Teacher Professional Development for the Quality and Equity of Lifelong
Learning
Lisbon, 27 September 2007

Madam Minister,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s a great pleasure for me to be here with you today. I believe that
Education and Training of the high quality is the key to enabling all our citizens
to lead fulfilling and active lives. Education and Training are also crucial for the
European Union to achieve the ambitious goals it set itself here, in Lisbon,
seven years ago.

I am therefore pleased that the Portuguese Government is doing so much,
during its Presidency of the Union, for education and training. In particular I
would like to thank the Portuguese Presidency for organising this conference
about the Professional Development of Teachers and for inviting not only
governmental representatives of European countries and EU Institutions, but
also representatives from Lusophone countries, Cluster Teachers & Trainers,
European Network of Teacher Education Policies, and various stakeholders in
this field.

Someone once said: “To be a teacher you must be a prophet—because
you are trying to prepare people for a world thirty to fifty years into the future”.
I think this encapsulates the challenge of teaching today, when our societies, our
economies, our workplaces and even our homes are changing so rapidly.

Just one generation ago, it was still possible to predict with reasonable
certainty most of the knowledge and skills that school pupils would need for the
rest of their lives. But this is no longer the case. Young people can no longer
expect to spend their whole lifetime in the same job, or even in the same sector
of employment. Their career paths will change in ways that one can hardly
predict. The jobs they will be employed in may not even exist today; and the
knowledge they require may be knowledge that we currently do not teach.
This climate of change has several implications:

Firstly, it means that we need to help young people develop cross–cutting
and transferable skills that they can adapt and use in changing situations. This is
why the Member States of the European Union in December adopted our
proposal for a European Framework of Key Competences for lifelong learning.
It describes the eight areas of knowledge and skill that we believe all citizens
will need if they are to take part fully in the Knowledge Society.

Secondly, it means that we need to re-think the role of the school: to what
extent can schools really face up to the challenges of the 21st century? This is
why I have launched a public consultation on the future of the school – an issue
which I know will be discussed by another conference here later in the year.
And thirdly, it means that we have to find new ways to help our teaching
profession provide the kind of teaching that is required by our young people, our
employers and our society. So, Professor Rodrigues, your conference has come
at a very opportune moment. I believe that the way we educate and support our
teachers is of vital importance for the future of our countries.

This is the reason why the Commission has recently published a
Communication on Improving the Quality of Teacher Education. I should like to
take a few moments to explain to you how the European Commission sees the
situation, and what we think are the key challenges facing us all.

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I think that we sometimes forget the importance – and the complexity – of
the role that we ask our teachers to play in our society. We ask them to prepare
our young people to be the citizens of tomorrow; to help develop their talents; to
help fulfil their potential for personal growth and well-being; and to help them
acquire the complex range of knowledge and skills that they will need as
citizens and as workers. That’s quite a task!

We also expect our teachers to be able to make use of the latest
technologies; to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in their specialist
subjects and in pedagogy; to be facilitators and classroom managers. In addition,
in many Member States, classes nowadays comprise a more heterogeneous mix
of young people than ever before: pupils from different social backgrounds,
from different language communities and different cultures, different levels of
ability and disability. And yet, we also know that, even in these circumstances,
teaching must be of the highest possible quality.

When researchers looked at all the factors that could have an influence
upon student performance, they found that teacher quality is the most important
of all. I think you will agree with me that we need to make sure that our six
million teachers get not only the initial education, but also the continuing
training and support throughout the whole of their careers, to enable them to
perform these very demanding tasks. And yet, there is definitely room for
improvement.

We know that many countries are experiencing shortfalls in teaching
skills, and have difficulties in updating teachers’ skills. We know that, by
comparison with other professions, teaching has a high proportion of older staff;
in some countries, over 40% of teachers are in the age group 45 to 64. This
means that we run the risk of losing much valuable experience when these
teachers retire.

