Study Program Leaders’ Perceptions of Coherence and Strategies for Creating Coherent Teacher Education Programs

Abstract

Scholars and policymakers have consistently argued for the importance of coherence in teacher education (TE). Despite this attention to coherence, challenges of fragmentation and disconnect remain, and little research exists on how study program leaders (SPLs) in TE work to achieve coherence. This article explores how SPLs in two selected TE institutions in Norway perceive coherence and what strategies they use to create coherent TE programs. The two case studies use an ethnographic approach and report on repeated qualitative interviews with seven SPLs, supported by short-term observations over a period of one academic year. The analysis contributes to the small but emergent literature on how SPLs conceptualize coherence and identifies six strategies that SPLs use to navigate persistent barriers within a diverse and autonomous faculty in their ongoing efforts to strengthen coherence in TE programs. Implications for study program leadership in TE are discussed.