Teacher Education in the Faroe Islands

Abstract

This chapter begins with an overview of the 150-year history of teacher education in the Faroe Islands. The quality of the current teacher education programme is assessed on the basis of five distinct indicators: (1) recruitment, (2) academicization, (3) pitfalls, (4) resilience and (5) competence. These five gauges are often assessed separately in teacher education research; however, to gain an adequate understanding of the quality and relevance of teacher education in the twenty-first century, they must be examined together. Finally, the article reflects on the future of teacher education in the Faroe Islands.

1 Introduction

The Faroes Islands are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, consisting of 18 larger and smaller islands, 17 of which are inhabited. The total land mass is only 1400 km², the territorial waters cover 247,000 km² (Hagstova Føroya, 2021).

Geographically, the Faroes are an isolated micro society with its own language, history and traditions. The islands were first settled around 650 AD. Fisheries and Salmon farming are the main industries. While geographically remote, the Faroes are still a modern society, offering its inhabitants a living standard and educational and vocational opportunities comparable to other Nordic countries.

Many find it puzzling that a microsociety like the Faroes has been able to develop at the same rate as its neighbours. One reason is that within the framework of the Danish commonwealth, a good and solid educational system has been established.

Faroese teachers are often known as the nation’s most important culture bearers. They have not only fulfilled their role as educators but have also set an indelible mark on Faroese culture as authors, musicians, painters, journalists and church deacons. Furthermore, they have been well represented in the political system as parliamentarians and government ministers. Faroese teachers were among the first to see the need for Faroese both as the language of instruction in schools and as the liturgical language in the church. They also saw the importance of schooling in Faroese history and cultural heritage (Nielsen, 1998a, 1998b). However, despite the task of nation building, constructing both national identity and pride, the Faroese school has never attempted to isolate itself from the rest of the world. This was evident in a major early twenty-first century Nordic study, which showed that Faroese youth were more proficient in Nordic languages than their peers in neighbouring countries – and they showed high proficiency in English as well (Delsing & Lundin, 2005; Higgens, 2009). The high priority placed on language proficiency in the Faroese public school system has proven to be a condition for the local educational system’s ability to follow trends in neighbouring countries and further afield.

Early in 2021, the population was about 52,000, of which 22,000 live in the Torshavn municipality. As for education, the numbers are as follows:

• 250 pupils in the 9 pre-schools in the Faroes

• 7000 pupils in the 41 primary/lower secondary schools,¹ 3 private schools and 1 special school

• 2000 pupils in the 5 upper secondary schools

• 200 students in the 2 schools that offer maritime education

• 1000 students at the only university in the Faroes, Fróðskaparsetur Føroya

In addition, about 1000 Faroese youth were taking higher degrees abroad, with more than 80% of them studying in Denmark (Hagstova Føroya, 2021a).

This chapter commences with a broad overview of the history of teacher education in the Faroe Islands followed by the evaluation of the current teacher education programme on the basis of five distinct barometers:

• The recruitment barometer

• The academicization barometer

• The pitfalls barometer

• The resilience barometer

• The competency barometer

The chapter concludes with a reflection on the direction the Faroese Teacher Education programme will take in the coming decade.

2 Overview: The Origins and Development of Teacher Education in the Faroe Islands, 1870–2008

Teacher Education was the first higher education degree offered in the Faroes. It was established over 150 years ago, when the political authorities decided that all Faroese children should learn basic skills, and that this should take place in a state school (Petersen, 1994).

Between 1870 and 2008 it is evident that Faroese teacher education looked to Denmark for inspiration. Whenever Danish teacher education was modified or revised, the same would happen in the Faroes within a few years (Nielsen, 1998b). Faroese teacher education has historically been quite stable, only being changed six times, in 1878, 1907, 1938, 1962, 1980 and 1991 (Holm, 1970; Nielsen, 1998b). This is quite surprising considering the major societal changes during this period.

Faroese teacher education has been characterised from the outset as (1) an integrated teacher education programme, in which the students study school subjects, pedagogy and field placement (practicum) concurrently, and (2) a generalist degree, which has qualified the students to teach in all subjects and every class level upon graduation. The structural changes in the programme during this period have not touched these two pillars. Rather the changes have concerned the following:

• The length of the programme.

• 1870 – a two-year programme.

• 1878 – a three-year programme.

• 1938 – a four-year programme.

Course Content

• 1870 – Christian religious education, Danish, history, geography, arithmetic, writing and singing.

• 1878 – English, mathematics and natural sciences are added.

