Teachers’ Learning Activities in the Workplace: How Does Teacher Education Matter?

Abstract

The ability of teachers to learn and develop at work is important for the quality of their performance and their well-being. However, research has been ambiguous about what factors can improve it. Two reasons for this ambiguity are discussed in this paper: The links between workplace learning and professional education have often not been included in research studies, and teaching may have special characteristics that make workplace learning difficult. The paper examines new empirical connections between teachers’ learning activities at work and the outcome of teacher education, using longitudinal Norwegian survey data. The results show that an active and independent study strategy increases the likelihood of consulting professionals outside work and finding information in books and journals. Furthermore, the introduction of individual characterristics substantially improves the work place impact models, and should be adopted in future research. Finally, it is discussed whether the methodological framework in existing research on teachers’ work place learning is consistent with the theoretical point of departure, or whether greater consistency should be sought.