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).

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