Changing conditions for teachers’ knowledge work: new actor constellations and responsibilities

Abstract

In a time of strong focus on school development, teachers’ work is increasingly linked to a variety of actors, organisations and stakeholders with different agendas and suggestions for school improvements. This paper explores the different actor constellations that teachers engage with in collaborative knowledge work and the opportunities and constraints such engagements entail. By drawing on ethnographic methods, teams of teachers from one lower secondary school in Norway assigned to developing a local curriculum were followed closely across sites over a year. The analysis, which employs resources from assemblage thinking (AT), shows how new actor constellations spatially relocate teachers’ work in ways that extend their professional roles and responsibilities. The findings also reveal that such work is epistemically demanding because it requires comprehensive collective negotiations and investigative activities from the teachers. The analysis foregrounds insights that contribute to our understanding of changing conditions for knowledge work in the teaching profession.

Changing Cultural Conditions for Knowledge Sharing in the Teaching Profession: A Theoretical Reinterpretation of Findings Across Three Research Projects

“…First, the teachers had a wealth of knowledge resources and infrastructures to support them in their work (Tronsmo & Nerland, 2018;Tronsmo, 2019). Although some of the resources and infrastructures were internal to the profession, others were established in collaboration with external actors and stakeholders, such as universities and local educational authorities, thereby implying closer relations between teachers and various knowledge-generating actors (Tronsmo, 2020). Tracing the teachers' local curriculum development, the study also revealed how the plurality of knowledge resources and infrastructures gave rise to more collaborative practices that formed collective spaces for work.…”

Organisational learning in complex epistemic environments: reflections from studies of professional work in Norway

“…In recent years, analyses from an ethnographic study of teachers' collaborative curriculum development have shown how the epistemic complexity and demands placed on Complex epistemic environments teachers are growing in the sense that they engage in the iterative construction of curriculum objects over time; through this construction, a series of knowledge dilemmas and stakeholder relations are negotiated (Tronsmo, 2020;Tronsmo and Nerland, 2018). These relations and responsibilities bring extended roles and responsibilities to the fore and provide expansive learning opportunities for teachers through their engagement in epistemic practices.…”

Hvilke forhold påvirker lærerspesialistens arbeid? En nærstudie av 25 logger skrevet av lærere på videreutdanning for lærerspesialister i norsk

“…De siste årene har vi sett en rekke nye og endrede laerer-og lederroller i skolen (Helstad & Mausethagen, 2019, Møller, 2019, Tronsmo, 2020, og laererspesialistrollen er en av dem. Beskrivelser av rollen viser at den er tiltenkt mange ulike funksjoner.…”

“…Gjennom de siste årene har det vaert en omfattende satsing på kompetanseutvikling i skolen, noe som også har ført til fremveksten av nye roller og ansvarsområder både på laerer-og ledernivå (se f.eks. Tronsmo, 2020). Laererspesialistrollen er fortsatt i støpeskjea i den norske skolekonteksten, og i denne artikkelen har vi referert fra en studie som bidrar med kunnskap om hvilke forhold som ser ut til å influere på laererspesialistens arbeid, sett fra 25 laererspesialiststudenters perspektiv.…”