Eyvind Elstad

University‐based teacher education in the field of tension between the academic world and practical experience in school: a Norwegian case

Teacher education at the university has to relate both to the school and to academia. Since these two worlds have values that to some extent diverge, teacher education is placed in a field of tension between the requirement to adapt to academic standards, norms, and values and the requirement to maintain a close professional relationship with the practice of teaching in schools. This article gives an account of a Norwegian experience of this field of tension. The purpose of this article is to discuss, interrogate, and identify problems inherent in the tensions between academia and the proximity to the field and the need for robust knowledge production through research and the ‘tips for teachers’ approach. Teacher education has shown adaption to the structures of the university but also developments that point in another direction; this divided culture requires a sharper focus on the complexity of the inherent issues involved.

Social exchange theory as an explanation of organizational citizenship behaviour among teachers

Primary processes in schools are hard to pin down despite attempts to measure central aspects of processes and outputs. For this very reason, it is important that teachers are motivated to go above and beyond their formal job responsibilities, a phenomenon called organizational citizenship behaviour. Social exchange theory is a theoretical explanation for organizational citizenship behaviour. This study examines a model of clear leadership and relational building between head and teachers as antecedents, and organizational citizenship behaviour as a consequence of teacher–school exchange. One purpose of this study is to explore the nature of exchanges between parties in the organization of teachers’ work and examine the relative impact of these aspects on organizational citizenship behaviour. The methodology adopted was a cross‐sectional survey of 234 secondary teachers. The structural equation analysis indicates a strong support for the importance of principal–teacher trust on social exchange and indirectly an impact on organizational citizenship behaviours. We also found some moderate support for the importance of clear leadership on organizational citizenship behaviours. This article presents suggestions for future research and possible implications for practice.

Antecedents of Norwegian beginning teachers’ turnover intentions

This study aims at exploring several individual, organizational, and contextual factors that may affect beginning teachers’ turnover intentions during their first years of practice. The sample consists of 227 beginning teachers (69% female and 31% male) from 133 schools in Norway. The results show four important antecedents of beginning teachers’ turnover intentions: collective teacher efficacy, teacher–principal trust, role conflict, and affective commitment. Our findings suggest that organizational and contextual factors, and not necessarily individual competence perceptions, have a significant impact on beginning teachers’ turnover intentions. Also the findings suggest that beginning teachers should be studied separately from more experienced teachers. Implications for school leadership are discussed.

Mentor education: challenging mentors’ beliefs about mentoring

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight university-based mentor education as a negative antecedent to mentors’ beliefs which are consistent with judgementoring (Hobson and Malderez, 2013). The concept of beliefs consistent with judgementoring (evaluative or judgemental mentoring) is introduced as a quantitative construct which is then used as a dependent variable. The concept of “folk mentoring” is introduced to theorise why and how mentor education may challenge mentors’ beliefs about mentoring. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modelling of cross-sectional survey data is used to estimate and compare the strengths between mentors’ perceived self-efficacy, role clarity, experience and education as independent variables and beliefs about mentoring aligned with judgementoring as the dependent variable. The survey was completed by 146 mentors who attended mentor education programmes in universities and university colleges across Norway. Findings – The findings indicate that mentor...

Towards a model of strategic actions in the classroom: games theory as research heuristic

Why do students adapt to the role of receptive learners despite the fact that they feel this to be unpleasant? Why do they behave so differently when they have substitute teachers? Effective classroom management, or the lack thereof, results from the roles or games that are played between teacher actors and student actors. The conceptual apparatus and modus operandi of games theory gives us a research heuristic for understanding the strategic possibilities inherent in typical classroom situations where the interests of teacher and students are partly concurrent and partly in conflict. The interaction focussed upon here is composed of the ongoing transactions that take place between teacher and students, each playing different roles. Tacit agreement as implicit contract is rational in iterated play. The preconditions for contracts with self-sustaining properties are discussed, as well as the reasons why contracts between the teacher and the students can come unravelled.

Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior Among Educators in Language Education for Adult Immigrants in Norway

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is discretionary and is neither directly nor explicitly recognized by the formal reward system. OCB promotes the efficient and effective functioning of a school organization. The purpose of this article is to explore the antecedents of OCB among educators of adult immigrants in Norway and to examine the relative impact of these aspects on OCB. The study is rooted in theories that have their focal point in employees’ perceptions of exchange. The methodology involved was a cross-sectional survey of 764 educators. The structural equation analysis indicated that factors such as relational trust between the leader and educators and perceptions of social exchange have a strong positive effect on the educators’ OCB. The article concludes with a discussion of how social practice among educators and school leaders is mobilized for sustained extra-role behavior that is advantageous to the organization.

Antecedents of student teachers’ affective commitment to the teaching profession and turnover intention

Abstract Several European countries have experienced both a dearth of and reduction in the quality of applicants to teacher education study programmes. There is also significant leakage from these programmes. The rationale for this study therefore lies in the need to reduce teacher attrition. Research indicates that affective commitment to a profession is an important factor in sustaining good professional practice. This study explores the antecedents of both commitment and turnover intention among student teachers in Norway. The analysis indicates that there are stronger associations between commitment and experiences (particularly from dialogues with school mentors) gained during and after teaching practice in schools than is the case for the more campus-based elements of training. One implication is that there may be justification for placing emphasis on improving the preparation of school mentors and on points of contact between teacher educators and school mentors.

The strength of accountability and teachers’ organisational citizenship behaviour

Purpose – Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) involves discretionary behaviour advantageous to the organisation that goes beyond existing role expectations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between the strength of accountability and teachers’ OCB within three different management systems in which teachers are working: a system of assessment‐based accountability; a system of the gradual introduction of accountability devices; and a system with no tests or examinations.Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modelling of cross‐sectional surveys from the three different management systems was used to estimate the path coefficients and to compare the strength of relationships between concepts in the models.Findings – The analysis shows that the factors that influence OCB in an accountability regime are clearly different from those in a regime with weak or no accountability devices.Research limitations/implications – A cross‐sectional study does not allow us to test causal rela...

Exploring antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviour among teachers at Norwegian folk high schools

The folk high school (FHS) is a Nordic contribution to global education and is a unique approach to non-university adult education. Because expanded tuition is the true nature of Norwegian FHS, it is important for FHS that its teachers perform discretionary individual extra-role behaviour advantageous to the school organization, a phenomenon called organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). The purpose of this article is to explore the antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviour among teachers at Norwegian FHS and examine the relative impact of these aspects on OCB. The study is rooted in an integration of two strands of theories that have their focal point on employees’ perceptions of exchange: (1) Shores theory on employee–organization relationships and (2) Bryk and Schneiders theory on trust in schools. We tested a structural model using cross-sectional data. A questionnaire was distributed to all teachers at Norwegian folk high schools, which resulted in data from 366 teachers, representing a response rate at teacher level of 56%. The research strongly supports the importance of good relations between teachers and school leaders for OCB. The study also indicates that teacher commitment is an important mediating variable between relational trust between leader and teachers and OCB.

Digital Expectations and Experiences in Education

For more than three decades, researchers, policy makers and educationalists have all harboured great expectations towards the use of technology in schools. This belief has received a hard knock after an OECD 2015 report has shown that computers do not improve pupil results: Investing heavily in school computers and classroom technology does not improve pupils’ performance, and frequent use of computers in schools is more likely to be associated with lower results. Educational technology has raised false expectations! The prevailing view of educational technology has shifted. Nevertheless, hardly anyone wishes for a situation in which pupils do not use technology in the service of learning: education is supposed to prepare for the future, and it is evident that technology is one of the answers to the challenges of the future. Many school professionals, however, feel uncertain how schools should tackle challenges relating to the distractions that hamper in-depth learning, easy cut-andpaste solutions and online offensiveness that occur while pupils are at school. The initiative to provide a tablet or PC for each pupil is continuing despite a lack of evidence that it is beneficial to learning. School professionals and policy makers are seeking answers to the question of how schools ought to relate to challenges created by the use of technology in the school.