From Practice Schools to University Schools: Structural Evolution of Teacher-Education Sites in Europe

Across Europe, initial teacher education is undergoing a major structural transformation, shifting from traditional training and practice schools toward university schools and, in some contexts, research-embedded laboratory schools. This article interprets this change as a system-level reconfiguration of university–school ecosystems rather than a set of isolated practicum reforms. Using a comparative institutional framework and documentary analysis of European teacher-education systems, the study examines how teacher-education sites are being repositioned in relation to governance, epistemic authority, research integration, and professional learning. Findings indicate that training-school-dominated systems continue to deliver strong professional preparation but remain largely disconnected from sustained educational knowledge production. University schools mark a decisive institutional transition by integrating teacher education, school development, and research within shared governance structures. Laboratory schools extend this model further by embedding teacher education within permanent research infrastructures. The analysis also reveals strong regional asymmetries in the pace and depth of this transformation, closely linked to national research capacity, governance stability, and policy coherence. The study concludes that contemporary teacher-education reform in Europe cannot be adequately understood solely through curriculum, mentoring, or competency frameworks, but must instead be viewed as an infrastructural transformation of professional learning environments that requires long-term institutional investment rather than short-term project-based innovation.