In today’s rapidly changing labour markets and societies, people need to develop their knowledge, skills and competences continuously. Further education gives teachers such possibilities, and knowledge about how teachers experience further education will be useful understanding relevance and impact of such education. In this paper we present results from a study on teachers learning in a research-integrated and workplace based further education program. After three courses, evaluation revealed different alterations in the teachers descriptions about learning and development through the educational program (Sandvoll et al., 2017, p. 284). An alteration in this context refers to teachers’ stories about “before” and “after” participating in the program. This presentation discusses the issue: What does teachers say about their learning and professional development after participating I the further educational program “Teacher Specialists in the Arts and Crafts?

In the study, Desimone's (2009) framework for teachers' professional development is used as a framework to understand what teachers say about changes through education. Narrative theory is used to construct specific shifts in the teachers' stories. The stories constructed through focus group interviews are seen as a collective construction of experiences with an identity-forming character (Riessman & Speedy, 2007). The study focuses on the participants' way of narrating their experiences and perceptions of change, and how collective narratives about learning and development emerge.

Learning often occurs over a longer period, and in a two-year educational program, learning and development will relate to different tempos. The teachers reflect on what has happened during the education and how they perceive themselves and their practice afterward. The research focus on meaning, interpretation, and the participants' experiences. The narratives about changes in the education are presented as an interpretation of many voices, emphasizing credibility and resonance.

The study involves two researchers: Researcher 1, who has been a teacher and initiator of the teacher specialist education, and Researcher 2, who has not participated in the teaching and therefore does not know the students beforehand. Focus group interviews were used as a method in this qualitative study, which provides in-depth information about why people feel, think, or act in a certain way (Tjora, 2017). The informants are teacher specialists in arts and crafts from three cohorts, and three interviews were conducted with five participants in each group. The interviews were held on Zoom and lasted 60 minutes. The groups were formed independently of cohort affiliation but can be defined as homogeneous due to the participants' similar backgrounds and experiences. The interviews were led by Researcher 2 and focused on the participants' subjective experiences, perspectives, and attitudes. The common culture among the informants provided a good basis for discussing their experiences from the study. A semi-structured interview guide with three main themes was sent out in advance: experience of the study, perception of relevance, and perception of one's ability to contribute to change. The data were transcribed and anonymized before analysis. The analysis consisted of three phases: transcription, thematic sorting (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005), and selection and construction of four narratives. The researchers sorted the data together and identified six thematic groups. The final analysis focused on narratives about changes, resulting in four stories about change and shifts. The results are presented with fictitious teacher names and are based on statements from the interviews.

Analyzing data, four stories about teachers’ alterations during further education evolved: 1) First, research-integrated and work-place-based education contributed to developing a researcher’s «eye» where everyday practices became visible and ignited initiative for making changes. 2) Second, a connection between teachers developing personal safety and the evolving of a new teacher-identity as a changemaker was established. Such connection lowered the threshold for both subject matter- and school-development. 3) Third, developing a deepened subject matter knowledge contributed to teaching practices in closer accordance with the formal curriculum. 4) Fourth, becoming a participant in a community of professionals of arts and crafts teachers exchanging experiences and practices from professional work contributed to greater understanding of possibilities for teaching and learning in arts and crafts. Further education for teachers is expected to build on updated and research-based knowledge and this study contributes to the body of knowledge about teachers’ professional stories about the impact from participating in research integrated and workplace based further educational programs. This study gives insight into how further education moved the teachers from being lone wolves on their workplace to become a part of transforming professional communities.

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