Master Theses And Teacher Professionalism In Teacher Education
Author(s):
Kaare Skagen (presenting / submitting) Knut Løndal (presenting) Bodil Kleve Bjørn Smestad
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
10. Teacher Education Research
Format:
Paper

Session Information

10 SES 06 E, Dialogue and Professionalism in Teaching and Learning

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-23
15:30-17:00
Room:
K5.02
Chair:
Marit Ulvik

Contribution

MASTER THESES AND TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM IN TEACHER EDUCATION

General description on research questions, objectives and theoretical framework (up to 600 words) 591


Common for most international teacher training programs is that they include pedagogy, didactics as well as practical teacher training, aiming for student teachers to acquire both the relevant scientific knowledge as well as practical teaching skills. The various teacher education programs, however, vary in the amount of emphasis put on the theoretical versus the practical part of the education. This results in a marked difference in how extensively theoretical research knowledge is represented in the various education programs.
The Norwegian government has on a new teacher education program involving expansion of the theoretical part of the training, including the introduction of a more extensive master thesis. The program starts in 2017 with plans for the existing 4 year program to be phased out within a few years. In the government's strategy for this new education program the master thesis is emphasized as having an important role in binding together theoretical research-based and practical profession-oriented knowledge (Ministry of Education, 2015).
Concerns have been expressed from politicians and teacher educators that the theoretical academic requirements for this master's thesis could result in too much emphasis on the theoretical part of the education at the expense of practical teaching skills (Giske, 2015, pp. 126-129; Tellevik Dahl, 2016).

In this paper we aim to investigate how master theses in teacher education focus on theoretical knowledge and also formulate research questions related to the practical/profession-oriented aspects of teaching. To qualify as profession-oriented we require that issues, perspectives, materials and findings in the master thesis must contain topics that affect teachers' everyday work in schools. To study whether and how theoretical theses could address practical aspects of teaching we examined master theses from Oslo and Akershus University College of AppliedSciences to show that this is possible.

Hattie (2013, pp. 173-178) believes that the importance of teacher education for the teacher's practical teaching skills is relatively unexplored. Available research indicates that teacher training has little impact on the extent to which teachers affect student achievement. The studies referred to by Hattie are probably predominantly three- or four-year programs not including a written thesis. Several of the research results Hattie refers to probably do not include what we regard as master theses at all.

Maaranen (2010) interviewed 23 Finnish newly qualified teachers (NQT) who had written their theses on topics involving their own work as teachers. This group of teachers considered that their efforts with their thesis had improved their practical teaching skills as well as had a positive impact on relations with colleagues and pupils' learning.

In some of her work the Norwegian researcher Afdal (2014), referring to interview materials and knowledge theory, has argued that the curricula in Norwegian teacher education does not support the development of theoretical research knowledge among student teachers. In comparison to Finnish student teachers, Norwegian student teachers utilize a more unscientific professional language. (Afdal, 2014).

In our regard, the differences between Norwegian and Finnish teachers in the extent to which they use research knowledge in their practical teaching is a consequence of differences in the teacher education in the two countries. Finland has a long established research-based teacher education that includes a master thesis, whilst the Norwegian general teacher education has had weaker academic knowledge component until the reform in 2010. Even after the reform, Norwegian student teachers will not to the same extent get the training in research based thinking and writing that Finnish teachers get.

Method

Methods / methodology Our definition of a strict concept of “profession relevance” requires that the following characteristics are met: (i) student or teacher perspective is explicit in the theses, (ii) the data is obtained from a school, (iii) school subject is part of the thesis, (iv) research questions include professional topics and (v) the findings are about relevant aspects of school life. A wider definition of professional relevance is less strict on the requirement for teaching practice, from where material is obtained, and whether academic school subjects should be an explicit part of the theses. Whether a strict or wider understanding of the concept of professional relevance is applied, will have implications for the extent to which the theses are being considered as relevant for the practical profession. The master theses that constitute the materials for this study were submitted as examination papers for the second year in the Master's Program in Educational Sciences for Basic Education, a two-year supplementary course for teachers. The thesis constitutes half of the study time and corresponds to 60 credits in the second year. All courses in the master program has after a curriculum change in 2015 a grading scale A-F, and examination forms include school exams, home assignments and an oral exam. The selection of academic subject and hypothesis of the thesis will obviously affect whether they are of relevance in developing practical teaching skills. Theses written in the Master of the academic subjects mathematics, physical education and pedagogy to study profession relevance closer were examined. Literature search to identify existing research on this subject was performed. Several variations of keywords such as/ master / and / professional relevance / teacher training in Norwegian educational Journals and Acta Didactica were used. No articles that examined the contents of the master's thesis with regard to professional relevance were identified. Two articles reported on action research within the framework of a master program (Hiim, 2003 and 2015). One article documented that master students experience the work of writing dissertations in teacher training as highly relevant to their practical teacher work (Jakhelln, Bjørndal and Stølen, 2016). When searching using the words / MA Thesis / in combination with / Master Programs / and /research/and Nordic Studies in Education and Scandinavian Journal of Education one article was identified (Maaranen, 2010).

