Marit Ulvik

The impact of mentor education: does mentor education matter?

To gain a deeper understanding of mentor preparation, which is still an underdeveloped area, the current paper focuses on a formal mentor education programme offered to teachers in secondary school at a university in Norway. The research questions in this qualitative study examine why teachers participate in the programme, how they perceive the education and which parts of the programme they value. The underlying question is whether mentor education matters. The findings show that the mentor students in the programme moved from a practical towards a more conceptual understanding of mentoring. They developed ‘a mentor language, a mentor network and a mentor attitude’. There is, however, a limited understanding of mentor education in schools, and being a mentor is not recognised as a profession.

What can experienced teachers learn from newcomers? Newly qualified teachers as a resource in schools

Research on beginning teachers often focuses on the problems they encounter. This study, however, is based on the view that it is better to build on what people do well rather than to focus on their failures and helplessness. The aim of the study is to investigate teachers’ strengths by examining the areas in which new teachers in upper secondary school in Norway excel, and how they are or could be used as resources in their workplaces. The study is based on open-ended questionnaires completed by new teachers and their mentors as well as on interviews with two new teachers. The new teachers and their mentors find it easy to list areas where experienced teachers can learn from beginners. Nevertheless, there are few examples of new teachers being used as a resource. This article challenges this practice.

What characterises a good practicum in teacher education

Practice teaching is regarded as a key component of teacher education and often highly valued by student teachers, even if the aims of field experiences vary from context to context. This article takes a closer look at the practicum in a one-year postgraduate teacher education programme (PGCE) in Norway by listening to the voices of student teachers, school-based mentors and university-based supervisors. The study aims to obtain a deeper understanding of how the practicum is understood and whether the various stakeholders in the same context share a common view of the practicum.

Student-Teachers Doing Action Research in Their Practicum: Why and How?.

Teaching in today’s changing society requires teachers’ independent judgement and development. One way of fostering professional development is action research; described, however, as a challenging and time-consuming process. This qualitative study asks whether action research is worthwhile already in pre-service teacher education, or whether the challenges outweigh the gains. Furthermore, it asks how a teacher educator, here the author of the article, could guide student-teachers’ action research projects. The main data source is student-teachers’ research reports, which are analysed and reflected upon in light of professional development. The study revealed that action research under certain conditions offers a potential for professional development for student-teachers.

Action research in pre-service teacher education – a never-ending story promoting professional development

This article presents a case study aiming at deepening the understanding of action research as a tool in professional development in pre-service teacher education. The case is the practice of action research in a teacher education programme for secondary school teachers in Norway. While there has been limited research on consequences of inquiry, this article asks how student-teachers experience the process and outcome of doing action research and what we as their teacher-educators can learn from these experiences about facilitating the student-teachers’ processes. For most student-teachers the process started with numerous challenges, but in the end the majority experienced a positive outcome. We found that an important condition to ensure that action research functions as a tool for professional development is enough time and space to make it possible to reflect in depth. Familiarising students with research and linking theory and practice seem to need specific attention even after a completed action research project. Reflecting on actions seems to help student-teachers to develop their practical and theoretical understanding in a way that gives their experiences transfer value.

Learning to Teach in Norway: A Shared Responsibility

It is internationally acknowledged that teachers play a major role as regards student learning, and the question of how to ensure that all teachers are good teachers draws the attention of education stakeholders also in Norway. New developments are increasingly suggesting that teacher education is a shared responsibility among policy-makers, higher education institutions and the practice field; however, how to translate such a perspective into coherent practice seems to be a challenge. This chapter proposes that teacher education forms part of career-long and lifelong learning, which starts at the point of entry to the education system and continues until the end of a teacher’s professional life. While the responsibility for teacher education programmes is shared by various stakeholders, the weight of the responsibility shifts as the teacher moves from pre- to in-service education. The connecting link of this shared responsibility is mentoring. It forms a key strategy in teachers’ workplace learning—during pre-service induction, and continuing professional learning. Whilst the focus in the mentoring literature has mainly been on the mentee, less attention has been given to the role of mentors. We discuss mentoring in the Norwegian context in light of recent teacher education reforms, and argue that mentoring is a ‘profession within a profession’, which requires unique professional knowledge and skills acquired through an academic professional education. Finally, we present an induction model which illustrates a shared responsibility for assisting newly qualified teacher in their professional learning.

Is individual mentoring the only answer

Unlike many other countries, Norway has no induction programme or reduction of teaching load for newly qualified teachers. However, an interesting model has been developed through the “New Teachers in Norway” project. This project involves teacher education institutions and schools, novice and experienced teachers as well as teacher educators in the learning process. Future enterprises that are currently discussed in a Parliamentary Proposition have an individual focus. The only suggestion is that all new teachers should have a mentor. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the needs of novice teachers correspond to the aims of the national project and the future plans of Norwegian policymakers.Keywords: novice teachers, mentors, reflective dialogues, networks, learning communities

Leaving teaching: lack of resilience or sign of agency?

Abstract Alarming numbers of teacher attrition are reported in many countries, including in Norway. Whereas most of the research tells about personal and professional negative experiences which have a harmful impact on teachers’ resilience, a different approach is taken in the current paper. Four cases of leavers are purposefully selected because they represent qualified teachers who left the profession, not because they were unhappy with the job or had negative experiences, but because they needed more space and autonomy than they had as teachers. The findings show that their motives for teaching were mainly intrinsic, they were successful teachers, however, they became restless and left their secure jobs to start afresh, and they succeeded. We suggest that it is time to examine the strength of the leavers and accept that teaching is not a lifelong ‘call’ for some of its best people. It is time to seek new ways to revive the profession.

Ethical aspects of professional dilemmas in the first year of teaching

Education is described as a moral enterprise and many of the professional dilemmas teachers encounter have an ethical aspect. Research on ethical situations that novice teachers experience, however, seems to be limited, and we know little about how teacher education can prepare student-teachers for dealing with ethical issues. In this article a narrative approach is used to examine what kind of dilemmas with ethical aspects new teachers in upper secondary school in Norway may experience. The findings suggest that their dilemmas are related to the induction phase in teaching, and that the students are unprepared for dealing with these dilemmas. Based on what we learned from the new teachers, we suggest various implications for teacher education about how to prepare future teachers for handling the variety of professional dilemmas including ethical aspects they are likely to meet.

The Professional Development of Higher Education-Based Teacher Educators: Needs and Realities

ABSTRACT Current literature suggests that while teacher educators perform a multitude of complex roles, they receive minimal preparation or possibilities for professional development to fulfil these roles. As a result, they need to acquire relevant knowledge and skills after taking on the position of teacher educators. Therefore, it is important to learn what skills and knowledge teacher educators need and how they acquire such skills and knowledge throughout their career. The purpose of this study is to describe the professional development needs and activities of 61 teacher educators across six national jurisdictions (England, Ireland, Israel, Norway, Scotland and The Netherlands) and to reveal influencing factors and affordances conducive to professional development. Semi-structured interviews constituted questions on professional learning opportunities and teacher education and research. Results from the interviews convey themes around the areas of (i) self-initiated professional development, (ii) the importance of experiencing professional development through collaboration with peers and colleagues, (iii) accessing opportunities to improve teacher education teaching practices, and (iv) the inextricable link between teaching and research and, consequently, the need to upskill in research skills. Discussion points that arise include the induction period, frustration and tension in navigation, haphazard professional learning and learning with, and from, each other.