Professionalism Among Novice Teachers
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Professionalism among novice teachers How they think, act, cope and perceive knowledge Ph.D. thesis Joakim Caspersen 1 In the public debate on school and education in our country, the issue of how to organise general teacher education is one of the most important. This makes sense, as teacher education is one of the central elements in the nation’s schooling. Both men and women are trained to teach at the elementary school that every child attends … no matter what paths they later choose. The effort to create the best possible teachers in elementary school is therefore one of the most important elements in upbringing the citizens and providing opportunities for education to the entire population. It is often said, but nonetheless true, that teacher quality and competence are more decisive for how well elementary schools work than curricula, textbooks, teaching styles and the organisation of schools. (Lange 1947, p.1 own translation). The beginning … teacher starts out … with a fine set of liberal values and a fine set of phrases to accompany them. These ideals … are precarious cargo for the tender-minded teacher; to keep them one must have a considerable power to ignore reality (Hansot 1989, p. 127). 2 Table of contents 1.0. Introduction – novice teachers in schools ............................................................................... 7 1.1. The importance of novice teachers’ coping and competence .......................................... 10 1.2. Qualification of teachers in teacher education and schools ............................................. 11 1.3. The need for comparative research .................................................................................. 12 1.4. The theoretical approach – professionalism and learning ................................................ 14 1.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................ 17 1.6. The structure of the thesis ................................................................................................ 17 2.0. Previous research on novice teachers ................................................................................... 18 2.1. Early research on novice teachers ..................................................................................... 19 2.2. More recent approaches to novice teachers’ experiences ............................................... 25 2.2.1. The different phases of being a novice ..................................................................... 25 2.2.2. How schools accommodate novice teachers ............................................................ 26 2.2.3. Where do novice teachers learn to teach ................................................................. 30 2.2.4. The role of teacher education ................................................................................... 32 2.3. Teachers compared with other professions ...................................................................... 35 2.4. Summary ............................................................................................................................ 41 3.0. Theoretical framework: professionalism and learning ......................................................... 43 3.1. Two lines of approaches to professions ............................................................................ 43 3.2. From professions to professionalism ................................................................................ 46 3.2.1. Professional knowledge and competence ...................................................................... 49 3.2.2. Professional autonomy and service-orientation ............................................................. 51 3.2.3. Education and learning in theories of professions .......................................................... 54 3 3.3. Learning and professional development ........................................................................... 55 3.3.1. Learning in the workplace ......................................................................................... 58 3.3.2. Models for work-place learning ................................................................................ 60 3.3.3. Newer developments in theories of learning ............................................................ 64 3.4. Summary and questions for investigation ......................................................................... 68 4.0. Norwegian teacher education in a comparative perspective ............................................... 73 4.1. Some key points in the historical development of Norwegian teacher education ........... 73 4.2. Norwegian general teacher education in a Nordic context .............................................. 78 4.3. Summary ............................................................................................................................ 82 5.0. Methodological considerations and approaches .................................................................. 84 5.1. Participants, respondents and response rates .................................................................. 84 5.1.1. Paper 1 ....................................................................................................................... 86 5.1.2. Paper 2 ....................................................................................................................... 87 5.1.3. Paper 3 ....................................................................................................................... 87 5.1.4. Paper 4 ....................................................................................................................... 89 5.2. Attrition and validity .......................................................................................................... 91 5.3. Variation between institutions and panels ....................................................................... 93 5.4. Methods and techniques ................................................................................................... 96 5.5. Indexes and items – reliability and validity ....................................................................... 97 5.5.1. Professional knowledge and competence................................................................. 99 5.5.2. Autonomy ................................................................................................................ 101 5.5.3. Service orientation .................................................................................................. 103 5.5.4. School culture and climate ...................................................................................... 104 5.5.5. Coping ...................................................................................................................... 104 4 5.5.6. Bias in the measures ................................................................................................ 105 5.6. Ethical considerations...................................................................................................... 106 6.0. Results and discussion ......................................................................................................... 108 6.1. Summary of the four papers ........................................................................................... 108 6.2. The findings and contributions of the project ................................................................. 114 6.3. Novice teachers’ coping and the “shock” of teaching ..................................................... 115 6.4. Novice teachers’ learning at work ................................................................................... 117 6.5. The role and purpose of teacher education .................................................................... 119 6.6. Autonomy, reforms and teachers in a pinch ................................................................... 122 6.7. Disadvantages and advantages of combining different theoretical perspectives .......... 124 6.8. The way forward – and some limitations ........................................................................ 125 6.9. Concluding remarks ......................................................................................................... 130 References ....................................................................................................................................... 132 Appendix 1. Additional descriptive statistics for teachers in paper 1. Indexes, items, scale, reliability (Chronbach’s alpha), mean, standard deviation. ........................................................ 155 Appendix 2. Additional descriptive statistics for teachers in paper 2. Indexes, items, scale, reliability (Chronbach’s alpha), mean, standard deviation ......................................................... 156 Appendix 3. Additional descriptive statistics for teachers in paper 3. Indexes, items, scale, reliability (Chronbach’s alpha), mean, standard deviation ......................................................... 158 Appendix 4. Additional descriptive statistics for teachers and teacher educators in paper 4. Groups, variables, relative group size, mean, standard deviation .............................................. 160 Appendix 5. The recruitment and development of number of teachers in Norway ................... 161 Paper I: ...........................................................................................................................................