Knowledge of What? Teachers’ perspectives of an L1 Language and Literature subject curriculum document

Abstract

After the state-based curriculum-development process has finished, the local curriculum-making of the teachers begins. This paper empirically explores the subject curriculum from the perspectives of teachers, focusing on the Norwegian language and literature subject (L1). Using group interviews and drawing on curriculum theory and L1 research and disciplinary didactics that focus on knowledge, we examine how upper secondary school teachers engage with and understand a newly launched curriculum document in Norwegian L1. Our analysis revealed that the L1 teachers had various perspectives on what they considered important subject-matter knowledge, depending on how they read, navigated, and combined components within and across the curriculum text. In addition, the L1 teachers generally perceived a rather weak narrative about explicit subject-matter knowledge in the curriculum document. Finally, most L1 teachers felt they were being guided in terms of how to teach rather than what to teach. Our findings suggest that a consideration of teachers’ voices is crucial for understanding how a formal subject curriculum text works to select content in an L1 subject and the role that knowledge plays in a competency- and future-oriented curriculum such as Norway’s.