The effect of frame factors on (vocational) teacher educators’ teaching work

Abstract

This study is about six teacher educators’ descriptions of their teaching of (vocational) subject-specific didactics to teacher students at a university in Sweden. The analysis has been carried out categorically on the basis of material from two focus group interviews and with a narrative approach. Central to the narrative approach is the basic assumption that narratives are constructed together with and in relation to other people. The theoretical approach in the study is based on the concept of frame factors. We have assumed Hiim’s (2010) didactic relationship model, but use only the frame factors in her model. The study tries to answer the research question: What categories of teaching-related frame factors appear in the teacher educators’ descriptions of their teaching? The results comprise four categories and show that time, authorities, evaluation, and student base, aspects that are related to other factors in Hiim’s relationship model, govern their teaching. The conclusion is that the teacher educators try to create opportunities for their students, who are prospective teachers, to acquire teaching skills alongside an ongoing societal development, but this attempt is governed by frame factors that they themselves are unable to change.

Keywords

• Teacher educators, Vocational teacher educators, Short-track teacher education, Narrative research, Frame factors