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Transferring and Transforming Technology Education: A Study of Norwegian Teachers’ Perceptions of Ideas from Design & Technology

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Abstract

What happens when educational ideas cross national and cultural borders? How do teachers respond to ideas originating in a different school system and a different national culture? This article reports on an empirical study investigating the transfer of ideas from Design & Technology as a subject in England and Wales into Norwegian schools. A sample of teachers participating in a specific project on technology teaching inspired by this subject has been studied by means of interviews and classroom observation. Results of the study show that while some elements of Design & Technology are adopted by the teachers, essential ideas of the subject are significantly transformed. Drawing on Barnes, (1992, Teachers and Teaching: From Classrooms to Reflection (pp. 9–32), The Falmer press, London) concept of teachers' professional frames for teaching, it is shown how specific aspects of the national and educational culture have had a considerable effect on␣the teachers' interpretation of the nature of technology as a subject of teaching and its place in the curriculum. The study illustrates the importance of the cultural context in how educational ideas are interpreted, reshaped and realized in schools.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teacher Education and School Development, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1099, N-0317, Blindern, Oslo, Norway

    Berit Bungum

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  1. Berit Bungum
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Correspondence to Berit Bungum.

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Bungum, B. Transferring and Transforming Technology Education: A Study of Norwegian Teachers’ Perceptions of Ideas from Design & Technology. Int J Technol Des Educ 16, 31–52 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-005-2111-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-005-2111-7

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