Teacher education occupies a position between the school system and higher education. It is expected to both have an impact on the school system and to be influenced by it. Compared to other higher education programs, teacher education has more often been subject to government control and detailed regulation. This thesis deals with the various roles and functions ascribed to teacher education in its complex position within the educational system, and above all its relationship with the school system. The objective of the thesis is to increase knowledge on government policy, with regard to teacher education, and frames within which the policy is developed, that in turn creates the framework for teacher education.   

The issues outlined above are processed through two sub-studies. The first sub-study deals with these issues in a general and historical perspective. The second sub-study is focused on a specific content (ICT) in initiatives for teacher education reforms. By analyzing arguments put forward in government policy from a curriculum theory perspective the thesis shows that teacher education throughout the whole review period was considered to mainly benefit and serve the school system. However, the significance attached to this service varies. Generally two trails are highlighted. The first involves the teacher education service of delivering the teachers that the school system requires in order to live up to expectations of today. The other definition of working in the service of the school system is to contribute to a future-oriented development of the current school system. In many cases these perspectives are combined but the trend in the period reviewed in this study is that the first definition, to work in the service of the contemporary school system, has been accorded ever greater prominence.