Academic Primary Teacher Education: Exploring the Teaching Quality of Beginning Academic Primary School Teachers

• In Event: Alternative Routes to Initial Teacher Preparation in The Netherlands: Dreams, Possibilities and Practices

Abstract

The quality of Dutch primary school teachers has been subject of discussion in the past
years. In these discussions two major concerns could be distinguished: 1) a shortage of
primary school teachers in the near future and 2) a lack of sufficient teaching skills in
primary school teachers, mainly with regard to complex teaching skills (Education
Inspectorate, 2012). In order to address these problems various developments have taken
place in the field, including the development of a new academic Bachelor’s program to the
profession of primary school teacher. The aim of this new program was to attract more
high school students from the pre-university track to the teaching profession and to
educate teachers in a more research-oriented environment to improve the teaching quality
of the primary school teachers.
The purpose of this study is to compare the teaching quality, in terms of
pedagogical-didactical competencies and interpersonal teacher behavior, of beginning

Author

• Sanne Dijkema, University of Groningen