The Knowledgebase of the Profession: Subject, Research, and Teaching

- Perspectives on Teacher Education in Design, Art, and Crafts

Abstract

In June 2020, in Norway, the framework for a new plan for five-year teacher education program for practical and aesthetic subjects was decided upon. Therefore, the three-year teacher education program in Design, Art, and Crafts—with the possibility of adding a master’s—will no longer be offered. The upcoming teacher education program will be research-based, and it will also emphasize experience-based knowledge. The number of days conducting practice in schools will increase, compared to the former teacher education program. The starting point for this article is the changes resulting from the new framework. The article addresses the peculiarities of professional knowledge, along with the divergence between this knowledge and traditional academic disciplines. The divergence is discussed on the basis of a report from 1974. The report addresses the objectives, organization, and study content for the first pedagogical master’s programs initiated outside of the universities, and implemented in 1976. The report describes how the distinctive features of the profession should give direction to these master’s programs. A list of ten different types of master’s theses was presented in the report. Here, both artistic work and production of teaching materials were regarded as relevant types of a master’s thesis’s focus. This article closely analyses the report from 1974, and the arguments that are discussed can contribute to other relevant discussions regarding the introduction of a five-year teacher education program in Design, Art, and Crafts.