Barbara Waloszek

PhD candidate at the University of Stavanger (UiS)

Waloszek is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Sciences at UiS. Her doctoral research project explores pedagogical innovation in initial teacher education in Norway. The ongoing digital transformation of the society changes how we work, communicate and spend our free time. These changes necessitate the acquisition of new competences and skills, as well as readiness for life-long learning. Teacher educators need to respond to these changes, adapt and innovate their pedagogical practice. This way, they will prepare pre-service teachers for work and continuous development in the 21st century classrooms.

Tell us about your project!

The purpose of this doctoral project is to explore how pedagogical innovation is understood and implemented by teacher educators in Norway. The focus is on technology-rich learning laboratories in teacher training institutions, designed according to the Future Classroom Lab (FCL) model. The research questions are the following:
(1) How do teacher educators understand and implement pedagogical innovation?
(2) How do teacher educators use the FCL in their professional practice? 
(3) How do teacher educators approach the FCL as a learning resource?
The data is collected with a digital questionnaire. The target group and informants are teacher educators from seven higher education institutions in Norway, who have access to different applications of the FCL. The data is subject to quantitative analysis. The results will reveal how teacher educators in Norway understand the concept of pedagogical innovation in the context of their professional practice. Moreover, the project will provide new knowledge on teacher educators' attitudes towards change and technology, and their relationships with the use of the Future Classroom Labs

“The results will reveal how teacher educators in Norway understand the concept of pedagogical innovation in the context of their professional practice.”

— Barbara Waloszek on her research project “The conceptualisation and implementation of pedagogical innovation in teacher education”.