be involved in research. In research and development projects the two types of teacher
educators work together for school improvement; such projects are most often part of
joint activities framed by partnership schemes between schools and HEIs. Moreover,
when all teacher education moves to masters level from 2017, all teacher educators
will be required to have research competence, preferably a doctorate, to be able to
supervise the students’master dissertations.
There have been two, major government supported projects in teacher educators’
professional learning: mentor education and NAFOL. As previously mentioned, the
practical component of ITE is increasing, meaning that student teachers will spend
more time in schools under the guidance and support of their mentors. For nearly a
decade mentor education has been supported by the government and all teacher
education institutions offer mentor education programmes of 30 ECTS. Commonly,
programmes are structured so that thefirst module (worth 15 points) focuses on
mentoring student teachers, whereas the second module (same value) focuses on
mentoring novice teachers and other colleagues. Mentor education is usually placed
at masters level, meaning it is research informed; engaging in action research or
self-study of personal mentor roles or activities is a frequent requirement in these
courses. Norway still has a long way to go before all school-based teacher educators
are educated as mentors, but the process has started and will hopefully continue.
The second government-funded initiative, NAFOL, is a network of 23
Norwegian HEIs who work together to strengthen the research competence of the
country’s teacher educators. The initial project period starting in 2010 was judged
so successful that the project, originally intended tofinish in 2016, has now been
extended to 2021. NAFOL’sfirst priority is to support all teacher educators in their
work towards a doctorate inteacher educationitself, rather than in an academic
discipline. The main goal is to develop a generation of researching teacher edu-
cators in Norway who identify themselves as teachers of teachers and also produce
new knowledge about teaching and teacher education, with direct relevance to the
field. The second goal is to empower teacher educators in supervising students’
research projects at under-graduate and masters levels. However, not all teacher
educators are motivated to engage in the demanding process of studying for a
doctorate; NAFOL therefore also offers seminars and courses to practise teacher
educators who want to update and expand their research competence in other ways.
This too is an essential part of the process of developing research-based teacher
education in Norway.
In Norway then new developments in the structures of ITE are accompanied by
acknowledgement of the need for teacher educators to be prepared to undertake new
responsibilities. Research is introduced to partner schools within the framework of
joint research and development projects with HEIs, and an increasing number of
school-based teacher educators undertake mentor education. Finally, the political
claim for a research-based teacher education in Norway has gone beyond rhetoric to
implementation through the establishment and continuation of NAFOL. Teacher
education in Norway is certainly on the move, and research on the professional
learning initiatives for teacher educators will hopefully contribute new knowledge
of thefield useful to international colleagues.
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