Adapted education as a didactical professional concept in primary school teacher education

Abstract

The article is about adapted education (tilpasset opplæring, TPO), a topic which the Norwegian educational authorities have decided should be prioritized both in primary school teacher training (GLU) and in the national curriculum The Knowledge Promotion (Kunnskapsløftet) 2020. Newly qualified teachers say that this is a topic they would like to know more about. We investigate how TPO is expressed linguistically in the national curriculum for primary school teacher education, and in the institution's own programme plan and subject plans. The empirical material is curriculum texts. The analysis, driven forward by explorative, assessing and constructive questions, reveals that TPO is rarely or never expressed explicitly as content in the educational plans, but that implicit references to and interpretations of TPO can be found. Linguistic shifts between different curriculum levels are also to be found, giving evidence of a narrow understanding of TPO detached from the teaching of the subjects. The analyses are discussed in light of professional theory with an emphasis on language and didactics as part of teachers' professional knowledge. We argue that TPO is an essential didactic professional term and argue that GLU should be challenged to create a common and didactic understanding of TPO through collective discussions and negotiations, internally and through collaboration with internship schools. In that way, TPO can become a central topic that teacher educators and schools can collaborate on developing.