Conference Agenda

The context for the study that we would like present as a paper presentation is Norwegian mathematics teacher education students’ preparation for the, for some students, quite overwhelming endeavour of writing a master thesis of 45 ETCS during the final year of their five year long teacher education. In the fourth year of the teacher education programme a 15 ETCS course on scientific theory and research methods are mandatory, and within this course emphasis on qualitative method is one of the themes encountered. Given the opportunity to direct the choices of both content and approach while having the responsibility for this theme for the first time in the fall of 2022, we wanted to give the qualitative method theme a more participatory learning approach, inspired by Dewey’s theories on active and passive experience (e.g. Dewey, 1916; 1938). Our alternative was to organize the attention to content in accordance with what we have experienced to be kind of a template for how the method chapter is built in Norwegian master theses within mathematic education, and with a participatory learning approach. We therefore asked: How can participatory learning be emphasised in teaching of qualitative method in a master level course on scientific theory and method, and in what way does such an approach contribute to the student’s development of experiencing oneself as a researcher?

In short, our goal was to prepare these students to be able to conduct a qualitative study in their up-coming master thesis, and it is our opinion that involving the students in their own learning may be a prosperous way to do this. We found this to be in accordance with Dewey’s theories of learning through active and passive experience, and a way to emphasise all three of Biesta’s (2010; 2015) goals of education, described as qualification, socialisation, and subjectification. We chose this approach not merely in order to continue the facilitation for the students’ development as teachers, but rather to facilitate for their tuning in on a position as researchers.

As mentioned above, we organized the emphasis on the qualitative method to follow the experienced template for the methods chapter in Norwegian master theses within mathematic education, and alongside this we introduced a caricatured project, called Project BEST. This was kind of a bogus project on what chewing gum is the best. We provided the students with lots of gum from various brands and the ridiculous research question “What gum is best?” Teaching in accordance with template we introduced new elements of a qualitative approach, like for instance qualitative design, modify the original research question into a qualitative, delimited research question, data collection tools like observation, interview and qualitative questionnaire, informant criteria, recruiting of informants, and collection of data. The students then in groups carried out these parts of a qualitative project in speed fashion within the student group and within the teaching lessons we had together. Then, one step behind Project BEST the students had a work requirement in the course that focused on qualitative method. The students were, in groups, supposed to develop a qualitative study regarding the dice and card game Borel, in order to contribute to make grounds for deciding if this game would be attractive to use in teaching of probability in compulsory school. The work requirement attended all elements introduced by us, apart from data analysis, since this was introduced after the work requirement was delivered for evaluation.

Research is a key dimension in enhancing the teaching profession and teacher education (Menter & Flores, 2021) and teachers’ research literacy has been described as ‘a central professional knowledge requirement of a teacher’ (Boyd et al., 2022, p. 17). Pre-service student teachers’ research studies have been shown to promote professional competences and support students' growth toward evidence-based practice and 21st century skills (Niemi & Nevgi, 2014). However, initial teacher education, especially where programmes are characterized as highly research-based and scientific, has been criticised for being disconnected, of being conducted according to competing paradigms, with limited cohesion between what is taught at universities and what is experienced in practicum (Orland-Barak, 2016; Zeichner, 2010). Critics advocate the necessity of real-world experiences, the importance of relational interaction with living pupils and tighter connections between courses and practicum. Although many studies have indicated varying degrees of support of student teachers’ research in practicum (Goldshaft et al., 2022; Jakhelln & Pörn, 2019) and other studies have indicated diffuse and varied understandings of what research entails among teachers (see for example, Flores, 2017; 2018; 2020; Munthe & Rogne, 2015; Shagrir, 2022; Smestad & Gillespie, 2020), there are few empirical studies that examine ways to help student teachers make connections between the theory and research they read about in their teacher education curriculum, and how to apply that to what they experience in practicum. This paper examines one way that connection-making might be operationalized, and how teacher education might support the development of a research literacy integrated in teachers’ professional lives (Boyd et al., 2022; Munthe & Rogne, 2015; Winch et al., 2015).

Goldshaft et al. (2022) use the term observational tools to describe materials that scaffold mentoring sessions around observations of pupils’ reactions to what is being taught. Recognising the difficulty of observing learning, observational tools aim to increase collaborative reflection on teaching and its purpose of pupils’ learning, using systematic observation to document possible evidence of learning, or misunderstandings, not for pupil assessment, but rather for critical analysis of the lesson (Dudley et al., 2019; Windsor et al., 2020). The observations are systematic in that foci are agreed upon beforehand in collaboration with colleagues, and observation data is collected and reflected over in light of findings from previous research and pedagogical-didactic principles and theories.

According to Rooney & Boud (2019), bringing non-judgemental observations of classroom interactions into mentoring conversations gives pre-service student teachers a chance for them to develop a capacity for noticing what matters in a teaching context, when they reflect, discuss and interpret the meanings of the observations together with their school-based mentor teachers and university-based teacher educators. Practicum has the potential to integrate contextual practitioner knowledge with abstract theoretical knowledge (Lillejord & Børte, 2016) helping student teachers to make connections between theoretical principles of pedagogy and didactics based on educational research findings and the happenings in the practice. The intersection of epistemologies might be pivotal for their developing professional identities (Jenset et al., 2018) in which research literacy is integrated (Boyd et al., 2022).

