events. Most professional learning opportunities involve a focus on good practice in
teacher education, pedagogy and pedagogical research, with outputs from the last
activity being devalued in some HEIs by the re-definitions of research and research
outputs reinforced by national research audits.
44.3.4 Teacher Educators’Professional Learning Across
the National Cases
Important professional learning provision for teacher educators exists in all three
national cases, often implemented within the employing institutions, particularly HEIs.
Changes in this provision are also commonly led by major developments in teacher
education nationally, as well as by institutional imperatives and intra-professional
initiatives. All three countries have seen an increase in the importance of school-based
teacher educators and subsequent provision for their professional learning. This is
particularly strong in Norway through government-funded mentor development pro-
grammes. Both the Netherlands and England have notable histories of professional
learning development for school-based teacher educators, and in England new learning
opportunities are opening up. In all three countries, there is a clear acknowledgement,
though, that this provision needs to be extended further.
There are no professional standards or competences specific to teacher educators
in either Norway or England. In the Netherlands, VELON as a powerful, profes-
sional group has been able to establish and implement standards and then deploy
these as the basis for communal learning, owned by the profession. But government
changes to that established system mean that power over professional learning will
shift more to institutions in the future. Provision here, as in England, tends to have
strong focuses on pedagogy and practice rather than research development. There is
some provision around research, of course, but in the Netherlands, even though
institutional changes now require teacher educators employed to be more actively
engaged in research, provision is still limited. In England, whilst school-based
teacher educators may have new opportunities to engage in research, such oppor-
tunities, particularly in practitioner research, are in decline in some (but by no
means all) HEIs. Norway is distinctive in its strong focus on the development of
research skills through NAFOL and research and development projects between
schools and HEIs. We should note here, of course, that different understandings of
research are operating across the three cases, reflecting the valuation of different
educational research practices, paradigms and outcomes.
Our brief case studies show that existence of nationally agreed standards or
competences is not essential as the basis for the provision of professional learning
opportunities. Professional groups, where they exist, are powerful actors in national
provision but government funding facilitates large-scale and sustainable projects
such as those found in Norway and to a lesser extent in the Netherlands. This direct
funding supplements and strengthens institutional provision in these countries. In
England, however, where professional learning is often dependent only on
662 J. Murray et al.