The Rhetorical Constructions of "Public" and "Management" in Teacher Education Reforms in Norway 1990–2017

• In Event: Historical Perspectives on Transformation in Teacher Education

Abstract

Underpinning the last 30 years of governance of public education and teacher education reforms in Norway, negative theoretical constructions of the public has been important premises for policy development. The public has been theorized as a homo-economicus demanding too much recourses, being self-centered, orthodox with narrow world views. As such the public in itself has been regarded as unable to respond to the complex challenges and crisis of its time.
Particular two crisis constructions has been dominating the political rhetoric in education in Norway.
An economic crisis rhetoric has been questioning whether the education system produce a sufficient competitive and innovative public able to adapt to globalization, technological development and international competition. Also the specialization of the public labor has been seen as a potential threat to economic organic solidarity with the nation’s well-fare state ideologies. Secondly the political rhetoric has constructed several crisis on how public meaning construction has become differentiated and fragmented under new global public spheres, digital platforms and the modern ‘knowledge explosion’. These new public and battling competing spheres has been seen as a threat to national meaning creation – to the national identity, harmony and culture. As an example, the first reform response to these crisis was to create a broad public national teacher education model in the 1990s, where teacher would need to now the basics his culture and be trained in many disciplines to counter fragmentation and protect the national culture, unity and identity. The latest reforms however address the same challenged with a new comprehensive five year research based teacher education model with a strong focus on internationalization and disciplinary specialization.
Goals, method and theoretical resources.
This paper will outline how certain crisis and public constructions are underpinning teacher education reforms and policies during the last 30 years in Norway. As a contrast to the negative public constructions, optimistic and omnipotent models of leadership and management in governance has been made to govern and reform the field of education. New conflict lines between policy and profession has become apparent. The paper use rhetorical analysis of white papers, public speeches, national reports and curriculum texts, held together with critical findings in empirical research. The leadership model and public construction has typical elements of what Karl Popper (1945) has analyzed as ‘Utopian Social Engineering’ in governance. The paper will analyze key traits of Norwegian educational policy using Poppers key arguments as a critical resource and discuss alternatives presented by Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies.

Author

• Tom Are Trippestad, Western Norway Univresity of Applied Sciences