”Vi er jo alle leselærere” : Hvordan er Kunnskapsløftets syn på lesing integrert i lærernes refleksjon rundt eget arbeid med lesing på ungdomstrinnet?

Abstract

The autumn of 2006, a new curriculum, "Kunnskapsløftet", was published, and as a result the fundamental abilities were engraved. It was emphasized that basic abilities should be integrated, and act as a supportive element in all subjects from primary and lower secondary school to the upper secondary education. Reading was one of these abilities, combined with writing, calculation, orality and digital competence. Following the introduction, a number of research work has been conducted, which has focused on the implementation of the basic abilities and "Kunnskapsløftet". Most reports have presented surprising and gloomy conclusions – the implementation of the basic abilities have not turned out according to the intensions in "Kunnskapsløftet" (Dale et al. 2009, Hodgson et al 2010, Aasen et al. 2012, Udir, 2009). In the present master thesis, I aim my focus on teachers and reading, with the following thesis question: How is "Kunnskapsløftets" perspective of reading integrated in the teacher's reflection of his own work with reading at the youth stage? The thesis question is concretized through the following research questions: -­‐ How does the teacher understand and interpret the mandate as reading teacher in "Kunnskapsløftet"? -­‐ What actions have they attached to the mandate as reading teachers in "Kunnskapsløftet"? -­‐ How has the mandate as reading teacher changed the teacher's teaching practice? -­‐ Is there a connection between the teacher's gender, subjects, educational background and experience, and how they interpret, and practice their reading teacher's mandate? The theoretical backdrop for answering these questions, consist of reading theory, curriculum and implementation theory, and theory and research related to the introduction of "Kunnskapsløftet" (LK06). The empirical approach are in-depth interviews with four teachers of the Norwegian subject in the lower secondary school. The purpose of the interview was to discuss and reflect upon how “Kunnskapsløftet” is integrated into each teacher's reflection on reading at the youth stage in lower secondary school. Overall, these four interviews should provide some trends and contexts associated with the theme of reading. vi The results were not very surprising, and substantiate much of previous conducted research. The implementation of a new curriculum was not easy, and the informants conclude that not everybody feel the same responsibility regarding the reading teacher’s mandate. The informants understand and interpret that all teachers should be reading teachers of the “Kunnskapsløftet" - regardless of subjects taught. Some of them conclude that one of the reasons why not everyone feel the same responsibility, may be associatied with traditions and difficulties in the changing of well-established routines and habits. They all agree on the importance of being able to read, for further participation of society. The reading teacher’s mandate is something they take seriously, and they find that it has led to increased focus on reading during periods in which reading has been a focus area. One of the informants points out that it is easy to return to old habits, consequently forgetting the focus on reading. Their teaching practices have changed somewhat after the new curriculum, "Kunnskapsløftet", was presented. The informants explain how they engage reading in all subjects, using different reading strategies and techniques. However, being teachers of the Norwegian subject, the informants feel an additional responsibility in developing the students' reading abilities. The informants showed varying loyalty to the new curriculum, "Kunnskapsløftet", and the guidelines surrounding this curriculum. On one hand, everyone agreed that reading should be focused on in all subjects, while on the other hand some of them claimed that the practical subjects should be let out in order to keep them practical. The results from my in-depth interviews have shown positive trends and that there is still hope for reading as a basic ability in lower secondary school. The lack of implementation seems to be due to, amongst other things, unclear understandings of key concepts, competence and time. All of these are external factors that are possible to something about. This requires closer follow-up, training and clearer signals. Each teacher also has to establish an ownership to the reading teacher’s mandate – at the end of the day, we are all reading teachers!