Abstract
A sociological case study of Norwegian teachers reveals how teacher education reforms have inadequate definitions of teacher competence. Legislators, officials and the media continue to uphold the image of a school system and teaching profession in crisis in several OECD countries. For the Nordic welfare states, education is a public good. Mediocre results in international comparisons cause public debate regarding the quality of the educational system. This has led to a devaluation of teachers and teacher education. The aim of this article is to analyze and discuss how teacher education is valued and converted by Norwegian teachers. Interviews and written accounts from novice teachers and persons with teacher training working outside of the school environment suggest an alternative narrative in which teachers’ competences are in high demand. The results and discussion reveal a more nuanced way to view teachers’ expertise as an asset in a multitude of careers.
Highlights
This article reports on a qualitative sociological study of the Norwegian teacher education in a changing institutional landscape (Smeplass, 2018)
We conclude that professional qualities obtained during teacher studies include abilities in pedagogical values, human relations, communication and leadership skills. These skills are in high demand in labor markets beyond school-based education, illustrating that educational reforms in recent years might widen the gap between official teacher training and professional life in Norway
Employment numbers for teachers in Norway indicate how teacher education organizations succeed in creating competences that are in high demand, even though the official public narrative devaluates the overall quality of teacher training
Summary
This article reports on a qualitative sociological study of the Norwegian teacher education in a changing institutional landscape (Smeplass, 2018). School systems and teacher training are undergoing revisions in several Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (Bieber & Martens, 2011). The current changes are, in most cases, legitimized with arguments pointing to OECD standards (Ministry of Education Norway, 2016b) and established notions of how educational policy should look to common benchmarks in order to improve educational quality. We argue that this intensified search for output improvement causes Norwegian policymakers to overlook strengths in the current school organization as well as professional qualities of teachers
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