Expected Outcomes

Expected outcomes / results Eighteen out of thirty theses in Physical Education can be placed within a strict understanding of professional relevance. These theses are based on information collected in the school context, and the findings are highly relevant for teaching and learning in Physical Education. Twelve theses meet the wider understanding of professional relevance addressing issues such as students’ experiences and / or learning in different types of physical activity or sport. The theses, however, might contribute with profound knowledge relevant to the school's teaching of Physical Education. Fourteen out of eighteen master theses in mathematics focused on the relationship between teacher and student(s) in class, students' learning of mathematics and how teachers teach mathematics, and can therefore be categorized within a strict understanding of professional relevance. Nine had their primary focus on students, and five on teachers. Of the remaining four theses, two focused on student teachers, and two on teaching materials. These can be categorized as professional relevant in a wider sense. Fifteen out of the seventeen theses in pedagogy meet the strict definition of profession relevance while two theses are falling within a wider understanding of professional relevance. These theses have obtained data materials from teacher training and from schools. In all theses both teacher and pupil perspectives are represented in the theory applied, in the empirical data and in the main findings. The use of qualitative methods dominates. Some theses concentrate on teaching methods and academic content, others on students’ learning or teachers’ teaching. Of the total of 65 theses that have been studied, 50 theses can be said to be strictly professionally relevant while 15 are professionally relevant in a wider sense.

References

References •Afdal, H. W. (2014). Fra politikk til praksis - konstruksjon av læreres profesjonelle kunnskap. I Norsk Pedagogisk Tidsskrift, (06), 471-482 •Giske, T. (2015). La læreren være lærer. Veien til en skole der alle kan lykkes. Oslo:Gyldendal •Hattie, J. (2013). Synlig læring. Oslo:Cappelen Damm Akademisk •HiOA, 2016 http://www.hioa.no/Studier-og-kurs/LU/Master/Skolerettet-utdanningsvitenskap/Programplan-for-Masterstudium-i-skolerettet-utdanningsvitenskap-2016/SKUT5910-Masteroppgave-2016-2017[Nedlastet 9.mai 2015] •Hiim, H. (2003). Læreren som forsker. Erfaringer med en strategi for å forske i læreryrket». Norsk pedagogisk tidsskrift, 05-06/2003 Hiim, H. (2003). «Læreren som forsker. Erfaringer med en strategi for å forske i læreryrket •Hiim, H (2015). Kvalitet i yrkesutdanningen - Resultater fra et aksjonsforskningsprosjekt om yrkesforankring av innholdet i yrkesutdanningen. Norsk pedagogisk tidsskrift 02 / 2015 (Volum 99), ss. 136-148 •Jakhelln, R., Bjørndal, K. E., Stølen, G. (2016). Masteroppgaven – relevant for grunnskolelæreren? Acta Didactica, Vol. 10., nr. 2 (ss. 193-211) •Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2009. St. meld. nr. 11 (2008-20099 Læreren. Rollen og utdanningen.) •Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2015 [https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/kd/vedlegg/planer/kd_strategiskole_web.pdf] •Maaranen, K. (2010). Teacher Students’ MA Theses-A Gateway to Analytic Thinking About teaching? A case Study of Finnish Primary School Teachers. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 54 (5), 487-500 •Tellevik Dahl, T. (2016). Tar lærerutdanningen i feil retning. [http://khrono.no/debatt/tar-laererutdanningen-i-feil-retning]

Author Information

Kaare Skagen (presenting / submitting)
HiOA
GFU
Oslo
Knut Løndal (presenting)
Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences
Department ofPrimary ans Secondary Teacher Education
Oslo
Bodil Kleve
HiOA, Norway
Bjørn Smestad
HiOA, Norway

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