Partnerships between universities of teacher education and professional fields

Institutions of teacher education in the German-speaking world live with the paradox that they have to prepare large numbers of teachers, but they have only limited access to the professional fields for which these teachers are training (e. g., through the organisation of placements). The aim of this paper is to discuss the problematic situation presented by this chronic alienation and to outline possible ways towards a stronger structural and content-related interweaving of universities and schools. Examples from Switzerland are used to show that committed partnerships between schools and universities are in the interest of both sides and hold a high potential for the professionalisation of teachers.