Norwegian Teacher Education Research Articles

Examining Features of Teacher Education in Norway

Drawing upon recent research in the United States, this paper proposes that there are three key features undergirding powerful teacher education programs. The research suggests that in order to be powerful and effective, teacher education programs need to have a vision, be coherent, and provide opportunities to learn that are grounded in teaching practice. The author uses these features as a lens to examine programs in Norway – a country in which teacher education has been relatively under-examined. The analysis reveals several challenges for the Norwegian teacher education programs examined, such as a lack of shared vision among faculty responsible for teaching subject content and those teaching pedagogy, as well as few opportunities for student teachers to learn in the context of practice. Implications for strengthening programs are discussed.

Bridging theory and practice in Norwegian teacher education through action research

Handling the relationship between theory and practice is seemingly an endless challenge in Norwegian teacher education, and bridging theory and practice is highlighted whenever discussions about improvement of teacher education are raised. This article contributes to this discussion by shedding new light on the relationship through an analysis of empirical findings recorded in a subject-oriented action research project. The project was conducted as part of the subject Religion, Philosophies of life and Ethics integrated into teacher education at the University of Stavanger in 2008/09, and its name was ‘Teaching about Religious Diversity in School – Applying and Developing an Interpretive Cultural Approach to Religious Education’. As the name indicates, the project has tried out a particular approach to religious education. The tryout has been done by a community of practice. In this article I am asking whether findings from the project are pointing towards pedagogical approaches possible to categorize on a meta-level, and in which way these detected approaches shed new light upon the relationship between theory and practice in teacher education.

Discursive positioning in Norwegian teacher education: Shifting from cross-curricularity to skills-based subject specialisation

Late and limited organisational differentiation is a characteristic which has, until now, distinguished the structure of education – including teacher education – in the Nordic countries from that of the rest of Europe. However, this tradition is now challenged by utilitarian ideologies, supported by international comparison tests such as PISA and TIMSS. In Norway, a new teacher education system has been recently introduced requiring students to choose to specialise in one of two age ranges – grades 1–7 or grades 5–10 – and in addition to specialise in particular school subjects. This paper traces how different learning discourses regulate spaces for professional becoming(s), focusing on an analysis of a number of policy documents underpinning the shift from broad cross-curricular themes and project-based education towards a skills-based subject specialisation. The investigation explores how particular discourses are taken up, merged and transformed in relation to the Norwegian egalitarian school tradition.

The multi-faceted teacher educator: a Norwegian perspective

Within the broad theme of this special issue, the current article describes a turbulent Norwegian teacher education context in which two new teacher educators start work in a university. Like other nations, Norway is affected by international educational trends, some of which have a reductive impact on the teaching profession and on teacher education. The article discusses the many roles teacher educators have to hold and presents what the local context, a university’s teacher education department, does to support new colleagues in developing individual roles and identities as teacher educators which enable them to fit into the local culture and requirements. The article examines some of the many frustrations that teacher educators often feel are rooted in local, national and international movements, before it concludes with a quest for developing programme identity that builds on the strength of having a diverse staff of teacher educators.

Digital competence in the Norwegian teacher education and schools

The purpose of this article is to examine how policy documents in Norway the last ten years have interpreted ICT and digital competence in teacher education and in school. Norway implemented in 2006 a new national curriculum which increased the status of digital competence to be the fifth basic skill in the Norwegian elementary school (stage 1-13). This was a historic event and never before has digital competence achieved such status in curricula, neither nationally nor internationally. The same has newly happened with the new General Plan for Teacher Education where digital competence has become the fifth basic skill in all subjects. However, both teacher educators and teachers lack sufficient digital competence to fulfil these ambiguous policy goals and therefore the article suggest how a model of digital competence can bridge some of the gap between the intentions in the policy documents and the teachers/teacher educators’ practise. At the same time the article attempts to elaborate our perception of the concept digital competence in an educational discourse and how one can define digital competence in light of a Scandinavian educational perspective. The research question in this article is: how can digital competence be defined and what are the foundations of digital competence in teacher education and schools in light of the policy documents in Norway?

