Teacher educators’ perspectives on Basic Skills in teacher education Frode Olav Haara Eirik S. Jenssen Sogn og Fjordane University College

Background  Basic Skills is a relatively new topic in the Norwegian teacher education programs. It consists of five areas, and they are defined as follows: –To read (in all subjects) –To express oneself in writing (in all subjects) –To express oneself orally (in all subjects) –To calculate (in all subjects) –To use digital tools (in all subjects)  Discussions among teacher educators: –Regarding description and impression of Basic Skills –In what way it should be worked with it in the GLU-programs

Project goals  To illuminate teacher educators’ interpretations of Basic Skills in the teacher education programs for compulsory school in Norway.  Provide new knowledge about how Basic Skills is interpreted by those who teach in the GLU-programs and how it is incorporated within these programs.  To participate in the development of a plan for the implementation of Basic Skills at the institution where we work.  Offer a starting point for possible development of a bigger project regarding Basic Skills in the GLU-programs, based on data from all teacher educations in Norway.

Research question What characterizes the description of Basic Skills given by teacher educators who teach in the GLU- programs in the Norwegian teacher education?

Method  Document study: –Look into how Basic Skills are understood in national guideline documents and a selection of published literature for possible use on the subject in teacher education programs. possible supportive or contradictive points when we discuss findings from our empirical data  Small survey on Basic Skills within UH-nett Vest –preliminary interpretation of teacher educators’ impressions related to the GLU-programs’ portrayal of Basic Skills. support or resistance for data provided by main empirical data source  Interview with five teacher educators about Basic Skills within teacher education –Main empirical data source

Findings  Document study: –Discrepancy of interpretations of in what way Basic Skills might be displayed in a subject, for instance regarding the basic skill To Calculate: As interpreted by a teacher educator in mathematics As interpreted by a teacher educator who represents the subject in which To Calculate is supposed to be displayed

Findings Table 1: Interpretations of the concept Basic Skills Skill and application: Pedagogy, Norwegian og mathematics A concept that works on two levels Application: Other subjects (here: physical education and English) Interprets the concept into what is already are done in the subject

Findings Who (Norwegian and mathematics): Concerned about who will take responsibility for implementation of Basic Skills What (Pedagogy):Concerned about the students development of a critical perspective on new levels as a result of the continuous development of the Basic Skills In what way (Other subjects (here: physical education and English)): Asks/Ponders about in what way the priority of Basic Skills can be adapted to what they already do in the teaching of their subject Table 2: Dealt with: Who, What, In what way, …is it dealt with?

Findings

Process: ”Bottom up” or ”top down”? The teacher educators experience that they are entrusted with the initiative regarding work with Basic Skills, without any follow-up from the teacher education leadership Practice: Administrative priorities before questions of content Questions of content, professional disagreement and discussions are left with far to little attention and space in meetings and in the design of the content of the GLU- programs. Table 3: Reasons for lack of joint strategy

Conclusions 1.The professional background of the teacher educators have major influence on the understanding of the concept Basic Skills, and how it is dealt with in the GLU-programs 2.The collaboration across subjects within the GLU- programs should be emphasised 3.A clearer strategy regarding Basic Skills from the GLU- program leadership is required – as seen from the teacher educator point of view

Implications  A program for specific attention to Basic Skills have now been developed for the teacher education programs at Sogn og Fjordane University College. –It contains emphasize of: Deliberate attention to the five basic skills in all subjects of the teacher education programs A specific attention to the theme Basic Skills in the subject Pedagogy, in collaboration with teacher educators who represent Norwegian, mathematics, and use of digital tools  The program also requires a clearer attention to information between subjects and across years in each teacher education program, for which the responsibility to a large extent must be placed at the leadership level

Help us if you can… 1.How does this situation compare to the situation on the international venue? 2.We would like to expand the project by collecting data from several other institutions in Norway in the spring of 2013: 1.Recruiting of colleagues in project expansion? 2.Instruments? 3.Validity and reliability of data? 4.Possibility of biases? 3.Future dissemination priorities?