Positioning the Values of Early Career Teachers in Norway, Germany and England

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.)