• 1907 – Faroese, physics, woodwork, zoology, botany, playing the organ are added.

• 1968 – In addition to a string of obligatory subjects, students specialise in either mathematics/natural sciences or languages.

• 1980 – A distinction is made between basic courses and specialisations: The basic courses are Faroese, arithmetic, Christian religious education, Danish, writing, sports, arts, woodwork, handwork, music, and home economics. Students then specialised in three school subjects.

Pedagogical Content

• 1870 – Teaching and upbringing.

• 1962 – Pedagogy and psychology replace the indefinable subject ´teaching and upbringing` and are singled out in the legal framework as the primary subject in teacher education.

• 1980 – Pedagogy and psychology included in all the 4 years of the programme.

Practicum

• 1870 – Practicum was an integral part of the programme.

• 1938 – Students were to teach both younger pupils who had not yet taken any major exams, and older pupils who were preparing to take the entrance exams for secondary education.

• 1968 – The teacher education programme gets its own practice school.

• 1991 – Practicums are quantified, the executive order stating that students are to have 470 h of school placement during their 4 years of study.

It is difficult to identify educational approaches in the teacher education programme. Martin Holm, the rector of the School of Teacher Education between 1965 and 1970 writes that in a remote community like the Faroes, where you only have one teacher education programme and only a few instructors, it can be difficult to follow developments, debates and recommendations found in education elsewhere. Nevertheless, he says, that in the 1960s attempts were made to introduce activities that allowed the student teachers to be more active and independent than had been the case in teacher centred education (Holm, 1970). Pauli Nielsen, who was the rector between 1989 and 2006, points out that teachers in a small country like the Faroes will always end up teaching several subjects that lie outside the specialisations they focused on in their degree. Therefore, teacher education in the Faroes must focus first and foremost on the pre-service teachers’ personal development — they need to learn to be teachers, receive insight into the profession’s many aspects and tasks, and they need understand the function of schooling in society. This, in one way or another, is anchored in the degree’s pedagogical and psychological subjects (Nielsen, 1998b).

Researchers in education often note that changes in the legal framework and new executive orders do not always result in major changes in pedagogical practice. Such reforms are often hampered by the fact that those whose task it is to execute these reforms are not given sufficient time, education and opportunities to discuss the changes in the implementation period. Therefore, the reform has only a limited impact (Haug, 2013).

3 2008: A New Bachelor of Education Degree

In 2006, the Faroese Ministry of Culture published a report on the teacher education and social education programmes in the Faroe Islands. The members of the working committee behind the report had examined the trends in the Nordic countries and unanimously recommended that the Faroese degree in teacher education should become a research-based bachelor’s degree (Zachariasen, 2006). The report was supported by the political system, and on 1 August 2008, the Faroese School of Teacher Education (which offered degrees in teacher education and social education) and the University of the Faroe Islands were merged (Uttanríkis- og mentamálaráðið, 2008). And in the summer of 2008 a new B.Ed. degree was launched.²

Neither the report nor the legal framework for the university set out how the two institutions were to be merged. Furthermore, there were no discussions on how the mergers should shape the future of teacher education (Joensen, 2020). This proved not only to be a major challenge for the rector of the Faculty of Education and his colleagues, but also gave them certain opportunities, since an explicit requirement for the new degree in teacher education was that it should be:

• oriented toward both a primary/lower secondary school discourse and a university discourse

• research-based and oriented to the profession

• retain the successful parts of the old degree and discard what proved to be lacking

To find the balance between these poles was no easy task, since the various stakeholders disagreed, and still disagree, as to what is to be prioritised in teacher education. The rector responsible for teacher education and specialists from the Ministry worked closely together over a long period of time (Joensen, 2020). The result was a quite unique 4-year research-based degree. After the first 3 years of study, students received a bachelor’s degree that gave them entrance to master’s programmes in education and related fields at certain universities abroad (Pedersen, 2009). However, in order to receive their teaching certificate, giving them the right to teach at the primary and early secondary level, they had to complete another diploma year (Uttanríkis- og mentamálaráðið, 2009).

The executive order for the new degree in teacher education was quite detailed, laying out precisely what subject areas the students were to work with each semester. During their first year of study, the students were to take a string of introductory courses: Theory of Science, Children and Youth Culture, Worldview and Ethics, Faroese, Psychology, General Pedagogy/Didactics. In the second year, students chose one of three tracks: Humanities, natural sciences or a creativity track. During their third year, student took their first specialisation³ and wrote a bachelor thesis. Having completed their second specialisation, the fourth year finished with a diploma project.

