Norway reformed its teacher education to a five-year master’s degree in 2017 and newly qualified teachers (NQTS) now graduate with research and development (R&D) competence. R&D competence aims to enable NQTs to use theories of science and research methodologies to evaluate and use research to develop themselves, their teaching, and the schools they work at (Toom et al., 2010). Schaefer et al. (2012) argue that we must change our focus from retaining NQTs, to sustaining them, and Kelchtermans (2017, p. 961) deconstruct the challenge of teacher attrition as “…the need to prevent good teachers from leaving the job for the wrong reasons”. Additionally, Bjørndal et al. (2020) found that NQTs from a piloted five-year teacher education experienced challenges in engaging in systematic research work due to workload and stress. The reform necessitates examining how the school support, develop, and apply NQTs’ R&D competence in their induction to professional life. I analyze semi-structured qualitative interviews (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2018) of eight NQTs, eight mentors, 16 colleagues, and seven principals from eight municipalities using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The theory of practice architectures (TPA) (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008) is used as an analytical lens. TPA posits that practices are social, situated, and shaped by three mutually influencing arrangements: the cultural-discursive, the material-economic, and the social-political (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008). By analyzing these arrangements and their accompanying sayings, doings, and relatings, I identify and describe the prevalent practices that prefigure the support, development, and application of NQTs’ R&D competence. In line with the theme of “Education in an Age of Uncertainty”, I expect to uncover discrepancies between the established traditions of school development and the evolution of the teacher education, where the schools have not been able to utilize and create a “niche” (Heikkinen, 2020) for the R&D competence of NQTs. The analysis is expected to clarify the diverse and contrasting perspectives among the school employees and the NQTs about the value of R&D competence in the teacher profession. This includes insights into sayings that reflect different attitudes towards the relevancy of R&D competence, doings consisting of practical actions the schools have or have not implemented for the support, development, and application of R&D competence, and relatings which highlight interpersonal dynamics between new and older teachers. Further this paper discusses how we can sustain NQTs by positioning them as valuable contributors.

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