Abstract

The global society as well as in Denmark there is an increasing focus on academic teaching and learning environments. National educational systems must live up to international standards, the needs of society, produce high-quality research results and educate high-qualified researchers etc. (ENQA - Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education 2005; the Danish Government's globalization report 2006). This concerns upper secondary schools as well. In the Danish upper secondary reform 2005 (Ministry of Education 2007) a new discourse of learning can be seen. Teachers are to work in teams, teaching in itself is to be partly practiced as cross-curricular teaching aspects, and the students are to learn how to apply knowledge. All this can be seen to challenge traditional positions of secondary school teachers: the freedom of method, the strong single-curricular tradition, and the theoretical dimensions of many subjects. In continuation of the reform, which is inspired by the new public management conception, the upper secondary schools must be financially viable.

So, in many ways the teacher's role has changed, a fact which is reflected in the upper secondary teacher-training programs being carried through these years. Upcoming teachers must learn to deal and relate to the new demands of learning and teaching. However, not all upper secondary teachers are welcoming the reform. Many teachers are experiencing a limitation of their individual autonomy and find the reform very bureaucratic with its emphasis on documentation and control systems.

From the upcoming teachers' or candidates' point of view a dilemma can be articulated. On the one hand, the candidates have to adopt norms, standards and values from colleges if they want to 'fit in'. One the other hand, the candidates are confronted with government and educational claims. These demands do not necessarily correlate with the above.

In our paper, we undertake to explore the appropriate role for the teacher in consideration of the upper secondary 2005-reform of the upper secondary school. We combine theoretical and empirical studies related to the reform context and to the upper secondary teacher-training program. The theoretical frame is based on sociological and philosophical considerations. Inspired by Habermas (1987), Giddens (1997, 2000) and the Danish philosopher Lars-Henrik Schmidt (1999abc) we discuss the conception of the 'good' teacher identity and the mechanisms of socialization which can be seen in the tension field between 'new' and 'old' teachers (E Schein, Edgar (1994) Organizational Culture and Leadership. Jossey-Bass; H. L. Dreyfus and S. E. Dreyfus (1986) Mind over machine. New York: The Free Press.).

The empirical part of the research will be presented in the paper. Especially, we focus on ongoing upper secondary teacher-training discourses as they are represented in the public debate of the reform. Furthermore, we will discuss initial empirical research. In this discussion we focus on the candidates' teaching and learning conceptions. The research will take place this spring (2008).

Authors:

Supervisor Ph.D. Steen Beck and Ph.D.-student Dion Rüsselbæk Hansen

Methods

Bibliography

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