The executive order set out the subjects that should comprise the degree but said nothing about their content (Joensen, 2020). At the department, faculty members were tasked with defining the learning outcomes, teaching methods, evaluation methods and literature of the courses in their fields of study.⁴ Those who received this responsibility were usually instructors who had taught in the teaching education programme for years and were rooted in a traditional teacher education college tradition. But now, suddenly, they had to think and act as university faculty. This could not have been an easy or simple task.

4 The Latest Iteration: The Structure of the Degree in Teacher Education, 2016-Present

In 2016 significant changes were made to the degree in teacher education, partly due to the wishes of policy makers, the teachers’ union, and the association of school principals. Also internally at the faculty, there was broad agreement that the degree, which commenced in 2008, had certain weaknesses. The main critiques were:

• the degree’s disciplinary profile was too narrow.

• the three tracks in the second year – the humanities, social sciences and creativity tracks – were too broad and not anchored sufficiently in school subjects.

• students could receive a degree in teacher education without having had Faroese and mathematics, which are the two largest school subjects.

• the first-year modules were too short. This influenced learning outcomes and heightened examination pressure.

• the practicum periods were too short.

• the degree lacked adequate progression.

The teacher education degree launched on 1 August 2016 is based on a degree profile that defines the competencies a teacher is to develop in their study. A distinction is made between general competences and pedagogical competences:

The general competences include:

• academic competences

• collaboration and communication competences

The pedagogical competences include pedagogical as well as general and subject specific competences including:

• competency in interpreting laws and regulations in education.

• competency in nurturing well-being and creating good relationships.

• competency in carrying out basic development and research projects.

• competency in evaluating one’s own work and life-long learning.

Each of the overall competences have their own competence goals, which those responsible for the various courses need to take as their point of departure – or orient toward – when they define the learning outcome, content and teaching methods in their courses (Námsskipan, 2016).

The degree is structured thus (Table 9.1).

Table 9.1 The structure of the Faroese teacher education programme

A unique characteristic of the Faroese teacher education programme is that students only take one course at a time, i.e., it uses a radical modular system, where one teacher educator oversees 100 percentage of the students’ study time for the duration of the course. The specialisation consists of three modules, two 15 and one 10 ECTS modules, while the general education courses are usually divided into two courses of 10 ECTS each.⁵

The students have a practicum period every year—18 weeks in total [3 + 5 + 5 + 5]. During the 18 weeks, students are to teach 10 h a week, for a total of 180 hours. In addition to this, the students have the right to two conference hour a week with their practice teacher, for a total of 36 h (Starvslæruhondbókin, 2020).⁶ The four practicum periods are not organised into individual modules but are an integrated part of the courses in Faroese and mathematics in the first year, and partly in the specialisation in the 2., 3. and 4. year practicum period.

The progression in the teacher education programme is primarily linked to the courses in pedagogy and related fields, known as “Teaching and Learning,” which is common to all students of a particular year comprising 12–13 weeks per academic year. The subjects covered in “Teaching and Learning” are a combination of educational psychology, pedagogy, general teaching methods, ethics, special education, beginning reading, and theory of science and methods. These are all interdisciplinary areas, which any teacher must be acquainted with. The academic year at the department is 40 weeks, each study week counting for 1½ ECTS points. Class attendance is compulsory.

5 Recruitment Barometer

The recruitment barometer indicates the popularity of teacher education in a particular country or city, and how many qualified applications a programme gets a year for the same reason. Researchers in teacher education consider the number of qualified applicants as a significant factor in a good teacher education programme (Darling-Hammond & Liebermann, 2012).

The Faroese teacher education programme has always received many applicants (Nielsen, 1998b), and continues to attract interest even as a university degree. The table below shows the relationship between (1) number of applications and (2) how many are accepted in two 4-year intervals.

Figure 9.1 shows that from 2008 to 2011, 52.1% of applicants were offered a place in the programme (Hansen, 2011), and from 2017 to 2020, 52.4% were offered a place (Setursskrivstovan). If these rather stable percentages are compared to other countries, the interest in becoming a teacher in the Faroes school system can be said to be high (Skagen & Elstad, 2020; Madsen & Jensen, 2020).

Fig. 9.1

Interest in the Faroese teacher education programme

If the recruitment factor is related to the academic standard of the applicants, the Faroese teacher education programme is quite privileged. Figure 9.2 shows the grade point average of those enrolled in the programme in the same two intervals.

