Search Results (23)

This study explores English language teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding assessment and associated training needs in two diverse European educational contexts: Norway and Cyprus. Using a quantitative approach, the research employed survey questionnaires completed by 134 Norwegian and 396 Cypriot teachers. Analysis, including chi-square and Mann–Whitney tests, revealed important foundational beliefs and practices of language assessment literacy (LAL), alongside distinct practices influenced by contrasting educational systems and socio-cultural landscapes. Context emerged as a critical factor shaping teachers’ confidence, knowledge, and professional development needs in assessment. Findings highlight the importance of integrating culturally responsive frameworks into LAL development programs to better address diverse educator needs. Recommendations are also provided for designing localized, context-sensitive teacher training initiatives and fostering collaborative practices to bridge gaps in LAL. The study concludes by highlighting future research directions to expand understanding of LAL in multicultural settings. Full article

This research explores how intercultural dialogue through a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project enhances students’ understanding and integration of Indigenous perspectives. The initiative connected Norwegian Early Childhood Teacher Education (ECTE) students with Canadian Teacher Education students to explore Sámi and Métis cultures. Using a qualitative design, focus group interviews with ECTE students employed a hermeneutic approach to interpret experiences and cultural reflections. These insights, analyzed systematically, demonstrated the COIL project’s effectiveness in facilitating intercultural dialogue, fostering intercultural competence, and encouraging self-reflection among participants. Participants developed invaluable skills for integrating Indigenous perspectives into future educational roles, supported by facilitation that enhanced cross-cultural dialogue and language skills. This study underscores the need for frameworks supporting sustained cultural engagement, acknowledging sample size limitations. Findings advocate for the broader integration of intercultural collaborations in strategies, emphasizing education that enhances cultural competence. Future research should expand with larger samples and varied cultures, using longitudinal studies to assess the impacts on professional development and optimize collaboration educational contexts. Full article

This study explores the use of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) as a pedagogical method to enhance intercultural competence among Early Childhood Teacher Education (ECTE) students, with an emphasis on Indigenous perspectives in Norway and Canada. Using qualitative focus group interviews with Norwegian students engaged in a COIL project with Canadian peers, this research identifies key pedagogical benefits and logistical considerations of this approach. The findings indicate that COIL enhances critical intercultural skills, such as cross-cultural communication and collaboration. This study highlights the necessity of establishing clear guidelines and objectives from the beginning, alongside active teacher participation, to foster a supportive environment that builds student confidence and autonomy. Additionally, COIL has broadened students’ understanding of cultural perspectives, which is valuable for their application in early childhood education settings. Ultimately, this study positions COIL as a valuable method for promoting intercultural collaboration and embedding Indigenous perspectives. This approach serves as a form of internationalization at home, preparing students to integrate diverse cultural insights into their professional roles in Early Childhood Education and Care. Full article

This study explores the integration of Sámi traditional knowledge in Norwegian science education, addressing the challenges that are faced by teachers who are unfamiliar with Sámi culture. The research employs action research methods, involving student teachers and teacher educators, to develop teaching units focused on Coastal Sámi topics. The study highlights the use of Banks’s multicultural curriculum reform approaches to analyze how Indigenous perspectives were incorporated. The key findings reveal that while efforts were made to include Coastal Sámi concepts, the integration often remained superficial. This study underscores the need for comprehensive teacher training and resources to effectively teach Indigenous topics. The conclusions emphasize the importance of a transformative approach to education that authentically incorporates diverse perspectives, advocating for systemic support to enhance teachers’ ability to deliver culturally relevant education. The research calls for collaboration among policymakers, teacher educators, and the Sámi community to ensure meaningful integration of Indigenous knowledge in curricula, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Sámi culture and sustainability practices. Full article

