines teacher candidates' opportunities to talk about field placement within their campus coursework as one way of doing so. It reports on survey data (n = 270) and observation data (n = 52 hours) from 3 teacher-education…

This study aimed to analyze the recently updated teacher education programmes in two universities in Finland and Thailand. The article reports the characteristics of the elementary and secondary school teacher education studies in the selected universities, and discusses the roles and significance of 21st century skills and their modifications in…

This article examines the way Finnish teacher education has changed over the last three decades. The role of teacher educators has become progressively more research-intensive, and teacher education currently faces a challenging dilemma. Not only is it dependent on the terms and conditions of conducting research, it must also address the need to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the visions of teacher educators of instrumental pedagogy (n = 12) in higher music education regarding "good" teaching and instrumental student teacher preparation. The theoretical basis for the study was research on teachers' visions (Hammerness, 2006): teachers' own conceptions of ideal teaching…

In this article, we examine teacher educators' views on research-based teacher education. Finnish research-based teacher education has four characteristics: (1) the study programme is structured according to a systematic analysis of education; (2) all teaching is based on research; (3) activities are organized in such a way that students can…