Learning, Assessment and Boundary crossing in Teacher Education

Reforms of teacher education in Norway from 2010 have emphasized the development of methodological competence for student teachers when working on research and development (R&D) assignments in their third year of study designed to improve their own practice. Subsequently, from autumn 2017, further reforms required all students undertaking primary/lower secondary teacher education (GLU) to follow a master's degree programme culminating in a practice-based and professionally oriented master's thesis. The overall goal of the project Learning, Assessment and Boundary crossing in Teacher Education (LAB-TEd), starting on 1st of August 2019 and ending date 31th of December 2023, the students' R&D and master's thesis will contribute to increased research competence in GLU and the school's practice, and to new models for task supervision. Based on a tripartite collaboration between student teachers in GLU, practice teachers/school leaders at three schools and teacher educators at UiT and NTNU, the project has emphasized linking student teachers' R&D and master's thesis to the school's practice. In line with the 2017 reform of GLU, we have worked to develop competence for profession-oriented, practice-based research in teacher education. We have studied these development processes using a specific methodology, cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), to investigate what leads to development and what hinders change of practice. LAB-TEd is based on the tradition of formative interventions developed by Professor Yrjö Engeström (University of Helsinki, Finland), who together with Professor Annalisa Sannino (Tampere university, Finland), has also contributed as an advisor to the project. The subjects English, science, mathematics, and physical education have served as context in LAB-TEd. The intention has been to understand the challenges of creating practice-based and profession-oriented assessment criteria for students' assignments linked to practice. In the development of such criteria, the project has also contributed to new models for master's supervision. Furthermore, it has been a goal to increase the understanding of CHAT (cultural-historical activity theory) and how this can stimulate change and development in teacher education and in schools. The parties to the project have collaborated in Change Labs (CLs), four per year. A total of 16 change workshops have been carried out where we have varied between work and discussions in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups and in plenary. The development of knowledge has been based on the voices of all contributors, which has opened new understanding and knowledge for all. Through the collaboration in the CLs and guidance work, the parties in LAB-TEd have developed forms of cooperation where all parties have ownership of the project and see the importance of the various contributions. Tripartite cooperation, in guidance for assignments with content of significance for the school and the future teachers' practice, has served as the project's focal point and the basis for the close cooperation. In the spring of 2022, the first cohort (Cohort 1) who participated in LAB-TEd completed their master's theses. These 20 students, distributed between UiT and NTNU and affiliated with a primary school throughout the fifth academic year, were supervised by university teachers in subject didactics in collaboration with the practice teachers in the project. The collective guidance helped to link the tasks more closely to the schools' everyday lives. 18 students (Cohort 2) completed their master's theses in the academic year 2022/23. Projected Learning, Assessment and Boundary crossing in Teacher Education, LAB-TEd, is led by Professor Rachel Jakhelln (UiT the Arctic University of Norway) and Professor May Britt Postholm (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) in cooperation with the mentor of LAB-Ted, Professor Viv Ellis (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia).

