University Literature Teachers Reject Education Research, Threatening Teacher Training
A Swedish study of 21 university literature professors reveals most lack confidence in education research and actively avoid using it in teacher training. The finding exposes a critical gap in how universities prepare K-12 teachers, suggesting broader problems with translating academic research into practical classroom instruction across disciplines.
Originaltitel: The limits of the research-teaching nexus: how teacher educators drawn from English literary studies view literature education research
<p>Teacher educators play a crucial role in the educational researchteachingnexus, making it important to understand how they viewresearch that bridges a subject discipline with school teaching, aswell as how they use this research in initial teacher education (ITE).The present study contributes to this understanding by spotlightingthe views of a cadre of teacher educators specialising ina subject discipline. Based on in-depth interviews with 21 teachereducators drawn from English literary studies in Sweden, this qualitativestudy examines how English literary scholars view literatureeducation research and its usefulness in ITE. It shows that participantsregarded their educational research literacy as limited, predominantlyheld a negative view of literature education researchand were often disinclined to include this research in their courses.The study points to challenges of realising the close relationbetween educational research and teaching, offering importantimplications for ITE stakeholders.</p>