Assessment, tutorial structures and initial teacher education of trainee students

Project Outline

The University of Vienna launched this project aiming to investigate the structures, concepts and standards of assessment, tutorial systems and initial education in the fields of: “Political/Civic Education”, “Social/Cultural Studies” and “History”. In the final stage of the project, the comparative European study will be developed on the basis of a standardized questionnaire in all participating countries. The comparison of all collected data will contribute to evidence-based discussion on teacher education for the key subjects of political education in European schools. In this project more than twenty European states are represented through the institutes and teacher training institutions. EUROCLIO is also taking a part, thanks to its experiences with history education across Europe for many years. The comparative study will be published in printed version and on a web portal. Results will be disseminated in the framework of the Council of Europe, EUROCLIO, and by a new eJournal of Didactics of Political Education and History. Recommendations from this project will be given to international educational organizations, ministries of education and teacher training institutions.

Project Stages

Investigation in the participating countries based on a questionnaire, followed by collection of the data, analysis and feedback from the coordinating project team, in-depth expert discussions on the country reports during two meetings and additional comments from educational policy makers;
Formation of thematic working groups supplying investigation on qualitative questions related to: the structures, standards and concepts of political, civic and historical education of trainee teachers;
Development of a comparative analysis on these topics on a European level with respect to results of previous case studies and results published by international educational organizations.

Expected Outcomes

Recommendations to the Ministries of education, Teacher training institutions and other international organizations
Contribution to creation of the socio-political identity for the European citizens

Project Coordinators

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10 July 2011

Vienna, Austria: Second Project Expert Meeting

Posted in Partnerships - 2010-2012: University of Vienna

The second expert meeting of the project “Assessment, tutorial structures and initial teacher education of trainee students in the subjects Political/Civic Education, Social/Cultural Studies and History in Europe – a comparative study”, funded by the European Union and ERSTE Foundation, took place in Vienna from 25th to 28th May 2011. 40 project members from over 30 countries in Europe, but also our partners from Euroclio, the Council of Europe and the Georg-Eckert-institute for International Schoolbook Research took part in the meeting. The aims of the meeting were to discuss the interim results of the project’s questionnaire, which all participants complete to give evidence based information about the situation in their country with regard to the structures, concepts and standards of assessment, tutorial systems and initial education for teachers of the subjects teaching history and cotizenship education. Additionally the result’s of the thematic working groups within the project were presented and the work plan for the next year of the project was designed. The next and final meeting of the project is going to take place from 30th May to 2nd June 2012. It is going to concentrate on the dissemination of the final result’s of the project. For further information please visit the Project website or contact Alois Ecker,project coordinator, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

11 May 2010

EUROCLIO Partnership with University of Vienna

Posted in Partnerships - 2010-2012: University of Vienna

EUROCLIO is partner in the University of Vienna Project “Assessment, tutorial structures and initial teacher education of trainee students in the subjects ‘Political/ Civic Education, Social/Cultural Studies and History’ in Europe – A comparative study” financed within in the framework of the EU-Lifelong Learning Programme. This project envisages to research on a European level the degree of implementation of skills and competencies in initial training of citizenship, social studies and history teachers. Dr. Dean Smart, former EUROCLIO Board President, has represted the Association during the meeting in Vienna organisaed by Prof Dr. Alois Ecker on March 3-6 2010. The main aims of the meeting were among others to present and discuss the objectives, the organisational framework and the work plan of the new project, to identify topics and define strategies for in-depth studies on qualitative items to be investigated in the project by thematic networks/working groups and to to discuss and fine tuned the main questionnaire on structures of initial teacher training in the abovementioned subjects.