Vi har vektlagt trepartssamarbeid for å fremme profesjonsrettet forskning og utdanning. I arbeidet med FoU- og masteroppgaven ble tema og design utformet mellom de tre partene, og arbeidet ble erfart som nyttig av samtlige. Fellesskapet førte til et reelt trepartssamarbeid i utvikling av FoU- og masteroppgaven. 1. I løpet av prosjektet har vi erfart utfordringer knyttet til å utvikle vurderingskriterier som profesjons- og praksisorientert. Ved våre lærerutdanninger har vi felles sensorveiledninger som gir retning for hvordan FoU- og masteroppgaver vurderes. Med få prosjektdeltakere har det vært vanskelig å skape endring og påvirke vurderingspraksis i egne institusjoner og med eksterne sensorer. 2. Samarbeidet mellom prosjektdeltakere med ulik kompetanse og bakgrunn har bidratt til økt forståelse for praksis- og profesjonsrettet forskning. Kompetansehevingen har bidratt til at de deltakende universitetslærne kan veilede på FoU- og masteroppgaver rettet mot skoleutvikling. I og med at tema har vært utviklet i samarbeidet har også lærerutdannere i praksis utviklet sin egen undervisning i arbeidet med oppgavene. 3. Ved NTNU deltok to lærerutdannere i kroppsøving, to i matematikk og to i pedagogikk i samarbeid med en barneskole. Fra skolen deltok en praksislærer i matematikk, en i kroppsøving og rektor. I tillegg deltok to studentkull med fire studenter i matematikk og fire i kroppsøving. Studentene hadde fra 3. år praksis ved samme praksisskole gjennom studiet (det er praksis i samtlige studieår). Studentene fulgte de samme praksislærerne i alle praksisperiodene, mens elevene skiftet noe etter hvilke klasser praksislærerne hadde. Dette bidro til at de kjente skolen, lærerne og elevene. Det var også de samme oppfølgingslærerne (universitetslærere som har fulgt opp studenter i praksis) som veiledet studentene på deres FoU- og masteroppgaver. I et internseminar, 10. juni 2022, kommenterte Marilyn Cochran-Smith, som er med i prosjektets referansegruppe, at denne organiseringen og oppfølgingen representerer en ny modell for veiledning. I delprosjektet ved UiT deltok lærerutdannerne i engelsk (3), matematikk (1), naturfag (1) og pedagogikk (3). Samarbeidet var fordelt på praksislærere i engelsk fra to skoler, og en praksislærer i naturfag/matematikk på en av de to skolene med to studentkull. I kull 1 (2019-2022) deltok åtte studenter i engelsk og fire i matematikk. I kull 2 (2020-2023) deltok fem i engelsk, to i matematikk og tre i naturfag. Studentene fulgte de to skolene med praksislærer og universitetslærer. I alt deltok 22 studenter. Veiledningen ble organisert som et partnerskap der målsetningen var likeverdige roller, men hvor studentene skulle ha styring på eget prosjekt. Studenter, lærerutdannere ved universitetet og i skolen deltok på endringsverksteder og hadde jevnlige veiledningsmøter hvor man diskuterte arbeidet rundt FoU-oppgaven og masteroppgaven. Praksislærene var erfarne lærere med veiledningskompetanse. De ble frikjøpt en dag i uka.

The project Learning, Assessment and Boundary crossing in Teacher Education (LAB-TEd) will seek to encourage learning across boundaries (Engeström, Engeström, & Kärkkäinen, 1995), in teacher education creating a mediating social space through which collaborative practices can be developed and learning processes examined. The research will take a Developmental Work Research (DWR) approach developed in the frame of cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) (Engeström & Engeström, 1986) to the challenge of the 2017 Norwegian 5-year GLU teacher education reforms (Ministry of Education, 2016a,b). DWR participatory data analysis workshops – known as Change Laboratories (Engeström, Virkkunnen, Helle, Pihlaja, & Poikela, 1996) – will both stimulate and study the process of change in developing the new GLU, five-year teacher education programmes by drawing together higher education institutions, their school partners, and student teachers. The primary units of analysis under examination in LAB-TEd will be the coordinated groups of university teacher educators, school teachers (mentors) and student teachers who come together to work on the R&D assignments and the Master’s theses, now a requirement for all GLU teachers under the 2017 reforms. The research will focus on two university-school partnerships in two regions of Norway -Tromso (UiT) and Trondheim (NTNU). Lab-Ted will seek *to create assessment criteria for GLU teacher education that are professionally-oriented;* to understand how the work with the student teachers' R&D assignments and master’s these contribute to high-level competence in research in teacher education and in practice in schools;*to develop new models for supervision of student teachers when they work on their R&D assignments and Master’s theses; * to create knowledge about the usefulness of CHAT in stimulating change and development both in teacher education and in schools.