This qualitative study explores the perceptions and experiences of six newcomer parents from different countries (Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Chile, Russia, and Ukraine) regarding their collaboration with Norwegian schools. Semi-structured in-depth interviews, ranging from 55 to 80 min, were conducted in participants’ native languages and English. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. Four major themes emerged, as follows: (1) “Journeying Through Integration within the Norwegian Educational Landscape”; (2) “Collaboration: Dialogic or Monologic?”; (3) “Language and Communication Barriers”; and (4) “Navigating New Horizons”. The findings highlight that despite the challenges, participants expressed appreciation for the support they received from schools and teachers. The findings also indicate the need for schools to improve communication and cultural understanding to foster meaningful collaboration with newcomer parents. Schools must also provide more opportunities for parent involvement in decision-making processes. This study adds to the limited literature on newcomer parents’ perspectives on school collaboration and provides insights for policymakers, educators, and school administrators to enhance the educational experiences of newcomer students and their families in Norway. Full article

According to Norway’s Core Curriculum all students are to learn about Sámi issues, and the subject of mathematics is not exempt from it. Central to the Sámi tradition is non-standardized individual body-based measuring. Two Sámi pre-service teachers taught Sámi traditional measuring in an urban school where most students are non-Sámi. Their idea was for students to experience the usefulness of using their own bodies as measuring tools. Afterwards, a teacher educator interviewed the pre-service teachers about their experiences. The teaching unit was planned as if it were to be taught in a Sámi school, except that the language of instruction was Norwegian. Analysis shows how the teaching unit aligns with the suggestions and recommendations of Norway’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Analysis with respect to the Theory of Didactical Situations framework, TDS, which has not been developed for Indigenous education, show that TDS contributes to improving the teaching unit’s plan. We recommend that Sámi traditional measuring should be taught by Sámi teachers to more non-Sámi students, and we present a revised teaching plan. However, because there is a significant lack of Sámi teachers, we recommend that non-Sámi teachers use our plan as a model for teaching Sámi traditional measuring. Full article

For at least two decades, lack of knowledge about the Sámi in Norway has been recognised as a reason for the perpetuation of stereotypes and discriminatory acts and hate speech towards them. Education about the Sámi, their lifeways, culture and rights is posited as a means of closing this gap, with the intention of influencing the majority Norwegian society’s attitudes towards the Sámi. The relatively new Norwegian curriculum (LK20) reflects this understanding. It requires teachers at every level of the educational system to include Sámi perspectives and themes in all subjects. This paper looks at how Indigenous Education is included in mainstream schools in Norway. It asks, if Indigenous Education can provide a counterbalance to existing stereotypes and discrimination of the Sámi People, then what kind of knowledge is sufficient to this end? To explore this, I specifically consider the efforts of the Sámi Pathfinders—a group of young Sámi adults (18–25 years) who visit and provide lectures about Sámi history, language and culture for Norwegian high school pupils. Through semi-structured interviews with five Pathfinders, I explored what kind of Indigenous Education they provide, how the Pathfinders interpret their role in relation to combatting stereotypes and discrimination, and their perception of the impact they have. Through reflexive thematic analysis, this study confirmed that there is a lack of knowledge about the Sámi in mainstream education. It also shows that most teachers did not prepare their pupils for the Pathfinders’ visit. Although the Pathfinders’ visit arguably improved pupils’ and teachers’ knowledge about the Sámi, this research suggests that how and how often knowledge is presented matters. It also suggests that who presents knowledge is a factor. Indigenous knowledge that is coupled with contact that is sufficiently close, positive and frequent has greater potential in altering discriminatory tendencies towards the Sámi. Full article

