Transformative Teacher Education: Illuminating and Preparing Future Teachers

• In Event: Innovative ideas and perspectives in teacher education and the teaching profession

Proposal

In this presentation, we investigate the need for transformative teacher education to meet current and future societal challenges using Norway as a case study. Increasing globalization, the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change are all examples of events our youth and teachers need to be able to tackle and address (Author et al., 2021; Voogt & Roblin 2012; OECD 2019). Norwegian teacher education is criticized for not teaching relevant content and methods, and hence, contributing to schools’ challenges to teach for future needs (e.g., Ministry of Education and Research, 2015; 2017).

Education is meant to prepare students for a future we do not know, for occupations we cannot foresee, and for currently unknown challenges and technologies (OECD, 2019; Fadel, 2008). The rapid development of information and technology questions and confronts the education system as currently insufficient in equipping young people for the future (Karakoyun & Lindberg, 2020). To counter these obstacles, several countries have included what is entitled 21st Century skills and competencies in different variations (Fadel, 2008; OECD, 2019; Acedo & Hughes, 2014; Voogt & Roblin, 2012). We argue that transformative teacher education, the ideological nexus between liberal education, progressive education, environmental education, and education for sustainable development (Mezirow, 1996; Pavlova, 2013; Freire, 2000; Taylor, 2017) can facilitate a learning environment where teacher educators and student teachers face the same realities of uncertain futures as our young citizens do. This can also prepare student teachers who jointly can become agents willing and able to make an impact (McWhinney & Markos, 2003; Kitchenham, 2008).

A comparative case study research design is applied in the study (Bartlet & Vavrus, 2017; Ragin, 2014) with two sets of data: 1) Norwegian regulatory documents for schools and teacher education account for the mandate given both educational levels, and 2) Questionnaire responses from teachers (N=906), student teachers (N=155), and teacher educators (N=121) on how they work with interdisciplinary education. The study has given us a snapshot of educators’ perspectives at a certain point in time when a new and interdisciplinary Norwegian National Curriculum was recently introduced, in 2020, and with all the educators in a policy-to-implementation process. As such, we judge this contributing as part of an ongoing dialogue between concept formation and data analysis, supporting our quest to develop and refine our ideas, concepts, hypothesis, and theory formulations (Ragin, 2014).

Our results indicate that the mandate assigned to teacher education is not in sync with the new National Curriculum as a new teacher education was in place a couple of years in advance. The Ministry of Education and Research did not mention any need for interdisciplinary work in the Framework Plans for Teacher Education. The National Council of Teacher Education provided the Guidelines for quality and teacher education and mentioned interdisciplinary themes, and elements of the three interdisciplinary topics introduced in the new National Curriculum (Public Health and Life Skills, Democracy and Citizenship, Sustainable Development), yet not as explicitly as displayed in the Core curriculum. On one hand, this makes it possible to omit the three themes from teacher education, but not interdisciplinary work with transversal skills. On the other hand, this provides possibilities for teacher education programs to educate teachers not relevant to the school reality they are facing when graduating and not addressing the current and future challenges.
The initial analysis of teachers, student teachers, and teacher educators’ perspectives and self-reported practices with interdisciplinary work reveals a need for comprehensive changes in teacher education to educate future teachers who can address the societal needs as both described by the Norwegian Government through the new National Curriculum and the international commitment through the UN Sustainable Development Goals and OECD’s call for 21st Century Skills (OECD, 2019). Our analyses indicate that teachers, to a larger extent than teacher educators, implement and explore interdisciplinary methods of teaching. Schools and teachers convey a potential for transferring experience with interdisciplinary teaching. As teacher education is relatively limited in this regard, the potential displayed by other stakeholders does not seem to be a result of the work in teacher education. This points to a teacher education partially at odds with the needs in school and society. These results illustrate the necessity for teacher education to implement interdisciplinarity aligned with legal regulations.

Additionally, the results indicate a need for teacher education to move away from traditional forms of teaching and learning, making educational content and methods responsive to the challenges future generations of teachers need. To ensure a transformative teacher education, there might be a need to change the focus in academia on individual achievements towards a stance of collaboration (Minnis & Steiner, 2005, p. 58).

Author

• Heidi Biseth, University of South-Eastern Norway