ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the Norwegian context in which the two new colleagues are to work as institutionally based teacher educators. The new structure of Norwegian teacher education is the outcome of ongoing criticism of the education system in light of Norway's mediocre rankings on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The OECD report Teachers Matter has had a wide impact on recent Norwegian teacher education policy, and is frequently cited in policy documents. The new initiative in Norwegian higher education worth mentioning is the establishment of regional networks of academic institutions, including those involved in teacher education. The voluntary establishment of regional networks was an initiative to avoid a forced merging of academic institutions in Norway, another issue that has been part of debates about the structure of higher education institutions. The chapter discusses the recent developments in Norwegian teacher education that have been influenced by international trends.
