MITED Making the invisable in teacher education visable

Project summary

Teacher education has different traditions and challenges in different countries, while at the same time there is a growing global trend where education is reduced to evidence-based practices with predefined, measurable outcomes. In such an approach, complex and composite social, economic, institutional and societal conditions can be reduced to teacher educators' (lacking) individual competencies. This project, on the other hand, sees teacher educators as part of systemic activities. These activities are seen as complex interactions in interconnected systems that are constantly changing. It is expected that teacher educators will be in continuous development, renewing working methods and increasing their own competence both as teachers and as researchers, without these processes necessarily being followed up, structured, seen in light of historical, social, economic or natural contextual conditions, or scientificized. Furthermore, there are more than those who teach in the classroom or supervise students who work for the education of kindergarten teacher students. There are several practices that may not always be seen or noticed. Based on the understanding that knowledge of existing practices and the systems in which they are embedded is highly relevant to improving practices, we ask: Who are teacher educators and what do they do? The aim is to gain greater insight into the complexity of educational practices, challenge myths about teacher education practices, and challenge or preserve conditions that can contribute to practices being improved through responsible innovation.

Method

In the Norwegian project, three groups are involved: 1. associate professors, senior lecturers, professors, amanuensis, administrative staff, 2. practice teachers and 3. students. The participants in group one are both participants and researchers, while groups two and three are participants. The overall methodology is inspired by “collaborative auto ethnography” since those involved are researchers researching together (collectively) on their own practice. All those involved document the content of a working day, ‘the Slice protocol’. With participants who have different positions in a teacher education institution, these slices together will be able to provide a common, broad overview of practices in educational institutions. The content of the slices will be followed up by focus group interviews. The participants in group 1 have also made a flip-grip video in which they tell why they are teacher educators.