The core of special teacher education: a comparison of Finland and Norway

In this paper, the situation of special teacher education in Finland and Norway has been analysed from three perspectives: how the curricula of special teacher education differ between and within the countries; whether inclusion is included in special teacher education; and how the special teacher education curricula reflect the national requirements. The result of this analysis shows a high degree of variation in Norwegian special teacher education, in contrast to a quite homogenous situation in Finland. Inclusion is shown to be a central part of the fundamental discourse of special needs education in Norway whereas this feature is not so central in Finnish special teacher education. The plurality seen in the Norwegian situation reflects the national discussion on the role of special needs education in relation to individualised education solutions. This discussion is partly critical of the marginalisation tendencies of special needs education. The official solution is to work towards an inclusive school using child‐centred strategies – one of which is special needs education. In Finland, special needs education forms a part of the national goal of high‐quality education, and inclusion is not mentioned. The Norwegian situation can be problematic for schools, pupils and parents because it is not possible to anticipate the kind of knowledge and help a special teacher can give. This situation can also diminish the professional identity of the special needs teacher. In Finland, the core of special needs education and the common knowledge shared by special needs teachers are very clear. However, in that country the role of inclusion is weak.

The Teacher's Voice: Vocal training in teacher education

The voice is a basic tool in human communication and an important factor in a positive self‐understanding and identity, both for the teacher's sense of profession and for the pupils' ability to express themselves orally; two perspectives of great importance in the Norwegian National Curriculum. Voice disorders are common among teachers world‐wide and seem to be increasing. Voice problems influence the teachers' ability to teach effectively. An historical review illustrates the significance of the oral tradition in Norwegian teacher education. Against the background of recent studies that show that voice training courses given to different professional groups prevent voice disorders, a proposal is presented for the organisation of vocal training in Norwegian teacher education. The purpose is to emphasise the clear link between teaching and voice disorders and to focus on the prevention of voice problems among teachers by reintroducing voice training in teacher training.

Teacher education reform in Europe: the case of Norway; trends and tensions in a global perspective

This article focuses on teacher education reforms and related discourses. Internationally, the last decade has been an intensive period of educational reforms and restructuring, particularly regarding teacher education. Even though teacher education in Europe has a high degree of complexity and variations, common trends in the reforms are identifiable. The article deals with trends and tensions in teacher education reforms examining Norwegian teacher education as a “case” within Europe. As an analytical tool, the term “warrants”, interpreted as “reasonable grounds” for actions, is used together with our own analytical categories to capture trends in teacher education in a global perspective. One conclusion is that we can see the impact of the new global market orientation in the national discourses on teacher education.

Visible and Invisible Pedagogies: A study of student socialisation in teacher education

SUMMARY This study of Norwegian primary and pre-school teacher education shows how a visible pedagogic practice is reproduced in school teacher education and how an invisible pedagogic practice is reproduced in pre-school teacher education. During teacher education the lecturers are models and the students acquire different pedagogic codes. If we want to change a 'conservative' school practice to a 'progressive' practice, the pedagogic practice of teacher education must change.

Student teacher conceptions of matter and substances – evaporation and dew formation

It is observed that student teachers have problems with seemingly simple ideas in introductory chemistry. In order to uncover possible underlying problems, a rather comprehensive investigation on their views on matter, substances and the particulate view of matter, was accomplished.31 students were interviewed before they started on an introductory course in chemistry. The interviews were semi-structured and linked to a sorting task and some demonstrations. All the interviews were tape-recorded and some photos were taken.This paper reports on the students’ views on evaporation and dew formation and discusses what their statements on these phenomena tell us about their general view on matter, substances and the particulate view of matter. Their statements about evaporation and dew formation are compared.Only 6/31 students displayed a reasonably good understanding of both evaporation and dew formation, and only two of these used a more “advanced” particulate model in their explanation of both phenomena. Most of the other students hold some sensible views and some alternative non-scientific views. All measure of understanding was revealed, from almost total ignorance to an almost complete understanding. At least 4/5 of the students seem to have some problem with the concepts of matter, substance and the particulate view of matter. These concepts, therefore, clearly need to be included and addressed in an understandable way in Norwegian teacher education.

Det fleirkulturelle perspektivet i grunnskolelærarutdanningane

The article focuses on multicultural education in the Norwegian teacher education programs. We ask to what extent the student teachers experience achieving relevant competence. The findings indicate that the student teachers are relatively satisfied with the competence and skills they achieve. However, they ask for more specific knowledge about the pupils’ religious and cultural background. Knowledge about these factors could, according to the student teachers, be given through a compulsory element in the curriculum focusing on religion and culture. The findings seem to be in accordance with other researches which show that multicultural competence requires that the teachers have knowledge about the cultural background of the different minority groups. On the other hand, it seems like the students are not to any great extent aware that minority students tend to be overrepresented in special education and compensatory actions in schools. This finding indicates that there is a need for putting more emphasis on critical thinking with regards to multiculturalism in the teacher education programs in Norway, and an analytical approach in this context.Keywords: teacher education, multicultural education, critical multiculturalism, religion, culture, BanksNøkkelord: lærerutdanning, flerkulturell utdanning, kritisk multikulturalisme, religion, kultur, Banks