ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses and discusses how the concept of professionalism is used and filled with partly different meanings across Norwegian teacher education institutions and educational levels within these institutions. Based on an analysis of webpages and study programme documents (emneplaner), a central finding is that teacher professionalism is mainly constructed by an extensive emphasis of research-based knowledge – and how to enhance it – and by focusing on subject knowledge, while relational knowledge and the broader societal mandate is less focused. Although it is mainly the policy discourse that is reflected in how teacher education institutions use the concept, there are also variations in how it is used, illustrating how the concept can also be used in a subtle counter-discourse to the policy discourse. A comparative look at Swedish and Danish teacher education shows that the use of teacher professionalism as a concept is different and less prominent in Norway.