Fig. 9.2

The average grades of those accepted to the Faroese teacher education programme

As the Fig. 9.2 shows, the grades are markedly higher between 2017 and 2020 (Setursskrivstovan, 2020b) than between 2008 and 2011⁷ (Hansen, 2011). For the academic year 2020–21, 262 students were offered places in the eleven bachelor programmes offered at the University of the Faroe Islands’ five faculties. Those offered a place in the teacher education programme had the highest average grades of all (Thomsen, 2020).

When comparing Figs. 9.1 and 9.2, it is evident that there is a close correlation between the number of applicants and grade point average in the Faroes, i.e., the more applicants, the higher the grade point average of those who have been offered a place in the programme. If the grades of those offered a place in 2019 and 2020, when the difference in grades was significant, are compared, this correlation becomes evident.

Figure 9.2 showed that the average grades have varied little from year to year, and Fig. 9.3 shows that 57% of those who were offered a place in 2019, would not have done so if they applied a year later (Setursskrivstovan, 2020b). The figure also shows that the academic qualifications are fairly homogenous some years while heterogenous for others. Therefore, the average grade can never be the single parameter when considering what characterises a particular year or group of students studying for a profession.

Fig. 9.3

Distribution of average grades of the intake to the Farose programme in 2019 and 2020

If we compare the average grades for those who were offered a place at the Faroese teacher education programme with those who were offered a place in Danish programmes, the Faroese students have markedly higher average grades (Madsen & Jensen, 2020).

If we look at the gender distribution in the recruitment barometer, the Faroes faces the same challenges as many other countries.

Figure 9.4 shows that in the period between 2009 and 2011, 73.6% of those offered a place were female (Hansen, 2011), and that between 2018 and 2020 this number fell slightly to 65%. The reason why more women are offered a place than men is that more women apply, not that the men who apply are deemed unqualified (Setursskrivstovan, 2020a).

Fig. 9.4

Gender distribution of preservice teachers

The gender distribution evident in the teacher education programme is reflected in the Faroese school system. In the academic year 2019–20, 70% of all the employed teachers in the Faroese school system were women (Tausen, 2020).

The below Fig. 9.5 shows the age distribution of those who are offered a place in the programme.

Fig. 9.5

Faroese preservice teachers’ age distribution

Figure 9.5 shows that the age range of those who graduate in the programme is quite wide, and it is the norm rather than the exception that the youngest student is between 20 and 30 years younger than the oldest one in the same year. Some students come directly from upper secondary school, while a survey of those who started their studies in 2019 or 2020 showed that 31% had already completed one or two degrees (Harryson, 2021a). This includes professional training in a craft, degrees oriented toward a profession as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Furthermore, Fig. 9.5 shows that the average age has fallen by two years over the last decade. Even that being the case, the average age at the teacher education programme is among the highest at the University of the Faroe Islands (Setursskrivstovan, 2020b).

When we look at the family and work background of those who are admitted to the programme, a survey of those that began their studies in 2019 and 2020 highlight the following:

• 29% are closely related to people who were teachers (parents, grandparents or siblings).

• 74% had worked in pedagogical settings (i.e., youth leaders, sports coaches or have worked in kindergartens and similar institutions) before commencing their teacher education.

• 17% had worked as substitute teachers in a state school, an independent school or pre-school (Harryson, 2021a).

If we correlate motivation with the recruitment barometer, it is worth noting the answers the students gave in the same survey to what the main reason was that they had applied for the programme in teacher education rather than another programme.

Figure 9.6 shows that interest in the teaching profession is the primary reason that 80% of those who began their studies in 2019 and 2020 had applied to be accepted to the programme. This is a good foundation to start from. The figure also shows that the working hours of a teacher was another significant factor. The majority of those in the teacher education programme are women of child-bearing age. A profession with a relatively short workday and long vacations may be seen to fit well with family life. Thirdly, it can be pointed out that the wages are not flagged as a main reason for choosing a career in teaching.⁸

Fig. 9.6

“What was your main reason for applying to study teacher education?”

If we consider what those who commenced their teacher education in 2019 and 2020 wanted to use their degree for, the following factors come to light:

Figure 9.7 shows that the majority of those who are accepted to the teacher education programme want to work in the Faroese school system on completing their studies, or to use their studies to work within the field of education—i.e., it is the education as a discipline which is the main motivating factor.

Fig. 9.7

“What are you planning to use your teacher education degree for?”

