Practice-Based Teacher Education Coursework: An Examination of the Extent and Characteristics of How Teacher Education Coursework Is Grounded in Practice Across Six Teacher Education Programs in Finland, Norway and California, US.

Abstract

The thesis is written within the field of teacher education research, and examines practice-based teacher education by looking at the extent and characteristics of how teacher education coursework is grounded in practice. It examines the opportunities the teacher candidates have to learn that are grounded in practice, and the instructional practices contributing to these opportunities. This is examined in six teacher education programs across three national contexts, using a conceptual and analytical framework, constituted by eight dimensions of opportunities to learn that are grounded in practice. The thesis has a multiple-case design. It builds upon observation data, and uses survey data as support. Primarily, the observation data analysis has been theory-driven, according to the analytical framework of the study, in addition to a more inductive analysis of the observation data and a descriptive analysis of the survey data. The thesis’ findings are summarized in its three articles. Article I identifies a pattern across all programs concerning specific areas of opportunities grounded in practice that seems to be established (i.e. opportunities to take the pupils’ perspective), while others (i.e. opportunities to analyze pupils’ learning) remain a challenge for grounding teacher education in practice. The other articles examine two specific opportunities to learn that are grounded in practice, i.e. opportunities to talk about field placement in Article II, and opportunities to analyze pupils’ learning in Article III. Article II finds that the candidates across programs report extensive opportunities to talk about field placement, but that the talk at one of the programs is more specific, detailed and linked to theory. Article III finds that the candidates have few opportunities to analyze pupils’ learning, and that on the few occasions that they do, the potential of these opportunities to learn about the complexity of teaching and learning is not taken advantage of. Overall, this thesis points to areas for development for teacher education, more specifically related to instructional practices grounding teacher education in practice. The work has been conducted at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research.