The Goals of Enhancing National and International Cultures. Challenges to Teacher Education?

Can teacher education promote cultural understanding? In the Norwegian context, culture is discussed as a tool to promote change: a crucial theme for teacher educators as a basis for their double role as bearers and communicators of a culture. Among actions undertaken to promote understanding, there are possibilities for cultural exchange in teacher education. A comparative study on INSET in the technical and vocational area in 11 European countries exemplifies a learning process where the individual cultural background had to face interesting challenges to all the participants. Among the proposals: ‘Introduction to cultural knowledge’ as a specific subject matter; reinforcement of foreign language learning and a deeper knowledge in history; research on teacher education as a cultural element; development of competencies among teacher educators to promote knowledge about culture at a national and at an international level; a network of persons and institutions promoting and enhancing the cultural qualifications among teachers and teacher educators.     

Improving Teacher Education through Evaluation: an analysis of four Norwegian case studies

This paper explores the organisational changes that have taken place in teacher education in Norway in recent years. It focuses particularly on the two largest of the 26 state colleges and explores two key themes: the ways in which leaders of teacher education in those institutions, and those from the former system, perceive the changes in the organisation of teacher education; and how they are meeting the new challenges being faced. This case study has important implications for similar reforms currently taking place in other European countries.     

Challenges in the Education of Teachers of Vocational Subjects and Strategies for Confronting these Challenges

The author outlines the place of vocational education within the upper‐secondary structure in Norway and also identifies the general principles underpinning this structure.

Recent changes have had major implications for teacher education, and these are described. The author highlights in particular the introduction of Computer technology, the emphasis on the teacher as researcher and the integration of handicapped pupils into ordinary classes as three key challenges, and the author proposes a number of strategies for both the content and the structure of teacher education.