Search

Proposals made by the European Commission in 2007 led to the Education Council adopting, for the first time, a European agenda for improving the quality of teaching and teacher education. This article reports on a small-scale longitudinal interview-based study with teachers in England, Norway and Germany demonstrating that while opportunities for professional development are increasing in all three countries, dissatisfaction is expressed by most teachers in relation to its quality and outcomes.

Within the context of globalisation, this article problematises some of the literature on teachers' professional identities in which a convergence and homogenisation of the profession is implied. It achieves this by focusing on the early experiences of 32 newly qualified teachers in Norway, Germany, and England. The article explores conceptions of identity, deployed for this research, relating these to high- and low-trust forms of trust and accountability in teaching. Aspects of similarity and difference between the three education systems are then used to focus on generic as well as culturally specific issues raised by some of the interview extracts. (Contains 5 notes.)

Many countries in the "developed world" are engaging in what has been described as a "systemic" reform of their education systems, due in part to the competitive economic pressures of globalisation. Much literature has been generated about globalisation, exploring the dynamic interrelationship said to exist between economic convergence and integration, education systems, institutions and social actors at local levels. Explanations that connect the processes of globalisation to what takes place in the classroom abound. This article problematises such overly deterministic themes in the literature on globalisation as applied to the teaching profession in which a convergence and homogenisation of the profession are implied. It focuses on the early experiences of 32 newly-qualified teachers in Norway, Germany, and England and is part of a more extensive study that posed three research questions: (1) What values do "becoming" teachers hold in relation to their proposed occupation?; (2) What similarities and differences in teachers' values are evident in the three national settings under examination?; and (3) What part is played by national pedagogic traditions, national policy contexts and institutional settings in the changing values of newly-qualified teachers? Based on a grounded analysis of interview data with teachers at the end of their teacher training courses and throughout their first two years as qualified teachers, the study shows how their professional values are mediated in different ways through key values surrounding the process of becoming a teacher. The article emphasises the role of the institutional setting and individual agency in professional identity formation that other literature has glossed over when addressing theories of globalisation. The article first examines some of the value ambiguities, tensions, conflicts and dilemmas that many writers argue make up this most dramatic period of teachers' careers. After presenting the methodology used in the study, aspects of similarity and difference, convergence and divergence between the three education systems are then used to focus on generic as well as culturally specific issues raised by some of the interview extracts. These extracts reveal important similarities and differences between the teaching profession in the three countries under examination. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

Within the context of globalisation, this article problematises some of the literature on teachers’ professional identities in which a convergence and homogenisation of the profession is implied. It achieves this by focusing on the early experiences of 32 newly qualified teachers in Norway, Germany, and England. The article explores conceptions of identity, deployed for this research, relating these to high- and low-trust forms of trust and accountability in teaching. Aspects of similarity and difference between the three education systems are then used to focus on generic as well as culturally specific issues raised by some of the interview extracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the values of early career teachers being positioned in Norway, Germany and England. The research questions were related to the values held by becoming teachers in relation to their proposed occupation, similarities and differences in values of the teachers among the three national settings and the role played by national pedagogic traditions, national policy contexts and institutional settings in the changing values of newly-qualified teachers. It was based on the theory and methods related to globalization and followed a layered approach of study focusing on both macro and micro phenomena. The study concluded that all the three nations had different cultural traditions and were subject to the forces of economic globalization.