{"title":"Editorial Introduction - Digital Competence in Teacher Education across Europe","authors":"A. McDonagh, T. H. Giæver, L. Mifsud, J. Milton","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4604","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4604","url":null,"abstract":"The rationale for this special issue is based on the increasing and now almost ubiquitous use of technology in teaching and learning. As the exposure to technology in the classroom increases, so too will the requirement for all teachers to be digitally competent in its use for classroom teaching and learning. This special issue aims to evaluate student teachers' attitudes towards ICT, their understanding of digital competence, and how teacher training institutions prepare them to work in an ever-changing and evolving digital classroom. This special issue will also examine “digital distractions” viewed as potential downsides in the digitisation of classrooms. Furthermore, this publication will propose a new digital competence framework that includes Pedagogical, Ethical, Attitudinal, and Technological (PEAT) elements. It will discuss the rationale for its creation and the affordances that this framework offers. The origins for this publication grew from an Erasmus+ funded project, Developing ICT in Teacher Education (DiCTE) 2017-2020. The project aimed to explore and investigate how five teacher education institutions in four European countries instill and build the necessary skills that allow student teachers to develop into professionally competent users of digital technology in the","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"2015 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127299928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From digital competence to Professional Digital Competence","authors":"Aslaug Grov Almås, A. Bueie, Toril Aagaard","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4233","url":null,"abstract":"The authors of this article have collaborated as part of a steering group for Norwegian state-funded research and development project designed to enhance the professional digital competence (PDC) of both teacher educators, practising, and student teachers. In this article, we give voice to students’ experiences of their PDC development during teacher education (TE). We investigate their ideas on how TE might be developed to prepare them better for professional careers in a digital context. The participants are studying at a Norwegian university where, from 2018 to 2021, PDC has become a major area of focus as part of the aforementioned project. The data consist of four group interviews with 17 students from different campuses. We find that student teachers employ a broad range of digital technologies during TE. They experience a diversity of digital didactical practices and engage in thematic discussions concerning digitalization. They also utilise many technologies and apply the digital knowledge they have acquired in their personal lives. While some of them request more technical support during TE, most want to see TE engaging them in more critical discussions about the educational opportunities and challenges that digitalization offers. We discuss some of the dilemmas that TE must address to respond to these findings. In particular, we elaborate on how students’ digital experiences can be used as a resource when preparing for their professional roles as teachers.","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116907726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
P. Camilleri, Bård Ketil Engen, O. Hatlevik, J. Rubio, Héctor Hernández Gassó
{"title":"Student teachers and their attitudes towards ICT","authors":"P. Camilleri, Bård Ketil Engen, O. Hatlevik, J. Rubio, Héctor Hernández Gassó","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4207","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the attitudes that student teachers in Malta, Norway, and Spain convey to digital technologies in formal educational settings as they start the 1st semester. A number of studies look at educational inclinations and employment of digital technologies (Granić & Marangunić, 2019; Ritter, 2017; Scherer & Teo, 2019). We have chosen to examine student teachers’ attitudes towards the professional use of digital technologies within a pedagogical framework. In this respect, a comparative qualitative analysis of one open-ended question that forms part of a more extensive questionnaire distributed to all participants is considered. The employed analytical lens subsequently centres on four concepts: ‘adaptability’, ‘creativity’, ‘critical thinking’, and ‘understanding of technology’. In this regard, our findings support arguments for asserting ‘attitude’ as a kind of teacher-specific digital competence for guiding their practice. We conclude by suggesting our analytical framework as a potential point of initiation for further development to understand attitudes as forming part of teachers’ specific digital competencies within teacher education and professional practice.","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114076411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Digital Downsides in Teacher Education","authors":"O. Hatlevik, G. Gudmundsdottir, A. Rohatgi","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4227","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is particularly relevant in the context of a global pandemic when the majority of teaching is conducted online or in a hybrid environment that requires long hours in front of a screen. Online teaching is becoming increasingly important throughout education, and our findings draw attention to some of the challenges and possible pitfalls of the extensive use of digital technologies and, consequently, implications for teacher education. In the paper, we explore student teachers’ perceptions of digital downsides, their teaching tools self-efficacy, their resilience to digital distractions, and physical discomfort from the use of digital technology. We aim to identify these four concepts and examine whether and how they interconnect. A cross-sectional design was used to analyse data from 561 first-year student teachers enrolled in two teacher education programmes in two universities in Norway in 2019. The findings indicate that resilience to digital distractions decreases and a higher level of reported physical discomfort from digital technology increases student teachers’ perceived downsides of digital technologies. Overall, 38% of the variation in perceived digital downsides within the two teacher education programmes can be explained by these two concepts, as well as to the study programme the student teachers attended.","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128681772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mind the gaps: On the North/South Nexus in the ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ discourse","authors":"Kabanda Mwansa, Florian Kiuppis","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4464","url":null,"abstract":"In this conceptual article, we present the “Sport for Development and Peace” (SDP) discourse as a case of scientific rationalization. First, we shed light on the ongoing theory debate around the “global/local problematique” in globalization and global policy research in comparative and international education. We then link up with the SDP discourse and show that academic work mostly features research related to the fact that the majority of the SDP programmes and ways of implementing them have been conceptualized in the Global North, yet are to be implemented in the Global South. In that context, we illustrate International Organizations as sites of scientized knowledge production and translation. Scientific rationalization occurs when specialized technical knowledge and management techniques enter the discourse.","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"2009 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127326075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alebachew Kemisso Haybano, A. Haley, S. Lindblad, Gun-Britt Wärvik
