Pre-service teachers’ competence in making use of diversity as pedagogical asset

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday V)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Work with diversity in sustainable education

Proposal

In this study, we investigate Norwegian pre-service teachers’ competence in making use of diversity as a pedagogical asset in teaching. 245 pre-service teachers responded to eight scenarios, each describing a concrete dilemma in school, and all scenarios including some form of diversity in the student population. A questionnaire was used for the purpose, including questions on demographic background variables of the participants.

In one of the scenarios, a museum is used as an educational arena, a common pedagogical practice in Norway, particularly in social studies. Acknowledging the extensive field of museum pedagogy (Hooper-Greenhill, 2007), we rather turn our attention to the pedagogical opportunities emerging when something unexpected occurs on an arena with a social studies content and familiar to pre-service students with social studies as a subject. We ask the following research question: What competence is displayed among pre-service teachers in making use of diversity as a pedagogical asset when a museum is used as an arena for learning?

The analysis is based on pre-service teachers’ reflections on a presented case during their teacher education program. First, we will analyze how the pre-service teachers understand the educational scenario. Second, their suggestions for alternative practices will be scrutinized to assess if and how they embody respect for and acceptance of diversity, and are able to discuss a supportive and confirming learning environment (Goodman, 2011). The analysis is work in progress and will be presented at the conference. The responses will take into account demographic variables of the respondents and the objective of social studies as described in the National Curriculum. The goal of the study itself is to disclose viewpoints on diversity and to use the results as an instrument to address future development of teacher education in general and social studies education in particular.

The Norwegian National Curriculum describes the school subject social studies as a subject fundamental in developing the understanding of and support to basic human rights, democratic values and equality, and contributing to developing active citizenship (Ministry of Education and Training, 2006). Internationally, the subject is assessed as conflictual, with tensions and unsettled definitions of the nature of the subject and its pedagogies (Lee, 2008; Lee & Manzon, 2018). In an increasingly globalized world, we can ask new questions on what constitutes meaningful definitions of citizenship, according to UNESCO (2015). In order to respond to global, national and local challenges, citizenship education, including social studies education, has to be transformative, developing knowledge, values, skills and attitudes enabling pupils to contribute to an inclusive, just and peaceful world (UNESCO, 2014; UNESCO, 2015; Lee & Manzon, 2018). How Norwegian pre-service teachers deal with diversity may be considered an indication on how they judge their future role as teachers in developing core civic competencies for the 21st century, as Lee and Manzon (2018) discuss the need in social studies internationally. Moreover, the results of this study may give us an indication on how we as Norwegian teacher educators contribute with a relevant and future-oriented social studies education.

Authors

• Heidi Biseth, University of South-Eastern Norway

• Jocelyn von Hof, University of South-Eastern Norway