This chapter focuses on a conceptual understanding of democracy and values education in teacher education, taking the perspective that educa- tion, of necessity, must encompass broader purposes of qualification, socialization and subjectification and that the relationship between them is characterized by interdependence. This chapter analyzes two aspects of teacher quality: first, the importance of values and the understanding of and approaches to values and democracy; second, variations in con- ceptual understandings within a particular educational field (teacher edu- cation). The study maps what teacher educators and institutional leaders for teacher education programs have to say about democracy and values education in relation to teacher preparation given the context of demo- cratic education reforms in the postwar period. This chapter addresses issues such as the readiness among teachers to teach democracy and values as an overarching and qualitative aspect of the teaching profes- sion. This study finds that, on the one hand, there is strong curricular support for democracy and related values education in schools and, on the other hand, a mixed landscape in teacher education. The situation within teacher education suggests an embracement of these issues but with a high degree of conceptual ambiguity and vagueness.

What do newly graduated teachers think about the value of their own teacher preparation? This study reports the findings of a national questionnaire administered to almost 10,000 student teachers in Sweden who in the 2007-08 academic year were conferred with a teacher degree. Teacher education programmes in Sweden were subject to national evaluations in 2005 and 2008. Substantial criticism was voiced against programmes and the public debate was loud. In relation to those evaluations and the following debates, the national association for deans responsible for teacher education programmes sparked an internal discussion on quality, an initiative that resulted in launching this questionnaire as a collaborative project. The questionnaire asked for the opinions of these newly graduated teachers by including questions in four areas, with each evaluating a different aspect of the teacher profession concerning how well they had been prepared for: 1) direct teaching/instruction; 2) the wider work of a teacher; 3) development work; and 4) outreach and collaboration. According to these newly graduated teachers, they appear to have been best prepared for their entry to working life when it comes to direct teaching/instruction. The other three areas have a smaller proportion of satisfied respondents. It was also found that, despite decades of reforms aimed at merging the two teacher education traditions (the academic tradition and the seminar tradition), significant differences still remain concerning how subject teachers (teachers for secondary school) and class teachers (teachers for pre- and primary school) experience and evaluate their teacher preparation. The results are analysed in relation to the general debate on learning in higher education and the more specific discussion on the value of teacher preparation. They are also discussed in relation to programme design and whether particular areas of study should mainly be located in either initial (pre-service) teacher education or programmes for professional development. (http://www.reflectingeducation.net/index.php/reflecting/article/view/112 )

This quantitative and qualitative analysis of syllabuses indicates difficulties in the relation between history teaching in upper secondary schools and in higher education. Using analytical tools stemming from research of education and history didactics we highlight problematic differences between universities. It is evident that history education in many ways lacks a progression from upper secondary school to higher education. Judging from the formulations in the syllabuses, the grading demands on the students in upper secondary schools are in some cases even higher than in the universities. The results from this study suggest a need for further analysis of the teaching of history, and other subjects, in higher education in relation to teaching in upper secondary schools.