{"title":"North-South collaboration: On the making of a Center for Comparative Education and Policy Studies at Addis Ababa University","authors":"Alebachew Kemisso Haybano, A. Haley, S. Lindblad, Gun-Britt Wärvik","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4357","url":null,"abstract":"The Ethiopian educational system has made promising advancements since the turn of the century. Despite this progress, education continues to grapple with a myriad of challenges, including differences in educational access and quality, insecure living conditions, and gender inequalities. Research can offer knowledge for tackling these challenges, but often it is knowledge from the global North that dominates, despite its questionable relevance to the global South. Therefore, this study analyses the evolvement of a Center for Comparative Education and Policy Studies, situated in an Ethiopian higher education context and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and how the Center has contributed to developing knowledge that is relevant to local contexts. An important outcome of the Center was the development of a doctoral program in International and Comparative Education and the knowledge produced in the doctoral theses that emerged. Our inquiry concerns how Southern theory contributes to an increased understanding of the development of the Center and the relevance of the doctoral theses. The findings underscore the importance of expanding Southern knowledge in education and the need for further reflection on the geopolitics of knowledge in research capacity development cooperation. ","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129269647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scientization of international educational development","authors":"T. Bekele","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4596","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4596","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"109 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117187364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Problematizing Scientization in International Organizations","authors":"T. Bekele","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4492","url":null,"abstract":"Comparative education studies examined the roles multilateral organizations and non-governmental organizations play in global governance and international development. Emphasis has been given to their engagements both at policy and practice levels as well as their impacts. Generally, the mechanisms international organizations use to govern education and development seem qualitatively to change over time. The most recent emerging research trajectory explains how international organizations primarily use the power of scientific knowledge for organizational legitimacy, credibility, and impact. This is referred to in the literature as soft governance, epistemic governance, scientization, or scientific multilateralism, as it significantly relies on the authority of scientific knowledge as opposed to hard, financial preconditions, for global governance and development. Our understanding of scientization is still in its ‘infancy’, partly due to its relatively recent emergence and partly due to the use of varied indicators to assess it across organizational types. To contribute toward further theorization, this study problematizes scientization in international organizations, with a focus on multilateral, intergovernmental organizations. The study is organized around answering this overarching question: What are the conceptual and methodological attributes or features of scientization in international organizations? Using sociological theories and conceptions of policymaking and transfer, it discusses core substantive, methodological, and theoretical issues of scientization having relevance for further research.","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127663644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The I’m Learning! intervention methodology for quality learning environments in developing country contexts","authors":"Cameron Ryall, L. Zook","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4055","url":null,"abstract":"Within the context of the global learning crisis and calls to focus on the quality of education, one international organisation took a systematic and holistic approach to improve learning, wellbeing, and development in schools. Known as the Quality Learning Environment (QLE) Framework, it conceptualised the quality of the learning environment in schools with four guiding principles: emotional and psychological protection of learners, physical wellbeing of children, active learning processes, and close collaboration between school and parents/community. From 2013 – 2017, the framework was piloted in three countries of Cambodia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe to improve learning environments and outcomes while documenting the process, methods, and results of the QLE pilot in their country. The interventions in the three countries were closely tracked by a longitudinal research study. This paper explores the ambition of global and national research firms to carry out rigorous cross-country research alongside contextualized and evolving school interventions.","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"85 5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123066366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jessica Aspfors, G. Eklund, Anna Holand, T. Fiskum, S. Hansen, K. Jegstad
{"title":"Scientifically Designed Teacher Education","authors":"Jessica Aspfors, G. Eklund, Anna Holand, T. Fiskum, S. Hansen, K. Jegstad","doi":"10.7577/njcie.4122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4122","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates teacher educators’ perceptions of scientifically designed teacher education in Finland and Norway and asks the following research questions: How do teacher educators in Finland and Norway perceive scientifically designed teacher education? How do they perceive teacher education regarding the research-led, research-tutored, research-based, and research-oriented dimensions? The study is comparative and uses a quantitative methodological approach based on a questionnaire survey administered to teacher educators in three departments of teacher education, two in Norway and one in Finland. The findings indicate overall positive and quite similar perceptions between the two countries. Despite the similarities, there were differences, particularly in the dimension concerning teacher-focused activities and in the research-tutored dimension. Furthermore, teacher educators’ perceptions were more varied among the Norwegian teacher educators, compared to the Finnish respondents.","PeriodicalId":161134,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128445561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}