Teacher Education as a High-quality Learning Environment

In this paper, we discuss what a high-quality learning environment in teacher education may look like from the perspective of Biesta’s three characteristics of good education: the qualification, socialization, and subjectification functions of education. Through critical investigation of our own classroom practices, we identify indicators of high-quality learning environments as well as several areas that could be improved. First, we offer a short outline of what quality education can be. Second, we describe three snapshots of teacher education activities, one from each of the authors. The two first examples are from Japan and the third is from Norway. Finally, we discuss characteristics of these snapshots that can be considered quality learning environments, ways in which these three particular learning environments can be improved, and possible ways forward for teacher education in general.