Figure 9.7 also shows that 17% of the respondents characterise teacher education as a broad degree that can be used in many different ways. This viewpoint undoubtedly is based in the fact that many Faroese teachers have been well represented in the cultural life of the Faroes as well as in arts, media and politics. From an academic viewpoint, it is worth noting that only 11% of the applicants plan to go for further studies. This is markedly lower among pre-service teachers in the Faroes than for those who study nursing or social education in the Faroes, where 44.8% and 25.8%, respectively, want to pursue further studies (Harryson, 2019).

To correlate recruitment with the academic reputation of the programme, the students starting in 2019 and 2020 were asked to choose the bachelor’s degrees offered at the University of the Faroe Islands which was must difficult to complete.

Figure 9.8 says something about the prejudices new students in the teacher education programme bring to their studies. Comparing teacher education with classical university programmes as law, natural science and economics, they do not expect teacher education to be a difficult degree to complete. If teacher education is compared with nursing, which also started as an independent non-university profession-oriented degree until 2008, teacher education is still not seen as demanding (Harryson, 2021a). A survey made among the first-year students at the university’s other four departments in 2019 showed the same result. Those who study law, economics, natural sciences, etc. at the other faculties, too, believe that teacher education is not a demanding course of study (Harryson, 2019).

Fig. 9.8

“Which of these degrees are the most difficult to complete?”

Lastly, if correlating recruitment and the issue of theory-practice at the teacher education programme, the survey referred to above, showed that 61% of the first-year students expected that they would learn about the same from the theoretical part of the programme as from the four practicum periods. 28% expected to learn more from practicum, while 11% expected to learn more from the studies they did at the university (Harryson, 2021a). The expectation the students bring with them to the programme has a significant influence on how they evaluate the structure and content of the programme during their studies.

In conclusion, as for recruitment, the Faroese teacher education programme does well in comparison to many other programmes in the Nordic countries. It attracts many qualified and motivated applicants.

6 The Academicization Barometer

To determine how academic the teacher education programme is, the following factors are often considered:

• Is it a research-based university degree?

• Is the degree on the bachelor’s or master’s level?

• Do most of the instructors have research qualifications?

• Does the faculty produce significant research? (Harryson, 2018)

If the Faroese teacher education programme were weighed on academic scales, it can be first noted that a five-year master’s degree is seen as the standard both in and outside the Nordic countries (Elstad, 2020). Therefore, considering the academic level, the Faroese four-year B.Ed. degree is at a middle level.⁹

Moving on to the relationship between taught lessons and independent study, the taught lessons were almost automatically reduced after the merger from about 28 lessons a week (Mikkelsen, 2020; Uttanríkis- og mentamálaráðið, 1991) to 12–15 lessons a week (Námsskipan, 2016). Even though this was a drastic reduction, the weekly lessons at the Faculty of Education are still comparable to many other Nordic countries (Elstad et al., 2020).

The academicization barometer also focuses on staff considering (1) how many of the staff have formal research qualifications, (2) what is the faculty’s research production, and (3) whether the faculty actually is capable to offer the students a research-based programme. If we consider these at the Faculty of Education, an internal review at the university show that for the academic year 2020/2021, 24% of the staff at the faculty had formal research responsibilities and were required to research (Mohr, 2021). This is low if compared to the university’s other faculties. It is also low compared to e.g., the teacher education programme in Reykjavík, Iceland, which has offered a master’s degree in teacher education since 2008 (Harryson, 2018). But it is high if compared to the Danish degree in education, which is a profession-oriented bachelor’s degree (EVA, 2018; Rasmussen et al., 2015).

The strategy plan for the University of the Faroe Islands states that between 2020 and 2024, 60% of the academic staff are to publish articles in peer-reviewed journals every other year (Fróðskaparsetur Føroya, 2020). An internal report for 2020 shows that the academic staff at the Faculty of Education find it difficult to live up to this goal, and it is the faculty with the lowest research output (Mohr, 2021).¹⁰

Considering the notion of “research-based teaching,” international research shows the idea is ambiguous (Bonderup & Dolin, 2015; Hansen & Rieper, 2009; Sørensen et al., 2017). A questionnaire sent to university instructors in the Faroes, who took a course in teaching at the university level in 2019–20 and 2020–21 confirms this (Harryson, 2020b). If research-based teaching means that the instructor must be a researcher, or that the instructor is only to teach in his or her area of research, then it would prove problematic for a small programme like the Faroese teacher education degree as there are not enough people with a PhD in every discipline. But if research-based teaching means that students read and study research-based articles both in Nordic languages and English, and are allowed to conduct small research projects throughout their study, the Faroese degree stands a better chance of meeting the requirements of a research-based degree.

