The Process of Finding a Shape: Stabilising New Research Structures in Swedish Teacher Education, 2000–2007

Abstract

This article explores the development and effects of Swedish postwar policies on the emergence of a research base for teacher education. From 2001 onwards, it is possible to undertake research and postgraduate studies within teacher education in Sweden, which prior to the 2001 reform was not possible. The article draws on a variety of frameworks to explore relationships between various parts of teacher education and also more widely in the university. These include relations of power, discourse and gender based on the theoretical perspectives of Bourdieu, Foucault, Sarfatti Larson and Connell among others. Policy documents relating to teacher education and research into national, regional and local perspectives were used to explore institutional history, structures and research development in teacher education from 1946 to the present time. For a micro-level perspective, an interview study was also carried out between 2000 and 2002 with teacher educators and senior managers who from the late 1940s were responsible for teacher education programmes, in and around Umeå, in northern Sweden. A further complementary interview study was carried out with teacher educators and union representatives between 2005 and 2007. The extended study reveals the emergence of new research areas in teacher education as a multilayered process involving a variety of actors at different levels at Umeå University and elsewhere. The aim of the article is to explore the implications of the new research structures for teacher education in Sweden and also to contribute to current cross-national discourses on the need to establish a research base for teacher education.

Predictors of Teacher Educators' Research Productivity

“…First is the notion that research improves teaching (Middaugh, 2000) and contributes to continuous professional development (Livingston, McCall & Morgado, 2009). Thus, advancing research capability as a way of strengthening teacher education communities is viewed as a key factor in enhancing the quality of student and teacher learning (Arreman, 2008;Lunenberg, Ponte, & van De Ven, 2007). Second, research productivity (RP) has become the iconic indicator for institutional prestige as one of the vital resources required by higher education institutions for maintaining operation and facilitating development and growth.…”

Mapping the Field of Teacher Education Research: Methodology and Issues in a Research Capacity Building Initiative in Teacher Education in the United Kingdom

“…Much of the research in the field is generated by researchers who are also involved as practitioners in teacher education, teaching and managing pre-and in-service provision. The need to develop research capacity in order to strengthen the various teacher education communities and to enhance the long-term quality of student and teacher learning has been identified as important across Europe and in North America (see, inter alios, Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2006;Lunenberg et al, 2007;Erixon Arreman, 2008). From interprofessional perspectives it has also been argued that developing research capacity in teacher education would not only strengthen the field and its knowledge bases, but would enable teacher education faculty to take on full roles as 'public intellectuals' (Cochran-Smith, 2005) and 'change agents' (Day, 2004) in the educational and social communities within which they and their pre-and in-service students work.…”

Developing Research Structures and Research Capacity: The Swedish National Postgraduate School in Educational Work (NaPA)

“…As a result of a long post-war process involving resistance and power struggles within Swedish higher education, teacher education achieved full integration into the university sector in 2001, with structures provided for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (Erixon Arreman, 2005, 2008. The development of postgraduate studies meant that teacher education was able to break through the various academic barriers at a national level that had previously prevented initiatives of this kind (Foucault, 1972(Foucault, , 1980.…”

“…However, the relationship between teacher education and pedagogik was difficult, according to a number of national and international reports from the period (Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs, 1965;Husén, 1986;Carlgren & Kallós, 1997;Vislie et al, 1997). Further, this difficult relationship remained a long-standing and hotly debated issue from the 1940s onwards and, indeed, until the onset of the teacher education reforms of 2001 (Erixon et al, 2001;Fransson & Lundgren, 2003;Erixon Arreman, 2008).…”

“…The second focused on the effects of more recent changes, and had 13 interviewees (Erixon Arreman, 2008). Broadly, the results of the interview studies showed primarily that previous gaps between teacher education and research were being narrowed at least to some extent by the introduction of the new research structures and opportunities.…”