The qualitative study on which this paper is based, is an intervention study conducted in Norway where nationally-regulated, teacher education programmes have recently taken a ‘research turn’. Student teachers, mentor teachers and university-based teacher educators have been asked to collaborate on the use of an observation-grounded mentoring framework (the OMF) during a four-week period of practicum in February 2022. Completed observation forms and lesson plans, reflection logs and interviews form the data for the study. The research question asks in what ways observational tools might support development of research literacy. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role of research in teacher education.

In a world highly influenced by digital media, media literacy education is becoming an increasingly important issue (author; author). It is relevant not only for children and youths (author), but also for researchers and teachers who are responsible for the media literacy education of their students (Meehan et al., 2015; author). Consequently, pre-service teachers must acquire the necessary competencies, skills and abilities to implement media literacy education in their practice (Meehan et al., 2015). However, there are rather no binding regulations to integrate media literacy into initial teacher education (ITE) (European Commission, 2022).

Research studies about media literacy education in ITE most often focus the national level (e.g. Klaß, 2020; Christ, 2004; Meehan et al., 2015; author) because different countries have their own media education systems, approaches, curricula, and instructional practices (author). There are only few studies about media literacy education in ITE which take explicitly a comparative point of view (e.g. author).

Against this background, the purpose of this study is to identify practices in Initial Teacher Education in Germany, Turkey, and the USA for advancing necessary competencies, skills and abilities of student teachers to implement media literacy education in their practice from a comparative perspective. Accordingly, the following research question will be answered:

What are common characteristics and differences between practices of advancing student teachers competencies, skills and abilities to implement media literacy education in their practice in initial teacher education in Germany, Turkey, and the USA?

Building on previous research of comparing media literacy education and media-related competencies in initial teacher education in Germany and the USA (author; author), Turkey is included as a third country in this comparative research on media literacy education in ITE. Turkey was chosen because it offers different contrastive perspectives for media literacy education in ITE (Karakaşoǧlu & Tonbul, 2015).

There are different terminologies, theories, models, frameworks and curricula for competencies, skills and abilities regarding media literacy of student teachers in ITE in Germany, the US and Turkey (e.g. Tulodziecki, 2012; Weinert, 2001; NAMLE, 2007; author). From a methodological viewpoint, it is necessary to establish a tertium comparationis as a common denominator for the comparison (cf. Hilker, 1962; Suter et al., 2019). We will present the results of a literature review and an expert interview study that take this perspective into account.

This contribution is intended as a critical, playful, radical and irreverent ‘interruption’ (Biesta, 2013) of the politics of initial teacher education (ITE) in the UK and beyond. It is a prelude to a project involving students in the co-curation of a richly-illustrated collection of ‘pedagogical moments’ (van Manen, 2015, p. 17). The books will be distributed at graduation ceremonies in 2024/2025, as the intended audience is early-career teachers. The aim of the project – and lexical choices are important here – is to keep newly-qualified teachers in good heart.

Such ‘interruptions’ have become necessary in an era of intense ‘professionalisation’, with the concomitant emphasis on measurable manifestations of ‘professionalism’, at primary and secondary school – and at university, the context in which teacher education is theorised and implemented (often with the emphasis on the latter). Higher education is subject to the same disciplinary pressures and compliance mechanisms that impinge upon individuals elsewhere in the education system. We argue that this degrades the very notion of professionalism and undermines ‘the processes of creative transformation that are implicit in doing good work well’ (Pirrie, 2019, p. x). In the worst case, they induce a form of ‘ethical loneliness’ Judith Butler (2004, p. 15) describes as follows: ‘I am other to myself precisely at the place where I expect to be myself’.

Processes of creative (co-) creation, we argue, are essential for the cultivation of a vocation rather than the exercise of a profession. Education, we suggest, is an ethical endeavour involving responsive, creative-relational inquiry that is premised on ‘venturing from home’ (Pirrie and Fang, 2020) and ‘knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do’ (van Manen, 2015). It entails offering spirited and joyous resistance to the pressures to submit to increasingly intrusive mechanisms of monitoring and control, surveillance and ‘time management’ in a sector blighted by managerialism. As Esposito et al (2018) demonstrate, similar trends are evident across Europe. For over a decade there have been concerns expressed about the direction of travel in the university sector across Europe: from democracy to accountability (Carney, 2006)

As Biesta (2013) reminds, Derrida (1994, p. xviii) once observed that ‘to live, by definition, is not something one learns’. But let us resist institutional and disciplinary pressures to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants.’ As ECER comes to Glasgow, it is only fitting that Nan Shepherd (1893-1981), a Scottish teacher educator and a key figure in the literary movement known as the Scottish Renaissance should be the standard bearer for this project. Shepherd’s example suggests that ‘it is only by contemplating what surrounds us with due care and attention rather than ruthlessly exploiting our natural resources [while invoking ‘education for sustainability] that we may live our lives with “with a great but quiet gusto” (Macfarlane, 2011, p. xi)’ (Pirrie, 2018, p. 73). Like her close friend and contemporary John Macmurray (1891-1976), Shepherd had an intuitive understanding that to ‘live finely’ (Macmurray, 1935, p. 76) was something one could learn – but mainly in and through relationships with others rather than by acquiring propositional knowledge and delving into ‘tool boxes’.

We aim to counter the trend towards narrow instrumentalism by deepening education professionals’ understanding of teaching as a form of being-in-relation by cultivating a ‘teeming attentiveness while exchanging the assertiveness of self for Keatsian negative capability’ (Aloff, 2022, pp. 79 and 84). The ensuing publication will ensure that the ‘white flame of sincerity’ in practitioners is not readily extinguished. In short, our aim is to restore ‘all the play and life of flame’ (Shepherd, 1987, p. 49) to the exercise of the teaching profession.