We know that teachers’ skills need to be continuously updated, and yet
continuing training is compulsory in only eleven of our Member States; and
even where it is compulsory, it often lasts only three days per year. And we
know that teachers at the start of their careers are often discouraged by the
difficulties of their tasks and sometimes move to other professions; yet, only
half of our Member States offer newly qualified teachers any systematic support
or training during their first years in the profession.

Now, of course, this is only a snapshot. And of course, there are some
outstanding examples of very good provision for Teacher Education in some
countries or regions. However the Commission believes that, in Europe as a
whole, the situation is not sustainable in the long term. We need to put in place
highly effective systems of lifelong Teacher Education.

Education and Training systems are, of course, the responsibility of
Member States. However, our work with national experts over recent years has
convinced us that many of them face the same kinds of challenge in trying to
improve their Teacher Education systems. By working together we can find
common approaches and common solutions.

Indeed, the proposals that we make in our Communication are based
largely upon the advice we have received from Teacher Educators, policymakers
and stakeholders from across Europe.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Our Communication sets out a number of proposals for improving the
quality of our Teacher Education. I’d like to highlight for you what I see as
fundamental.

First: initial teacher education has to be of the highest quality;
it has to give new teachers a sound knowledge of pedagogy as well as of their
specialist subject matter; it has to comprise practice in real classrooms, as well
as theory. You know that several Member States now require their teachers to
have a degree at Masters level – and these are often the countries that perform
well in international tests. Given that teaching is now such a complex
profession, and that it is facing such high demands, I am sure that many other
countries are now reflecting on whether this is an approach that is worth
considering.

Second: As I said earlier, the world is changing rapidly. The skills and
knowledge that our young people need are evolving all the time. Developments
in educational research need to be assimilated, and teachers need to keep their
specialist subject skills up to date. The logical conclusion of all this is that initial
Teacher Education can never be enough to sustain a teacher for a career that will
last 30 or 40 years. For teachers, and especially for teachers, the practice of
lifelong learning is an absolute must.

Third: It follows from this that a piecemeal approach is not enough. The
clear message we get from stakeholders is that, if we are serious about keeping
the skills of our teachers up to date, provision for teacher education and
continuing development needs to be coordinated as a single, coherent system at
national level, and must be adequately funded.

Fourth: teaching is a profession; and as with members of every other
profession, we should expect teachers to play their part in developing
professional culture and values, and in extending the boundaries of professional
knowledge. There is scope for much closer collaboration between Teacher
Education institutions and teachers in the classroom, so that teachers can take
advantage of the latest research findings, and so that what is taught in Teacher
Education institutions is based upon what really happens in real classrooms.

This also means that we need to encourage all our teachers to adopt the
culture of reflection that is already practised by the most effective teachers. We
need teachers who can evaluate the effectiveness of every lesson they give, and
learn from their successes and failures.
We will support the cooperation in this particular field as well as in
education and training in general via well established Bologna and Copenhagen
processes, our Work Program E&T 2010 and the Lifelong learning program.
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I believe that teachers’ performance will be improved, teachers’
satisfaction with their jobs will be greater, and teachers will be encouraged to
stay in the profession for longer, if they have access to a well-resourced,
coherent and attractive system of education, training and support from the
beginning to the end of their careers. I know from our discussions with experts
that these issues are shared concern. And Member States face very similar
problems when trying to equip their teaching workforce to provide education of
the highest quality for our young people. That is why we feel that it is useful to
have a debate about them and, in particular, to disseminate good practices from
all our Member States.

I would like to finish my intervention with a reflection that comes first of
all from my being a father of four: we should keep in mind that our children are
our hope, the best asset we have for the future of Europe. In order to equip them
with the best possible human values, skills and competences, we need first class
education; and education does not require only material means, like buildings
and books, but first and foremost capable, motivated, well-trained and respected
teachers.

Let’s not forget it and let’s work together to improve this essential aspect
of education. Because education unites, united we learn!
Thank you.