Early career teachers’ experiences with the new research-based knowledge foundation developed in Norwegian teacher education

Author(s):

Rachel Jakhelln(presenting / submitting)Gerd Stølen(presenting)Kristin Bjorndal Unn-Doris Back

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 03 D, Early Career Teachers’ Experiences with Research-Based Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-23

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-Theatre P

Chair:

Sandra Girbés-Peco

Contribution

The transition from education to employment is experienced as challenging for many candidates from professional study programs. There are ongoing debates on how the relationship between theoretical and practical knowledge should be conceived and approached (Eraut 1994). In Norway, these debates have become particularly relevant for teacher education due to changes in structure and content within the teacher education programs.

Much of the international research on initial teacher education (ITE) has been preoccupied with how the instruction of teachers should be organized. According to Zeichner (2014), two different strategies have emerged: one is to strengthen the dominant university based system of ITE, whereas the other is to promote a greater deregulation and privatization with shorter teacher training routes taking place mainly in schools. The former has beem the prevailing strategy in Norway the past years, as opposed to earlier ITE, which was shorter and more practice based. (Brekke, 2010). Inspired by Finland, ITE in Norway will from 2017 be taught at Masters level (MA), extending to a five year program,

UiT, the Arctic University of Norway (UiT), launched a national pilot program in teacher education (Pilot in North, PiN) in 2010; a five-year long research-based MA, divided into two programs adjusted to the Norwegian educational system: 1st -7th and 5th – 10th grade. The first 61 students graduated in the spring of 2015. PiN adopted central elements and structural traits from the Finnish MA as it was established in 1979 (Hansén, Sjöberg & Eilertsen, 2014). Since establishment, Finnish ITE has kept to the same conventions, strongly emphasizing progressive development of research competence for students. A principle focus for PiN has been that research orientation and research knowledge can serve to support teachers’ professional skills and develop their abilities to make conscious use of adequate analytical tools in order to de-construct problems and re-construct solutions.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how the first Norwegian MA students experience practicing their profession in schools. The study is part of a five-year longitudinal research project, illuminating professional development of teachers at the beginning of their careers, and how their knowledge from ITE sustains and develops. Based on data from this first and the two following cohorts, the aim of the study is to investigate early career teachers’ (ECT) experiences of research-based teacher education in relation to the reality they meet early in their career.

Research questions:

- How do ECTs experience that their research-based knowledge from ITE really is received in the professional community?

- How do ECTs’ professional competence develop early in the career?

The study will attempt to explain how newly educated teachers with conceptual knowledge experience a work situation in which contextual knowledge is dominating (Muller, 2009, Afdal & Nerland, 2012). They are in a practice community where beginners have a peripheral position (Lave and Wenger, 1999). New concepts of teacher professionalism are constructed both by the government and from within the teachers’ union, and according to Mausethagen & Granlund (2012:805), “The government “emphasises teacher accountability, research-based practice and specialization. By contrast, the teachers’ union highlights research-informed practice, responsibility for educational quality and professional ethics”.

In focus here is how ECTs experience that their research-based knowledge foundation is received by the professional community. Based on empirical findings, and drawing on results from the Finnish MA program, we will discuss professional knowledge development in the encounter with professional employment. Although the Finnish research-based teacher education has received much praise, it has also been criticized (Hansen et al, 2012; Hökkä & Eteläpelto, 2014) for weighing social sciences heavier than the carrying out of own individual research (e.g. Heikkinen, Jokinen & Tynjälä, 2012).

