Teacher educators in Sweden identity and competence Professor

Teacher educators in Sweden - identity and competence Professor Anders Gustavsson Stockholm University, Sweden Dr Per Klingbjer Ministry of Education and Research, Sweden Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

From professional training to academic professional teacher education in Sweden • A tradition of teacher training seminars – The reform of higher education 1977 – The teacher education reforms in 1988, 2001 and 2010 • … to an academic professional education Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Management by objectives and results In the beginning of the 1990 s change in governance by the central political authorities • Detailed control of HEI: s activities was reduced • The Parliament and the Government decide on objectives and specifies the results required • The HEI: s ensure that activities are carried out in the best possible manner • Funding by block grants based on performance Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Competence and experience of Swedish teacher educators – Legislation • The parliament decided in June 2010 that for purposes of education and research, higher education institutions should employ professors and senior lecturers as teachers. • Apart from professors and senior lecturers, higher education institutions should be free to decide for themselves on the categories of teacher that should be employed by the institution and the qualifying requirements and assessment criteria that should apply to these teachers. Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Teachers competences • Teacher education should be supported by teachers that have scientific/professional training and proven experience in this field and have a good academic teaching skills. • All teachers should be senior lectures in order to create opportunities for an integration of research and education. • Teachers should also have opportunities to maintain and further develop their scientific/professional and pedagogical skills. • It is important that teachers scientific training and professional experience within and outside the university are complementary. Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Competence and experience of Swedish teacher educators – Example from Stockholm university • • Senior lecturers (Ph. D) (Approx. 65 %) Lecturers (35%) Guest lecturers (5 years) Supervisors for school based training Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

The Swedish policy of an strengthened academic teacher education • The professional educational model of lawyers, medical doctors and psychologists, etc. • Scientific, reflective perspective • Professional skills (a scholarship of education and a scholarship of specific subjects fields) • Competence for Ph. D studies • … in order to strengthen teacher education status Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Problems and debates • Critique from the National Agency of Higher Education of the levels of subject education and educational sciences in teacher education • Difficulty attracting applicants and the percentage of students dropping out of the programme is high • Low numbers of teacher educators with Ph. D • Swedish school results in international assessments Pisa, Timss, etc. • Teachers’ low professional status • An inquiry (SOU 2008: 109) to the Ministry of Education and Research points out serious deficiencies in teacher education as regards research base, knowledge content and internationalisation Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Present reforms in Swedish • Greater freedom of self-determination to publicly funded higher education institutions • New teacher education programmes • New education act • A new school management education • Increased requirements for employment for teachers (later this year) • An induction period for teachers (later this year) • Registered teachers and preschool teachers (later this year) Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Top of the class – new teacher education programmes (Govt. Bill 2009/10: 89) • Differentiation into four new degrees: - a degree in pre-school education - a degree in primary school education - a degree in subject education and - a degree in vocational education • Strengthened subject education • Strengthened professional skills www. regeringen. se/lararutbildning Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Two perspectives on Swedish teacher identities Policy prescribed identities • From a policy of democracy, welfare and equality • … to a policy of pupil performance Ministry of Education and Research Sweden Teacher identities • Social engineers • Knowledge producers

. . . and the teacher educator as the mediating agent Prescribed identities Teacher educator identities • Democracy, equality and • An experienced teacher (introduction into welfare a community of skills and fundamental values ) • An academic scholar of TE and of specific • Pupil performance subject areas Ministry of Education and Research Sweden Teacher identities • Social engineers • Knowledge producers

The disappearance of coherent, onedimensional teacher identities and its demands on teacher education Teachers in a web of tensions between fragmentation and coherence (Gustafsson, 2010) Teacher educators as negotiators for coherent teacher identities • Chameleon teacher identities (the educator, the expert, the social worker, the entertainer, therapist, the manager, the conflict solver, in total 70 self-images) • Ambivalence towards reforms and teacher education • Offering coherent multi-dimensional roles and identities based current regulations and recent research • … with sensitivity for the fragmented teacher everyday identities and resistance against new perspectives Ministry of Education and Research Sweden

Questions? • Differences and similarities in our countries? • Special challenges? Ministry of Education and Research Sweden