The Norwegian primary and secondary school curriculum from 2020 (LK20) clearly states that the history, cultural life, and rights of the indigenous Sámi people should be included in the school practice. This study addresses how objectives in the subject-specific plans with Sámi content are taught and explores, in addition, teachers’ experiences and reflections on these topics. To investigate this, an electronic questionnaire with open and closed questions was sent to all primary and secondary schools in the South Saepmie region of Norway. The results indicate that a high degree of the respondents include Sámi culture and tradition in their teaching, and there is a variation in their teaching from happenings on February 6th to interdisciplinary projects. The teachers report a lack of competence and call for a greater emphasis on Sámi topics in the teacher education programs. A lack of available teaching aids is experienced even though many found other resources locally and, e.g., on the internet. They experienced, however, an increase in the availability of teaching aids in recent years. The respondents pointed out, however, that inadequate teacher competence and a lack of teaching aids strongly limited the respondents’ possibility to teach Sámi topics in school. Consequently, more teaching aids should be developed, and Sámi content in continuing and teacher education programs should be strengthened. Full article

School dropout may have important negative consequences for the individual as well as for society. Because school grades in lower secondary education are essential for the completion of upper secondary school, remotivating demotivated ninth graders with an increased risk of dropping out seems vital. This study focuses on the experiences of Norwegian ninth grade boys at a learning camp aimed at preventing school dropout through increasing school engagement, learning, and well-being before tenth grade. We interviewed 17 of the 29 participants in one particular camp to study their experiences and analyze how they were related to the theoretical underpinning of the camp. The participants described the learning camp as a motivation boost, focusing on experiences with academic progress and increased self-regulation, factors aligning with central theoretical underpinnings of the intervention. The participants placed “connecting with others”, as in peers and teachers, among the top two factors that contributed to their re-motivation, well-being, and academic progress. Full article

This study aims to investigate Norwegian primary teachers’ attitudes towards gifted students and gifted education and discuss their potential impact on their pedagogical practices. In Norway, gifted education is a relatively non-existent phenomenon, and this research field has been scarcely explored in the Norwegian context and teacher education. The Official Norwegian Report NOU 2016:14 highlights a reluctance among Norwegian teachers to cater to gifted students, indicates a lack of training for teachers in identifying and differentiating gifted education, and points out a need for more research within the Norwegian context. In an earlier study, we showed that Norwegian teachers reported having little formal or non-formal education on the theme of gifted education and that few were aware of the abovementioned report. This study aims to investigate Norwegian primary teachers’ attitudes towards gifted students and gifted education and discuss their potential impact on their pedagogical practices. Data in the study are collected through an online mixed methods survey in a small municipality in Norway. An interesting finding is that culture significantly influences teachers’ attitudes towards gifted education. We argue that teachers’ attitudes should be more informed by evidence-based practice and less by culture, as it can impact gifted students’ access to equal and adapted education. Full article

Studies show that students’ view of the subject of physical education (PE) is often dominated by sports discourse, and that the profession of higher education often fails to balance this view, which, in many contexts, does not align with the aims of governing documents in PE. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how future students in physical education teacher education (PETE) perceive the subject. Written responses from 112 students at the start of their PETE study were analysed within the framework of reflexive thematic analysis. Based on questions about activity habits, we found that most students were active individuals who engaged in traditional physical activities such as ball games and basic training in their leisure time. Analysis of the students’ answers generated four themes: (1) Activity and bodily learning, (2) Motivation and joy of movement, (3) Health for life, and (4) “Bildung”. We argue through these four themes that the students’ perception of the subject with a focus on much physical activity through a variety of activities—physical learning, motivation, and joy of movement—are in line with governing documents and physical literacy. It is also clear that health discourse is strongly represented in the students’ perception of the subject and that physical education is an important contributor in the students’ formation process. However, some aspects of the curriculum seemed to be of lesser interest to the students. In conclusion, the students’ perceptions and experiences can serve as a starting point for change, learning, and development in physical education teacher education. Full article