Method

This longitudinal empirical study has primarily a qualitative approach. Similar studies are conducted in both Norway and Finland. In this presentation, we will report on the Norwegian data, collected at UiT. The data analyzed consists of interviews with 22 of the 61 graduating students, carried out just few days after the students had submitted their MA thesis in the spring of 2015. In addition, the presentation draws on letters from the ECTs, written after their first semester in employment. Follow-up interviews will be conducted after one year and later after three and five years, and the interviews from the spring of 2016 will also be included in the analysis in the paper. Annual letters at the turn of the year will be additional data material. Moreover, we will interview ten students from the 2011 and ten from the 2012 cohort, in addition to conducting a survey of all the students in these cohorts. In this way, ECTs’ views of the research-based teacher education and the influence on their professional knowledge development will be investigated over a period of five years. The interviews are semi-structured and focus on ECTs’ experiences of their research-based knowledge gained in education and how it is received. Meaning categorization (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2015) is used as the method of analysis and (the) ECTs’ experiences are categorized in accordance with the research questions. The Norwegian study is unique as it aims to investigate the very first cohort completing a MA degree in teacher education. In the presentation, we will also draw on similarities and differences between the Norwegian and the Finnish study that, interestingly, have two very different traditions of research-based education: One represents a well-established teacher education developed in the course of 40 years, while the other is a pioneer in its country. On the basis of the similarities between the two studies conducted (one on the Norwegian MA, the other on the Finnish) a discussion of developing research-based teacher education will be initiated. Critical and constructive comments will be presented as well as suggestions on how to further develop research-based teacher education and contribute to developing educational research in a European context.

Expected Outcomes

In this presentation, we will highlight the results from the first 22 interviews carried out in 2015, the first letters written at New Year and the follow-up interviews conducted in the spring of 2016. Our analysis from the 2015 interview material, when the respondents were still students, shows that the work with the MA thesis provide them with deep knowledge and research-based competence perceived as relevant for their work as teachers. Furthermore, it resulted in a feeling of autonomy as well as development of interpersonal skills, additionally; the students reported that they were proud of their work. The students have clear ideas about the importance of research and analytical knowledge for their future work. At the same time, they are worried about how their Professional qualifications will be judged by their future colleagues, who may have shorter, more practice based and usually broader competency i.e. in the number of subjects they teach. The empirical findings in this paper will show how their knowledge base and expectations are met, sustained and developed while teaching. The results indicate that for a research-based program to maintain high quality systematic developmental work is necessary, additionally this may support ECT’s professional knowledge development. Related to the future development of teacher education on MA level, research-based competence has to be emphasized from day one. The tentative results show that ECTs express a wide range of opinions, both positive and negative, concerning their education. Their experiences are based on different working contexts.

References

Afdal, H. & Nerland, M. (2012). Does Teacher Education Matter? An Analysis of Realtions to Knowledge among Norwegian and Finnish Novice Teachers. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 58(3), 281-299. Brekke, M. (2010). Dannelse i skole og lærerutdanning. [Education in school and teacher education] Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Eraut, M. (1994). Developing professional knowledge and competence. London: Falmer Press. Hansén, S.-E., Sjöberg, J. & Eilertsen, T. V. (2014). Finske reformideer i norsk lærerutdanningsdiskurs [Finish reform ideas in Norwegian Techer Education discours], in K. A. Røvik, T. V. Eilertsen & E. M. Furu (eds.), Reformideer i norsk skole. Spredning, oversettelse og impelmentering [Reform ideas in Norwegian school. Dissemination, translation and implementation] (p. 168-193). Oslo: Cappelen Damm. Hansén, S,-E., Forsman, L., Aspfors, J. & Bendtsen, M. (2012). Visions for teacher education – Experiences from Finland. Acta Didactica Norge, 1(6), 1-17. Heikkinen, H. Jokinen, H. & Tynjälä, P. (Eds.). (2012). Peer-group mentoring for teacher development. London: Routledge. Hökkä, P. & Eteläpelto, A. (2014). Seeking New Perspectives on the Development of Teacher Education: A Study of the Finnish Context. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(1), 39-52. Kvale, S. & Brinkmann, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing (3rd edition). Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated learning legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mausethagen, S & Granlund, L. (2012) Contested discourses of teacher professionalism: current tensions between education policy and teachers’ union. Journal of Education Policy, 27(6), 815-833. Muller, J. (2009). Forms of knowledge and curriculumn coherence. Journal of Education and Work, 22(3), 205-226. Zeichner, K. (2014). “The Struggle for the Soul of Teaching and Teacher Education in the USA”. Journal of Education for Teaching, 40(5), 551–568.

Author Information

Rachel Jakhelln (presenting / submitting)

University of Tromsoe

Department of Education

Tromsoe

Gerd Stølen (presenting)

UiT The Artic University of Norway

Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education

Tromsø

Kristin Bjorndal

University of Tromsoe, Norway

Unn-Doris Back