The variations of the teacher profile as reflected in the curricula of teacher training in Cyprus

Abstract

This paper will review the various curricula underpinning teacher education for elementary school teachers in Cyprus and describe the variations of the indented teacher profile from the English colonial period to the present day. We will discuss how and why the intended teacher profile has shifted from a clear, concise and consistent ethnocentric perspective to a more vague and ambiguous approach that resulted from the allocation of the responsibility for teacher training, from the state to the university. This paper concludes by proposing a new framework that can be used to describe the intended teacher profile in contemporary times taking into consideration the open systems perspective and the notion of autonomy in universities.