From Researcher to Teacher Educator
Author(s):
Marit Ulvik (presenting / submitting) Kari Smith (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
10. Teacher Education Research
Format:
Paper

Session Information

10 SES 03 A,

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-08
17:15-18:45
Room:
VII. Előadó [C]
Chair:
Amanda Berry

Contribution

Teacher education appears today as a vague and less valued profession internationally, in spite of national variations (Lunenberg, & Hamilton, 2008; Tryggvason, 2012). In most European countries there is no consistent understanding about the role and the competences and qualifications needed for teacher educators (Lunenberg, & Hamilton, 2008, EU, 2013). Neither is there any agreement about the need for teacher educators to have school teaching experience or to hold a doctorate. In their work, however, teacher educators need to relate both to the school and the academia (Elstad, 2010; Murray, & Male; 2005). This might create a tension between teaching and research, and disagreement as to what should be prioritised as an adequate background for teacher educators.

The literature confirms that who becomes teacher educators differs from one country to another. In UK and the Netherlands it is common that teacher educators have a background as teachers, and little or no experience as researchers (Murray et.al, 2009; Koster, et.al, 2005). In Norway, Finland and the USA, for example, a doctorate is frequently requested (Elstad, 2010; Lunenberg, & Hamilton, 2008; Tryggvason, 2012). Especially in teacher education for secondary school it is common with a doctorate.

This paper explores higher education based teacher educators’ competence seen from their own perspective in a Norwegian context. The study is part of a larger project: “Academic Tribes and their Territories in Teacher Education”, initiated by Jean Murray.  It includes three perspectives, namely that of: teacher educators’, student teachers’, and mentors’, in three countries: England, Norway and Germany.

The current paper investigates how teacher educators in Norway with a background as researchers and not as teachers, experience the transition into secondary school teacher education, and what they think about teaching about teaching. Little is known about this group of teacher educators, the focus of the paper. While many teacher educators in the English part of the study saw their identity as once a teacher always a teacher (Murray, Czerniawski, & Barber, 2011), many teacher educators at the universities in Norway have no experience as school teachers. A permanent position in teacher education in Norway today begins typically after a doctorate (Elstad, 2010). Publication is valued and one is exposed to academic values. It could then be challenging for these teacher educators to offer teacher education that student teachers find relevant. A recent report confirmed that student teachers in Norway had negative experiences with teaching at campus. Improving teacher education they suggested that teacher educators knowledge about what is going on in schools should be brought up to date (Finne, Mordal, & Stene, 2014).

Method

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 teacher educators from two different universities. Aiming to obtain a strategic sample we invited teacher educators from different scientific fields, age groups, genders and with varied experiences from teacher education to participate in the study, and they all accepted. The informants were initially asked about how they perceived their role and how they labeled themselves. Then they were asked about how they judged the importance of school experiences, experiences from teacher education, and from research. Finally, they were asked about what teaching skills and inter-personal attributes they generally found important for teacher educators and if teacher educators have particular knowledge and expertise. And if so, what they felt as most important of these. The interviews were taped and transcribed and analysed by both researchers in the project. Then the data were thematically coded and categories developed through a moderation process. These initial codes were refined by repeated analysis and used to define recurring themes. This process resulted in the creation of core categories (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to be included in the findings, an inductive process which enabled unexpected elements of the data to be analysed. All informants gave an informed consent to participate in the study and they were told that their response would be handled confidentially. The project was beforehand applied for and accepted by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD, the Data Protection Official), a public body that secures that research projects follow legal and ethical guidelines.

Expected Outcomes

The work is still in progress. Preliminary findings, however, reveal that all informants defend their research background and do not miss school experiences which are regarded as valuable, but not necessary to have for every teacher educator. What is needed is to be familiar with the practice field. The teacher educators argue for the importance of being able to draw on research in teacher education and downgrade practical knowledge. Research creates a theoretical understanding of what underpins different practices. To understand research literature and guide student teachers in their research projects it is regarded as necessary to conduct one’s own research. It is not enough to read about it. Furthermore, it is underlined that research creates interest and enthusiasm. The teacher educators’ view is contrasted in the mentioned report that investigates the quality in Norwegian teacher education (Finne, Mordal, & Stene, 2014). In the paper we discuss the discrepancy between the report and the teacher educators’ view.

References

Elstad, E. (2010). University-based teacher education in the field of tension between the academic world and practical experience in school: a Norwegian case. European Journal of teacher Education, 33(4), 361-374. EU (2013). Supporting teacher educators for better learning outcomes. European Commission Finne, H., Mordal, S., & Stene, T. M. (2014). Oppfatninger av studiekvalitet i lærerutdanningene 2013. SINTEF-rapport. Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. New York: Aldwin. Koster, B., Brekelmans, M., Korthagen, F., & Wubbels, T. (2005). Quality requirements for teacher educators. Teaching and teacher education, 21, 157-176. Lunenberg, M, & Hamilton, M. L. (2008). Threading a golen chain: An attept to find our identeties as teacher educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, Winter. Murray, J., Campbell, A., Hextall, I., Hulme, M., Jones, M., Mahony, P., & Menter, I. (2009). Research and teacher education in the UK: Building capacity. Teaching and teacher education 25, 944-950. Murray, J., Czerniawski, G., & Barber, P. (2011). Teacher educators’ identeties and work in England at the beginning of the second decade of the twebty-first century. Journal of education for teaching, 37(3), 261-277. Murray, J. & Male, T. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: evidence from the field. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 125–142. Tryggvason, M-T. (2012). Perceptions of identity among Finnish university-based subject teacher educators. European Journal of Teacher Education, 35(3), 289-303.

Author Information

Marit Ulvik (presenting / submitting)
University of Bergen, Norway
Kari Smith (presenting)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

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