Finally, the academicization barometer may refer to the students’ academic achievement upon completion of their studies. If we consider their B.Ed. project, the grades achieved speak loudly (Harryson, 2021c, 2022).

Figure 9.9 shows that even though the average grade varies from year to year, and even to the grades vary within the same year (between 02 and 12), the average grade for the B.Ed. thesis is quite high – markedly higher than at the Danish programmes (Koed et al., 2019).¹¹ The reports from the evaluation of several programmes clearly indicate that you have to be very cautious in comparing average grades across national boundaries, because evaluation criteria can vary considerably (EVA, 2017; EVA, 2018).

Fig. 9.9

Average grades

Above we have seen that the academicization barometer is more of a prism than a barometer revealing several aspects of the academic puzzle. In some areas, the Faroese degree lives up to the accepted criteria while it has some way to go in others.

7 The Pitfalls Barometer

The pitfalls barometer looks at inherent weaknesses in a degree programme. When considering teacher education through this lens, researchers in education often point out the complexity of teacher education, where the knowledge base is more heterogenous than many other fields of study (Crowe, 2008; Darling-Hammond & Liebermann, 2012). A preservice teacher must acquire many and very different competences in diverse disciplines, making it unrealistic for individuals to acquire it all during their studies (Harryson, 2018). Therefore, the lack of time to master this wide range of competences is perhaps the greatest weakness in teacher education.

When the Faroese teacher education programme has been critiqued over the past decade, the criticism has not focused on academic standards but that the programme is not sufficiently anchored in the Faroese school system. The critique has never been more visible and systematic than in October 2020, when the programme had its 150th anniversary. In this connection, the magazine of the Faroese teacher’s union focused on the degree, representatives from the union, the student council and Faroese school leaders evaluating the current teacher education programme. What they found problematic included the following issues:

• the programme had become too academic, or at least not sufficiently practice oriented.

• the degree was too narrow and did not reflect the school schedule newly graduated teachers need to work with.

• the practicum periods were too short.

• the students did not receive enough in-house teaching a week.

• there was not enough permanent staff on the faculty, and that some school subjects were not represented in the faculty.

• instructors with no experience in the school system were employed at the faculty.

• the staff at the faculty did not conduct sufficient research in the Faroese school system.

• the teacher education programme had not been sufficiently financed since the merger with the university (Kjølbro, 2020a; Kjølbro, 2020b; Kjølbro, 2020e; Olsen, 2018).

This criticism is quite similar to those directed at other teacher education programmes in other Nordic countries (Harryson, 2018). Some of it can be based on concrete data while others are more due to academic preferences and educational ideology.

In a microsociety, the distance between various stakeholders and the media world and the political system is much shorter than in large countries. This means that ideas and suggestions about what should receive attention in both primary and lower secondary education and teacher education are regularly found in public forums requiring the Minister of Education to take a stand (Joensen, 2021; Strøm, 2020). What characterizes the debate is that the various stakeholders seldom offer any qualified suggestions on what should be taken out of the program if something new is to be introduced (Nolsøe et al., 2021).

A vital question regarding possible pitfalls is to what extent there is a correlation between (1) the subjects students select in their teacher education and (2) the school subjects that fill the schedule in the school system. A survey of all electives in the teacher education programmes between 2010–2020 showed that not all school subjects are equally popular among the students, and that the subjects with the greatest challenges in this structure are Danish, German, geography, visual arts, home economics and, to a lesser extent, religious education (Harryson, 2021b).

Another key question in terms of potential pitfalls circles around practicum. When students evaluate the various parts of the programme, a pervasive comment is that the practicum should comprise a higher proportion of the study. A survey of teaching placements for all second-, third- and fourth-year student in 2020–21 showed that 57% of respondents wished that the practicum were ´much longer` while 34% wished it were ‘longer’.¹² A majority of respondents also pointed out that the practicum periods would be strengthened if they did it individually than in groups, which often is the case (Hansen & Harryson, 2021). The figure below supports this point, which reflects how the same students evaluated what they had learned most from when on placement.

Figure 9.10 shows that $\raisebox{1ex}{$2$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$3$}\right.$ of the students learned most from teaching by themselves while $\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$4$}\right.$ pointed out the learning potential in observing a good practice teacher. The conference sessions, where the preservice teachers can discuss their teaching with their practice teacher and observing fellow preservice teachers teach, which has been a common practice at the faculty, do not score highly. A large survey of the Faroese teacher education programme in the period 2007–2011 came to similar result (Hansen, 2012).

