Teachers’ Changing Perceptions of Professional Knowledge: Empirical Findings From Norway

• In Event: Teachers’ Use of Knowledge Sources to Develop and Improve Practice

Abstract

Objectives and purposes

This paper examines changes in teachers’ perceptions of knowledge sources required in their professional work. Over the past two decades educational policy reforms, both in Norway and internationally, have aimed at strengthening teachers’ theoretical knowledge base and have stressed the importance of research-based knowledge for teachers and in teacher education (Dahl et al, 2016). Teachers’ mandate is generally tied to promoting the students’ personal, social and academic development, and teachers’ work is centred around teaching and student learning, participation in professional learning communities, collaboration with parents and other partners.

Theoretical perspectives

Theories that contribute to understanding the teacher profession and various forms of knowledge required inform the analysis. Teachers’ knowledge base is heterogenous (Grimen, 2008) and includes knowledge in subjects, didactics, pedagogy, practical knowledge about classroom management and social relations. While some knowledge sources are explicit, other forms can be characterised as tacit and experience-based that need to be accumulated over time (Hermansen and Mausethagen, 2023; Schulman, 1987).

  
Methods and data sources 

The analysis draws on cross-sectional data from two online surveys targeted teachers working in primary- and lower secondary schools in Norway; the first one conducted in 2008 (N=2150) and the second in 2021/2022 (N=615), almost 15 years apart. Using the same item batteries makes it possible to make comparisons of trends over time and discover changes in perceptions, with the caveat that some questions might be understood differently or weighed differently in 2022 than in 2008. Linear regression models are applied to investigate changes in perceptions of social and disciplinary knowledge among teachers.
 
Findings  

Preliminary findings suggest an overall relational change in what competencies teachers value as important to succeed in the teaching profession. Socio-relational competencies have become far more important to teachers in 2022 than they were in 2008. Competencies such as having disciplinary knowledge were far more important in 2008. These changing views on knowledge do not only vary over time but vary for teachers with different spans of experience, teachers’ age and pupils’ ages. It is also worth noting that educational background was an explanatory variable in 2008, whereas in 2022 it is not statistically significant, which is interesting from an educational policy point of view.

Scientific or scholarly significance

The paper generates knowledge on contextual factors that are imperative for understanding teachers’ changing perceptions of knowledge, as the precedence of what knowledge is of importance reflects the challenges teachers face in their professional work.


References  
Grimen, H. (2008). Profesjon og kunnskap. In A. Molander & Lars Inge Terum (Eds.), Profesjonsstudier. (pp. 71-86). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. 
Hermansen, H & Mausethagen, S. (2023). Kunnskapsintegrasjon i lærerutdanning og profesjonsutøvelse [Knowledge integration in teacher education and professional practice]. In Mausehagen, S, S. Bøyum, J. Caspersen, T.S. Prøitz & F.W. Thue (Eds.) En forskningsbasert skole? Forskningens plass i lærerutdanning og skole
Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard educational review, 57(1), 1-23. 

Authors

• Hanna Holmeide, Oslo Metropolitan University

• Joakim Caspersen, Norwegian University of Sceince and Technology