The meaning of teacher competence in contexts of change: In search of missing elements of a knowledge base for teacher education – moral purposes and change agentry

The thesis contributes to an articulation of a more comprehensive knowledge base for teacher education. It explores the concept of teacher competence as basis for teacher education including preparation for moral roles and change agentry. The thesis develops tools for exploration of the manifestation of these elements in teaching practice. Theoretical perspectives of teacher competence in a broad sense are combined with those of educational change, and with the perspectives about teachers’ beliefs. The thesis explores whether and how teachers’ moral values are associated with aspects of teacher competence proven beneficial for learners – student-teacher relationships positively associated with students cognitive and affective outcomes. The research questions addressed by the thesis’ five studies are: 1) What are teachers’ and teacher educators’ perceptions of the structure of teacher competence and of the importance of its different aspects? 2) How do these perceptions differ across countries with similar educational and societal contexts, but different decentralisation arrangements? 3) What are teachers’ and teacher educators’ perceptions of the substance of competence-driven changes in teacher education curricula? Can they be interpreted using a framework distinguishing between the Didaktik and Curriculum cultures? 4) How are teachers’ beliefs about moral values and their roles in inculcating them reflected in teachers’ reasoning about ethical dilemmas that arise in school lives? Can these reflections be used to fully operationalise different conceptions of moral roles? 5) Do teachers’ beliefs about their moral roles manifest in teacher practices and if so how? What is their association with teacher-student relationships and cultural competence? A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods is employed to answer these questions. The findings could be summarised as follows: teachers’ and teacher educators’ perceive competence to include 1) dealing with values and child-rearing; 2) understanding of the education system and contribution to its development; 3) subject knowledge, pedagogy and curriculum; and 4) self-evaluation and professional development. They rated all but the second aspect as very important for teaching. The perceptions of all but the first aspect differ across countries. Views close to Didaktik and Curriculum cultures coexist in individual perceptions of the substance of each of the aspects of competence, and of changes in teacher education. Teachers’ beliefs close to paternalist, liberal and social-relativist conceptions of moral values and roles could be identified in teachers’ reasoning about ethical dilemmas, but reliable scales could be constructed only for measuring paternalist and liberal beliefs. Teachers’ paternalist attitudes are positively associated with their perceptions of levels of control in teacher-student relationships, while teachers’ liberal attitudes are negatively associated with students’ perceptions of levels of affiliation. Teachers with more liberal beliefs reported more consciousness of cultural differences and motivation to consider those differences in their teaching, but not that they know more about different cultures, or adjust their behaviour in cross-cultural interactions.