Teacher education programs must be able to prepare student teachers to work effectively with heterogeneous groups of students in ways that support the learning of all students and affirm their identities within growing neoliberal and neoconservative discourses. In Norway, classroom composition has also become more diverse, primarily due to a higher number of students of a transnational background. This paper explores student teachers’ experiences of preparation for the changing nature of the teaching profession that is informed by increased student diversity. A case study with four student teachers from a teacher education program at a Norwegian institution of higher education is employed to gain rich insight into the students’ perceptions and experiences. The findings illustrate a need for better preparation on the part of the program in relation to teaching content and methods, the practicum experience, and intercultural training from a pedagogical perspective. Full article

In 2009, all Norwegian 5th–7th graders were allocated 76 h of obligatory physical activity (PA) classes in addition to physical education (PE). The study explores how schools implemented these classes and the relationship with school physical activity guidelines. The sample consisted of 134 schools participating in the WHO collaborative Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in 2014 (n = 69) and 2018 (n = 65). Ten questions concerning PA were asked in 2014, and four of these were included in the 2018 survey. Chi-squared tests were used to investigate differences between groups. In 2014, 51% reported that PE teachers led the classes; this had reduced to 30% in 2018. A combination of teacher- and student-driven activities was most common. More student-led activities were observed when nonpedagogical personnel were responsible for the classes. Most schools reported no professional staff development related to the implementation of obligatory PA. In 2018, schools with written guidelines on physical activity had to a greater extent implemented staff development measures and increased the use of PE teachers compared to 2014. A considerable variation regarding teaching competence, teaching forms, group sizes, and facilities makes the outcome of the PA scheme uncertain. A potential effect of having established written school policies on the implementation of physical activity classes was however found. Full article

Education can serve the purpose of trying to mitigate catastrophes. In a school context, teachers can have a role in enacting an interconnection between critical thinking (CT) as a potentially useful tool and education for sustainable development (ESD), in terms of educating and communicating the importance of sustainability to future generations. This paper uses discourse analysis, drawing on post-structuralism, to explore how Norwegian primary school teachers consider CT (skills, dispositions, and civic participation) in relation to ESD. The study draws on social constructivism and positioning theory (PT) in particular to find patterns in teachers’ own shifting standpoints through individual and collective assertations around ESD. Specifically, in this paper we make efforts to implement the PT to study (i) teachers’ own positioning about sustainability through their communication acts within primary-school contexts, and (ii) the functions of education in relation to ESD in this context. We explored the discussion between three teachers from the same school team during one focus group interview, by tracing the teachers’ uses of I and we (as markers) in relation to Biesta’s three functions of education in the discourse. Our discourse analysis has an exploratory character and is carried out on a limited dataset. PT was used as a framework to categorize the teachers’ statements; treated as content of discourse. The pronoun we is identified in the discourse analysis in three different ways: with the underlying meaning of a humanitarian we, an institutional we, and a classroom we. In the one focus group interview, we also identified teachers’ sense of belonging with the environment and nature, generally regarded to be prevalent in Norwegian society. Full article

Dramatically increased population flows since at least the 1980s, primarily through economic migration and refugee resettlement, have brought considerable ethnic and linguistic diversity to classrooms around the world. This diversity has been amplified by the rising recognition of in-country indigenous and minority languages. In such plurilingual learning environments, teachers require sophisticated language education skills. They need to be able to teach the dominant language/s across the curriculum, support plurilingual learners, and often teach foreign or additional languages. One conceptual lens through which to analyse the presence of these competencies in current teacher education policy is that of language awareness. While this term originally referred to the raising of student awareness of features and functions of language, it now incorporates knowledge about flexible languaging practices. Through a comparative analysis of the two key teacher education policy documents in Norway and New Zealand, we have investigated how the concept of teacher language awareness is incorporated in high-level policy documents pertaining to ITE in these two countries and how these converge and diverge in their treatment of language awareness. Our in-depth comparison of these important educational policies urges both jurisdictions, as well as others, to be aware of local particularities and broader patterns in meeting the needs of teachers to be plurilingually aware and equipped for 21st-century classrooms. Full article