IQST
Improving Quality of Science Teacher Training in European Cooperation

• News
• Background
• Participating institutions
  • Palacký University, Czech Republic
  • University of Cyprus
  • Siauliai University, Lithuania
  • University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski", Bulgaria
  • Ataturk University, Turkey
• Partners
  • Palacký University in Olomouc, Faculty of Science, Department of Experimental Physics
  • University of Cyprus, Department of Education
  • Siauliai University, Faculty of Education, Department of Education
  • University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski", Faculty of Education
  • Ataturk University, Bayburt Education Faculty, Science Teachers Education Department
• Goals
• Outputs
• Publications
• Articles
• Study materials
• Modules
• E-learning
• Documentations
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• Forum

Background to the project

In all of the participating countries one can observe a lack of science teachers, mainly of physics and chemistry teachers, as well as a lack of students in this teacher training. There is not doubt that science teaching has a crucial role to play in shaping the future development of EU. Added to the momentum of the greater integration of EU, there is a need for the exploration, discussion and exchange of educational ideas, analysis of common problems, implementation of European dimension in initial science teacher training, with the aid of joint projects. These activities facilitate intercultural cooperation, solidarity, and mutual support. There is a remarkable commonality in the problems and context for science teacher training internationally. There is a need for intellectually honest and open self-appraisal of teacher educators should be the key agents of worthwhile changes in the teacher training programmes. At present, in participating countries, there are major government initiatives underway for curricular, pedagogic and assessment reform in schools. The clientele of schools internationally now represents a very heterogeneous grouping in terms of ability, motivation, application and social class background. The motivation and the interest for science studies is a little bit lower that we could expect in the period of new technologies. This has implications with regard to styles of teaching, curricular content, interpersonal relations for teacher education. Coherence between course elements, the theory-practice issue, extending school - based experience, the establishment of good partnership arrangements for teaching supervision, the fostering of action research of prospective science teachers, international cooperation between higher institutions of initial teacher training, strengthening the European dimension in the training of science teachers are very important tasks for co-operating institutions in the project. There is a need to develop new ways in initial training of science teachers. All participating countries feel a reduction of quality in physics, chemistry and biology knowledge of children and an additional lack of quality of physics, chemistry and biology teachers. There is an urgent need of the quality initial science teachers. There is a need of new approaches to this training especially with the regard to the implementation and application of constructivists theory in science teacher training.