Teachers are expected to draw on different forms of knowledge; including both theoretical and practical knowledge. A teacher’s knowledge base is heterogenous (Grimen, 2008) and consists of knowledge in pedagogy, didactics, subjects they teach, practical knowledge about classroom management and social relations and knowledge in tacit and experience-based knowledge that needs to be accumulated over time (Hermansen and Mausethagen, 2023; Schulman, 1987). Additionally, over the past two decades educational policy reforms, both in Norway and internationally, have aimed at strengthening teachers’ theoretical knowledge base. The policies have stressed the importance of research-based knowledge in teachers and in teacher education (Ministry of Education and Research, 2014; Dahl et al, 2016).

Concurrently, teachers’ mandate has changed with societal changes and teachers are expected to be “mentors, master and mothers” (Hansen and Simonsen, 2001). Teachers’ mandate is generally tied to promoting the pupils’ personal, social and academic development. And teachers’ work is centred around 1) the teacher and the pupils, 2) teachers as part of a professional learning community and 3) teachers and parents and other partners (Thorsen and Christensen, 2018). The changes to teachers’ work and roles with changing educational policy is therefore interesting aspects when investigating teachers’ views on knowledge. We argue that these contextual factors are imperative to understanding teachers’ changing views on knowledge. What knowledge is of importance reflect the challenges teachers’ face in their professional lives, but also reflect school development and organisational structures.

“Schools are complex, multifaceted sites of learning” (Handscomb,2019), not only for the pupils but also for teachers and other staff. In such, schools become a premium space for learning communities to develop professional practice. It is therefore interesting to investigate whether changes in views on knowledge are different among teachers with different years of experience. Teachers’ professional identity is created and developed through their education and occupation, with their social and cultural backgrounds, as a personalisation of knowledge and skills that the occupation requires (Heggen, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to examine changes in attitudes towards social and subject specific knowledge between teachers with different experience spans; novice teachers with zero to three years of experience, experienced teachers with four to ten years of experience and very experienced teachers with more than ten years of experience.

The empirical data that forms the basis of this paper consists of two surveys; one conducted in 2008 and another one conducted in 2021/2022, almost 15 years apart. The surveys were online questionnaires and were sent to teachers working in primary- and lower secondary schools in Norway (N= 2150 in 2008 and N=615 in 2022). The data is cross-sectional; meaning data of each observation belong to a different individual at a given point in time. By using question batteries from the 2008 survey in the 2022 survey, it was possible to make comparisons of trends over time and discover changes in attitudes, with the caveat that some questions might be understood differently or weighed differently in 2022 than in 2008. We apply linear regression models to investigate changes in attitudes of social and disciplinary knowledge among teachers with different length of experience. Do these changes vary with experience? And are these changes explained by different factors? In other words, are these changes different from novice and experienced teachers and how can these differences and changes be explained?

Preliminary findings suggest a relational change in what competencies teachers value as important to succeed in the teaching profession. The social-relational part of teachers’ role and competencies have become more important to teachers in 2022 than they were in 2008. Moreover, competencies such as having subject specific knowledge was more important in 2008. These changing views on knowledge do not only vary over time but vary for teachers with different spans of experience. Early regression models suggest that theoretical knowledge vary with experience in 2008 but is mostly explained by gender. However, in 2022 there are no statistically significant differences between theoretical knowledge and teachers’ experience. However, holding the grades/years teachers have the most teaching hours at constant makes the coefficient statistically significant. In both years, the more experience teachers have, the more positive they are towards theoretical knowledge. The 2022 results could imply that teachers’ mandate and changing role is a stronger factor today than it was in 2008. This will be interesting to investigate further. For social-relational knowledge, preliminary findings suggest that views on this type of knowledge also vary with experience. The more experience teachers possess, the more they value social-relational knowledge. In 2008, views on social-relational knowledge vary with experience for all experience categories and is mostly explained by gender, education and grades/years teachers have the most teaching hours at. In 2022, only very experienced teachers are statistically significantly different from novice teachers. The regression models are still in the early stages, and it will be interesting to investigate the relationship between teachers’ attitudes towards theoretical and social knowledge and the length of their experience with different explanatory variables further. What is the relationship between changing views on knowledge and experience in the teaching profession? How can this be understood in a changing educational policy context?

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