Research topic/aim

This paper will present preliminary findings from an ongoing project having the Complementary Pedagogical Education (KPU60/75) program in focus. KPU 60/75 is a one-year teacher education program, directed to students with a bachelor's degreeor a professional qualification. With a particular focus on the KPU-program leading to a primary teacher’s degree (KPU-75),the overarching aim is to investigate which professional knowledge and competencies are legitimized through the education courses.

The following questions will be addressed:

What knowledge base for teachers i.e. professional knowledge, competencies, norms and ethical values appear innational policy documents?

Following this, how is teachers' knowledge base reinterpreted and implemented in local policy documents (in courseplans and examinations)?

What knowledge and competencies do the student teachers at KPU-75 think they need in their future profession as teachers? KPU 60/75 was introduced in January 2021 by the Government in a memorandum proposing an "accelerated track" within teacher education for students with specific bachelor's programs selected and listed in the government's policy (U2021/00301, 2021). Although the possibility for students with academic backgrounds to become teachers through short teacher education is not new, this recently established KPU-program differs from previous KPU. The former program is somewhat longer (90 ECTS credits) and is available as an alternative pathway for students with a bachelor's degree in academic subjects that are also part of the school curricula. Regarding requirements for the new KPU, it is unclear how a bachelor's degree that is not within one of the school's subjects or a professional qualification contains subject knowledge relevant to the teaching profession. Furthermore, the new program reduces its content by concentrating solely on the "most essential" knowledge and competencies needed for becoming a teacher. Another key distinction from earlier KPU programs is that the students could gain both a primary school teacher degree (KPU-75), allowing them to teach in preschool classes and grades 1–3 and 4–6, and a subject teacher degree (KPU-60), for teaching in grades 7–9 and upper secondary school. Taken together and concerning this study, this reform involves a major intervention in the knowledge base for teachers, which in the long run will have consequences for the teaching profession.

Theoretical framework

Theoretically, the project will draw from professional theory (Brante et.al., 2019) and educational sociology (Bernstein, 2000)to investigate the outcomes of the policy chain that began with the government's memorandum and resulted in the establishment of the KPU-75 program. From a professional theory perspective, this initiative raises intriguing questions, particularly concerning teacher’s professional knowledge base, which is considered an essential element within the broader professional context.

Methodological design

The empirical material for this paper consists of policy documents and student essays about students’ professional expectations.

Expected conclusions/findings

The project will contribute to understanding how the knowledge base of the teaching profession changes through political governance and what consequences this will have for the teaching profession and, by extension, for schools and society.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

However, although Sweden is in focus here, the results are relevant concerning the political governance of teacher educationin the other Nordic countries.

Syftet med studien är undersöka vilka pedagogiska diskurser som kommer till uttryck genom brev som lärarstudenter skriver i början av sin utbildning. Genom dessa brev formuleras föreställningar av lärarprofessionen, och den lärarkunskap som behövs för att vara en ’bra’ lärare. Vår analytiska inramning är hämtat från Basil Bernstein och hans utbildningssociologiska ingång till kunskap och lärande. I studien inkluderas studenter från alla tre grundlärarinriktningarna (fritids, F-3, 4-6) och yrkeslärare. Totalt har 188 brev analyserats.Vår pedagogiska utgångspunkt med studien är att det är viktigt för lärarutbildningen, och lärarutbildarna, att känna till dessa föreställningar och att analytiskt/teoretiskt förstå dem för att hantera vårt uppdrag.I våra preliminära analyser ser vi att de studenterna som går de fyra olika lärarutbildningsinriktningarna delvis har olika förhållningssätt (uttrycker olika pedagogiska diskurser) i förhållande till sin blivande profession. Under presentationen avser vi att ge en preliminär analys av detta samt bjuda in till en diskussion av våra analyser och påbörja ett pedagogiskt samtal om dess implikationer.

Aim of this book

This book represents a more delimited interest in some of aspects of the care crisis. We focus on what is called loss of meaning and shaping of meaning in Nordic teacher training programmes. This involves an attempt to study and strengthen the professional norms, standards and ideals, which have historically developed within the Nordic teacher training programmes and professions. These norms, standards and ideals are diverse, but they can be summarized as a professional ethos aimed at ‘making a difference’ in children’s and young people’s lives. We are concerned that this very basic helper motivation is increasingly lost, forgotten, or neglected as part of the care crisis, and we are interested in finding ways to reinstate and reshape its crucial meaning. [...]

Aim of this book

This book represents a more delimited interest in some of aspects of the care crisis. We focus on what is called loss of meaning and shaping of meaning in Nordic teacher training programmes. This involves an attempt to study and strengthen the professional norms, standards and ideals, which have historically developed within the Nordic teacher training programmes and professions. These norms, standards and ideals are diverse, but they can be summarized as a professional ethos aimed at ‘making a difference’ in children’s and young people’s lives. We are concerned that this very basic helper motivation is increasingly lost, forgotten, or neglected as part of the care crisis, and we are interested in finding ways to reinstate and reshape its crucial meaning. [...] 

A key concern in international educational policy during the 21st century has been the impact of teacher professionalism on outcomes of schooling. Sweden makes for an interesting case because of the country’s initiatives to improve the quality of education through an academization of the teachers. The aim of this study is to analyse how Swedish state policy of ‘education on a scientific foundation’ is constructed in a selection of texts and videos presented by the Swedish National Agency of Education, and how these policy texts construct discourses of teacher professionalism. The result shows how the formulation in the Education Act, prescribing that the education shall rest on a scientific foundation, is interpreted into ‘policy-as-text’ and a policy apparatus consisting of four central concepts. Here, the terms ‘research-based way of working’ and ‘evidence’ are added to the terms ‘scientific foundation’ and ‘proven experience’ from the Education Act. Furthermore, the result shows three policy discourses of teacher professionalism that are constructed in the analysed texts: the selectively critical and accountable teacher; the positive, flexible, responsible and effective teacher; and the semi-autonomous teacher.

This study directs attention to the ways in which pre-service teachers'€™ knowledge base are constructed in and through the examination practice in the various subjects of the Primary teacher education programme in Sweden. The empirical material consists of policy material (course plans, study guides and examination tasks). The results show differences between the pedagogic discourses, in the various subjects, concerning examination forms, what is examined in terms of content, and which generic competencies are given importance in and through the examinations. Finally, the result shows that pedagogic discourse primarily shape the primary teacher students into a horizontal discourse, which can make it difficult for them to handle complex teaching situations in their future professional lives. © 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.