Kirsti Klette

Changes in Nordic Teaching Practices: From individualised teaching to the teaching of individuals

In this article the theme of individualisation of teaching is described and analysed. In the light of a fairly long tradition of a comprehensive school system embracing the idea of individualisation, we expected this to be an important aspect of ongoing changes in Nordic schools. Individualisation can be seen as continuity in the pedagogical ideas—at the same time the meaning of individualisation changes along with other changes in school and society. While in Sweden and Norway the appearance of self‐regulatory individualised ways of working in the end of the twentieth century is quite strong, it is not so obvious in the other countries. In the article the theme of individualisation is treated from the perspective of each country. Based on these case descriptions, similarities and differences are discussed.

Indicators of Quality in Teacher Education: Looking at Features of Teacher Education from an International Perspective

Abstract In the United States, policy discussions of teacher education in relationship to teacher quality have tended to focus more closely around debates about the nature of teacher preparation and the need for quality teachers to possess advanced degrees or certification. The field is in need of an array of indicators – a set of powerful, well-researched indicators that can be applied to large public universities as well as small regional private colleges, from university-based programs to “alternative” programs and to more “hybrid” programs. These indicators need to be relevant for teacher certification across a variety of age-ranges and developmental stages. In this chapter, we build on a growing conversation about practice in teacher education and efforts on the part of researchers to identify key features of powerful teacher education. We propose that quality teacher education is designed around a clear and shared vision of good teaching; it is coherent in that it links theory with practice and offers opportunities to learn that are aligned with the vision of good teaching; and it offers opportunities to enact teaching. While these features are supported for the most part by growing consensus in the literature (National Research Council, 2010; NCATE, 2010), there is also an emerging empirical base that provides support for the value of these features as well.

Coherent teacher education programmes: taking a student perspective

Abstract This study draws upon survey data of 486 student teachers from five different programmes based in five different countries (one programme in each country), and programmes that have varied in their efforts to become more coherent. We explore students’ perceptions of the coherence within their teacher education programmes and across the five programmes to investigate whether teachers in these programmes actually experience their teacher education programmes to be coherent. Descriptive analyses and analysis of variance were used for this purpose. Students in a programme which has explicitly made efforts to connect theory and practice over a period of 15 years do report more coherence. Students from a programme that has been constantly working on improvements but not a major redesign conceptualized around coherence, report experiencing less coherence. Based on students’ reports across all programmes, we conclude that the relationship between courses and field placements is in need of tighter links. Investing in collaboration across settings, i.e. field placement settings and university, remains a challenge for all teacher education programmes, even those engaged in substantial change efforts. Investigating how teacher educators might create closer links to school sites is a promising means of developing our understanding of teacher education programme coherence.

Work-Plan Heroes: Student Strategies in Lower-Secondary Norwegian Classrooms

This article explores how individualized teaching methods, such as the use of work plans, create new student strategies in Norwegian lower secondary classrooms. Work plans, which are frequently set up as instructional tools in Norwegian classrooms, outline different types of tasks and requirements that the students are supposed to do during a specific period of time, normally two or three weeks. The current analyses shed light on what strategies girls and boys use when they approach work plans. Analyses of video observations and interviews with 93 students indicate that while girls tend to complete their plan during the first week or distribute the tasks evenly throughout the period, boys either finish the plan during the first week or postpone their work until the last few days. These findings suggest that the use of work plans might give some students, often low-achieving boys, too much responsibility for their own learning.

Blindness to Change Within Processes of Spectacular Change? What Do Educational Researchers Learn from Classroom Studies?

The object of this chapter is to address the problem of change within studies of educational change – or more precisely to address the way certain changes are denied or neglected in studies of educational change.

Professional training and knowledge sources

The aim of this chapter is to examine professional learning among novice professionals focusing on nurses and teachers. Our point of departure is that professional learning is not just a matter of individual motivation to learn or how occupational training and learning is organised and managed.

Teaching Activities and Language use in Science Classrooms

The aim of this chapter is to discuss video studies and new ways of coding, and how coding categories and levels of analyses perform as analytical tools when analysing teaching and learning in science classrooms. Through in-depth analyses of video data from lower secondary science classrooms, we show how different categories and levels of analyses support diversified interpretations and conclusions. By moving between different categories with different levels of functioning, we show how conclusions arrived on the basis of one level of coding might be scrutinized, and challenged, if you use another level of coding as the basis for making interpretations of the data. Within studies of teaching and learning, we argue that scholars often tend to give preference to some authoritative levels or analytic categories in favour of others (often macro level analysis), without any explicit criteria and rationale for these preferences (Nespor, 2004; 2000). In the following analyses, we will elaborate on conceptual categories and functioning levels as lenses through which we explore and analyze teaching and learning opportunities in science classrooms.

Knowledge in teacher learning

How are teachers equipped to meet the new challenges of continual learning in the knowledge society as a professional group? As Feinman–Nesmer (2001), Borko (2004) and others have pointed out, if we want schools to offer powerful learning opportunities, we have to provide more powerful epistemic environments for teachers.

Grounding Teacher Education in Practice around the World: An Examination of Teacher Education Coursework in Teacher Education Programs in Finland, Norway, and the United States

Worldwide, teacher educators and policy makers have called for teacher preparation that is more deeply linked to practice. Yet we know little about how such linkages are achieved within different international programs. We examine the degree to which programs provide opportunities to learn that are grounded in practice, during university coursework. We report on observation data (N = 104 hr) from the methods courses in six programs in Finland, Norway, and California. Using an analytical framework decomposing the conception of “grounding in practice” in teacher education, this article provides evidence regarding the successes and challenges of incorporating practice in teacher education.

Diversity in coherence: Strengths and opportunities of three programs.

Although teacher educators may perceive their program and courses to be coherent, the question remains to what extent student teachers also are able to perceive the linkages within their programs. Coherence within teacher education programs is important for teacher candidates to build understanding of teaching. Our study draws upon survey data from 269 teacher candidates, in three different teacher education programs, located in three different countries (Norway, Finland, United States [California]) and compares these candidates’ perceptions of the coherence of their teacher education programs. Candidates from a program that has explicitly been working on constructing a coherent program over a period of 15 years do report significantly more coherence, yet, across the programs, there remains room for improvement regarding the coherence between field placement and campus courses. We conclude with the suggestion that potential improvement of program coherence lies within greater communication and collaboration between the various stakeholders within teacher education.