Constructing knowledge for the teaching profession. A comparative analysis of policy making, curricula content, and novice teachers’ knowledge relations in the cases of Finland and Norway
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- Institutt for pedagogikk [2433]
Abstract
In this thesis a study of the construction of knowledge for the teaching profession is presented in the format of a collection of three articles and an extended abstract. The thesis shed light on important processes and relations constructing teachers’ professional knowledge, and offers an analysis of (1) policy making processes, (2) organization of knowledge in teacher education curricula; and (3) novice teachers’ relations to professional knowledge. Teacher education in this thesis is limited to professional programs (four years in Norway, five years in Finland) educating primary school teachers. The three research contexts selected or perspectives taken in this thesis enable to address the questions on how knowledge is made available through policy making, what kind of knowledge is selected and how it is organized, and finally what kind of relations to knowledge may be developed among novice teachers.The thesis is based on three folded empirical material: (1) Interviews with policy makers in Norway and Finland (2) curriculum texts for teacher education at institutional level (Oslo University College and University of Helsinki) and (3) interviews with novice teachers from Finland and Norway educated after the curricula mentioned above. Secondary data such as national policy documents regulations and former research have also informed the analysis. Two different but somehow related theoretical perspectives are integrated in the analytical framework, one from political science and one from sociology. The first one is dealing with policy making from an institutional perspective (Gornitzka, 1999) focusing on structures, actors and rules in the policy making processes, the other focusing on the relationship between knowledge structures, actors and action in construction of educational knowledge and pedagogical identities (Bernstein, 2000).
The overall findings of this thesis show that construction of knowledge for the teaching profession is embedded in complex socio-historical contexts and processes. The analyses reveals significant differences in the way in which knowledge for the teaching profession is constructed in the two country contexts: The analyses of policy making processes show that teacher education policy processes in Norway rely heavily on political actors and changes in political conditions, while Finnish teacher education policy processes rely more on academic expertise and research knowledge. The analysis of organization of knowledge in curriculum documents reveals that the Norwegian curriculum emphasizes contextual coherence, connecting conceptually to the logics of practice, while Finnish curriculum emphasizes conceptual coherence, that is, the curriculum are more conceptually tied to the core of the academic discipline. The analysis of novice teachers’ knowledge relations revealed many similarities on the surface, but a closer examination of the teachers’ use of professional language revealed significant differences. The Finnish teachers describe a field of knowledge in which conceptual coherence is given more emphasis, while the Norwegian teachers’ stories are dominated by contextual coherence. Knowledge relations brought to the fore by the Finnish teachers may allow for clearer definitions of professional challenges than those identified among the Norwegian teachers. This means that the epistemic profile of the teacher education curricula was reflected in the novice teacher knowledge relations. In sum, the findings suggest that transforming teacher education policy involves changing and developing deep and complex epistemic structures which involves a far more comprehensive and time-consuming processes than merely changing policy- and curricula texts.
Avhandlingen baserer seg på et tredelt empirisk materiale: (1) intervjuer med aktører involvert i policy utvikling for lærerutdanningene i Finland og Norge, (2) læreplaner fra lærerutdanningene ved henholdsvis Universitetet i Helsinki og Høgskolen i Oslo, og (3) intervjuer med nyutdannede lærere fra Finland og Norge, utdannet etter de overnevnte læreplaner. To forskjellige, men også i noen grad beslektede teoretiske perspektiver utgjør det analytiske rammeverket i denne avhandlingen, hentet henholdsvis fra statsvitenskap og kunnskapssosiologi. Det første perspektivet fokuserer på policy prosesser i et institusjonelt perspektiv (Gornitzka, 1999), og legger vekt på aktører, relasjoner og strukturer som påvirker policy prosesser. Det andre teoretiske perspektivet fokuserer på forholdet mellom strukturer, aktører og handlinger i kunnskapskonstruksjoner knyttet til utdanning og utvikling av pedagogiske identiteter (Bernstein, 2000).
Resultatene fra denne avhandlingen viser at prosesser involvert i konstruksjon av kunnskap for lærerprofesjonen er kontekstuelt og sosial fundamentert, og at en rekke strukturer og relasjoner er involvert i utviklingsprosessen. Analysen av policy prosesser i de to landene viser en akademisk (staten har en veiledende rolle) versus en politisk styrt policy (staten har en styrende rolle) prosess i henholdsvis Finland og Norge. Analysen av læreplanene viser at i den finske planen er kunnskapsorganiseringen basert på vitenskapelige begreper og strukturer (conceptual coherence), mens den i den norske planen er basert på kunnskapsstrukturer knyttet nært til logikken for kunnskap i praksisfellesskapet (contextual coherence). Når det gjelder nyutdannede lærere, viser de finske lærerne en sterkere tilknytning til en vitenskapelig basert kunnskapskultur, mens de norske lærerne knytter seg tetter opp mot kunnskapskulturen i praksisfeltet. Det betyr at den epistemiske profilen på lærerutdanningsprogrammene er reflektert i hvordan lærerne uttrykker sin kunnskapstilknytning. Forøvrig viser også funnene i denne avhandlingen at det å endre læreplaner for lærerutdanningen involverer dype epistemiske strukturer; det dreier seg om langt mer omfattende og tidkrevende endringer enn å forandre teksten og strukturen i læreplaner og policy dokumenter.
List of papers
Article 1: Afdal, H. W.: Policy Making Processes with respect to Teacher Education in Finland and Norway. Higher Education. Higher Education. February 2013, Volume 65, Issue 2, pp 167-180. The paper is removed from the thesis in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9527-2 |
Article 2: Afdal, H. W.: Knowledge in teacher education curricula: examining differences between a research-based program and a general professional program. Accepted version. Nordic Studies in Education. 2012, nr 03-04. The paper is removed from the thesis in DUO due to publisher restrictions. |
Article 3: Afdal, H.W. and Nerland, M.: Does Teacher Education Matter? An Analysis of Relations to Knowledge among Norwegian and Finnish Novice Teachers. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. Published as Online First 3 October 2012. The paper is removed from the thesis in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2012.726274 |