Fig. 9.10

“What do you learn most from in practicum?”

Finally, if the pitfalls barometer is linked to dropout - which is a challenge in many teacher education programmes in the Nordic countries - an internal university survey shows that between 2014 and 2021, the dropout rate for the teacher education programme was 21% in average (Dávadóttir, 2021). This is a low rate compared with the classical university degrees offered at the University of the Faroe Islands, where over half of the students drop out.¹³ And the rate is also low if it is compared to the Danish and Icelandic teacher education programmes (Madsen & Jensen, 2020; Sigurðsson et al., 2020).

In conclusion, when the Faroese teacher education programme is measured against the pitfalls barometer, it experiences the same challenges as many other Teacher education in the Nordic region programmes. Teacher education is complex, and if you strengthen one part of the programme it may prove potentially detrimental to several other parts.

8 The Resilience Barometer

The resilience barometer puts the spotlight on two fundamental questions: (1) What are the prospects for employment on completion of the degree? (2) Can the newly educated teachers handle teaching on completing their degree – or do they leave their profession after a short time? These two issues will be discussed separately in this section.

Looking at the relationship between resilience and employment, we can first consider some data on the Faroese school system. The Ministry of Education says that in 2019–20, 843 teachers and 93 social educators were employed in the Faroese state school system (Tausen, 2020), and that during the academic year 2020–21, 35 untrained persons were on the wage lists, which is less than 5% of the total work force (Tausen, 2021). The number of untrained teachers in the Faroese school system is low when compared with other Nordic countries (Elstad et al., 2020).

In the period between 2008 and 2019, on average, 28 people per year completed their teacher education (Búskaparráðið, 2021). A large census of the Faroese population, conducted in 2010–2011, showed that in the coming 10–15 years, about 20 teachers will retire a year (Hagstova Føroya, 2011). Representatives for the teachers’ union have pointed out for years that we educate too many teachers in the Faroes with the long-term consequence that many teachers will not find employment as teachers (Olsen, 2019). Though it is easy to point out that the number of graduates a year is higher than how many teachers retire a year, an internal university survey shows that all graduates from the teacher education programme in 2019 found jobs directly related to their degree within 1 ½ year. Such a balance between an educational institution and the work market is highly unusual when compared to many other university degrees in the Faroe Islands (Dávadóttir, 2021), and exceeds the university’s goal that 70% of all graduates should either have found relevant employment or have commenced further studies within one year of graduation (Fróðskaparsetur Føroya, 2020).

There are no recent studies to point to when linking resilience directly to teachers discontinuing their profession. But several factors suggest that compared to other countries, there are remarkably few newly educated teachers in the Faroes who leave their profession within a few years. A study of those who studied in the teacher education programme between 2007 and 2011 showed that 92.6% of the respondents taught either at a Faroese or Danish primary and early secondary school in 2011–12. Of the 7.4% who did not teach during that academic year, the majority were either female teachers that were on maternity leave or teachers who had taken up further studies. It is noteworthy that none of the respondents said that they had left the teaching profession because they were tired of it or felt that they could not manage it (Hansen, 2012).¹⁴

The resilience barometer is not only about how good the teacher education programme is at preparing the students for their future profession, but also about how well the newly graduated teachers are received in the school. With regard to this, the teachers’ union and the Ministry of Education came to an agreement in 2016, which stated that newly graduated teachers would receive a mentor during their first year of teaching (FMR & FL, 2016). The contract states that the mentor and mentee each receive 40 hours in their work towards this. It is not specified what the mentorship involves, but the implicit goal is to reduce the practice-shock experienced by everyone entering a profession. To gain insight into the mentor programme, a small study was conducted of 22 teachers who had completed their degree in either 2018 or 2019. The study showed that 82% of the respondents thought that all newly educated teachers need to have their own mentor, and that 57% believed that 40 hours a year (i.e., one hour a week) was suitable (Solmunde, 2020).

When the respondents were asked to describe what had been the greatest challenges in their first year of teaching, they identified the following aspects:

• The finding of good and relevant teaching materials.

• Competency in using various IT programmes and interactive boards.

• The designing of the annual plan for their teaching.

• The cooperation with parents.

• Teaching in subjects they had not studied in their teacher education programme.

• The establishment of good relations with their pupils.

• The organising of lesson plans.

• The teaching of pupils with special needs.

