Concepts of Teacher Education Development in Europe

Abstract

Abstract The article analyzes global trends in the development of teacher education with the aim to improve the education system in Ukraine and presents a comparative and pedagogical study on the concepts of teacher education development in Europe, in particular Great Britain and Germany. It was found that conceptual and methodological fundamentals of modern foreign pedagogy were constantly updated and adjusted. In West European pedagogy, the most common concepts of teacher education development are rationalistic, conservative and neohumanistic (phenomenological) ones. It was specified that rationalistic and traditional concepts of intellectual development were appropriate for the individuals who were reluctant to engage in cognitive activities and needed constant external stimuli. The phenomenological concept is humanistic-oriented and prioritizes personal learning targeted at individual self-realization and defines a learning environment to be a unique catalyst for successful learning. In Great Britain and Germany, open learning is one of the leading forms in realizing the phenomenological concept. Theoretical principles of open learning are related to the philosophy of existentialism, which emphasizes the need to create relevant conditions for learning so that students may freely realize their individual needs. Despite the fact that the concept of open learning is still under development and primarily describes the basic guidelines for education development and the issue of its practical implementation has not beet fully disclosed yet, it appears as a fundamental strategy for modern education. The main principle of open learning is individualization of the education process. Individual skills of students determine the content, methods, forms and tools of learning since the pedagogy of modern teacher education in England is based on them. It was noted that the system of distance education in Ukraine was under development too. However, it may become rather promising provided that Ukrainian educators have taken into account positive aspects of relevant foreign experience and combined the most advanced distance learning technologies with the most effective technologies and methods of traditional classroom learning. West European experience in developing higher teacher education can be implemented in Ukraine provided that the most effective traditions of the national teacher education have been preserved and, therefore, can adjust them to the modern international standards.