| dc.description.abstract |
In 2008 the teacher education in Iceland was extended from a three-yearbachelor program to a fve-year program, ending with a master’s degree. The intention was to give teacher education more solid research base, manifested in a 30ECTS master’s thesis while simultaneously strengthening the link between theory,research, and practice. Pursuant to the extension, enrolment in teacher education dropped, students’progress was slow, and the dropout rate rose. At the same time large cohorts ofteachers retired and shortage of teachers became a problem which led schools torecruit student teachers before they had fnished their degree. This situation led toeven slower progress in student teachers’ studies and fewer new licenced teacherseach year. To reverse this development, several measures were introduced in the years2017–2019, involving teacher education institutions, municipalities, the teachers’union, and the government. Among them was to make the master’s thesis optionaland to offer student teachers paid internship during their fnal year. The measureshave beneftted both the recruitment and study progress. Without the masters’ thesis, however, the balance between research and practice seems to have tilted infavour of practice, which raises questions about the quality and status of teacher education. |
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