Although these topics have been thoroughly discussed in the theoretical part of their degree, they still were highlighted as great challenges in practice. This points to the complexity of the theory-practice relationship in teacher education (Harryson, 2018).

In conclusion, the resilience barometer gives us insight into whether the graduates get a teaching job on completion of their degree and whether they can handle the teaching profession or are interested in it in the long term. The studies that have focused on this suggest that the Faroese teacher education programme scores highly on this barometer.

9 The Competence Barometer

The competence barometer focuses on teaching as a discipline. The goal of teacher education is to prepare students for the teaching profession. Therefore, the institutions that offer teacher education and the school system in which teachers practice their profession are always intrinsically related. If the pupils in a particular national school system perform badly in international tests, a rule of thumb is that the teacher education programmes must be partly responsible. The reasoning might go something like this: “The quality of teaching depends in large measure on the quality of the teachers; the quality of the teachers depends in large measure upon the quality of their professional education” (Turney & Wrigth I: Koester & Dengerink, 2001, s. 345). If you live in a country that only has one teacher education programme, the above quote carries a more powerful punch than if you are in a country that has several programmes.

When considering the quality of the Faroese school system, external and internal studies need to be distinguished from one another. Looking first at external test, the best indicator is the PISA-test, which the Faroese school system has participated in since 2006. The results of the most recent PISA-test are seen here:

Figure 9.11 shows that the PISA score of Faroese pupils in 2018 were markedly lower than the score of students in other Nordic countries. The difference was most marked in mother tongue and least in mathematics (Olsen et al., 2018). The lacklustre results undoubtedly say something about the academic level in Faroese schools – but something also suggests that the attitude many Faroese teachers have to the PISA concept plays a role. A questionnaire that supports this hypothesis was conducted among 81 new teachers that had taught between 1 and 5 years. The result showed that over 60% of the respondents did not believe that the PISA test was reliable in evaluating the quality of the Faroese school system. Neither did they believe that today’s PISA results were able to predict the GNP of the Faroes in 10–15 years. The PISA test was instead described as a political project which had minimal support from Faroese teachers, and therefore had no influence on how lessons were constructed (Hansen, 2012).

Fig. 9.11

PISA-results from the Nordic countries 2018

The Faroese school system has participated in the PISA-survey five times.¹⁵ And if you compare the results between 2006 and 2018, you receive a better insight into the development of the Faroese school system.

Figure 9.12 shows that even though the Faroese PISA results are not on level with the other Nordic countries, the Faroese school system has markedly improved over the 12-year period of Faroese participation. There are several reasons for the improvement of about 10%. The most marked political initiatives, which often are referred to are:

• The teacher education programme became a university degree in 2008.

• National tests in middle school in the mother tongue, mathematics and Nature and Technology were introduced in 2008.

• Nature and Technology was introduced in 2008 as s school subject in the middle school.

• New curricula for all subjects were introduced in 2011.

• Focused continuing education programmes were introduced:

• Reading guide teachers, 2008

• Dyslexia teachers, 2011 & 2015

• Mathematics guide teacher 2014

• Educational leadership, 2018

The teacher education programme has been involved in many of these initiatives, while experts from abroad have been used in others.

Fig. 9.12

The Faroese PISA results, 2006–2018

Turning to internal evaluations of the Faroese school system, a new study of the exams sat by pupils in grade nine in eight relatively large schools in the Faroes highlights the following issues:

• In written Faroese, Danish, English and mathematics, the average grades have been at the same level as in other Nordic countries (6.85 in average) between 2015 and 2019.

• Some schools score markedly higher than others – and that it is not unusual that the average grade is between 2 and 3 grades higher in one school than another.

• Girls perform markedly better than the boys - the difference is more than one grade.

• The difference between the three strongest and three weakest pupils in a normal classroom are very high, often between 8 and 11 grades (Harryson, 2020a).

The socioeconomic background of parents is not taken into account, but despite this, the results show that it is difficult to generalise when discussing the quality of the Faroese school system, since some schools perform markedly better than others, and some students get far more out of their school years than others. This is a challenge both for the Faroese school system and the Faroese teacher education programme.

In conclusion, the competence barometer can quickly become a competition barometer, where school systems in different parts of the world, and schools within a country, show off their strength in a variety of different school tests. If the PISA-survey is able to say anything directly about the quality of the Faroese public school and indirectly about the quality of the only teacher education programme in the Faroes, then it says that the academic level is not adequate but that it is moving in the right direction.

10 Future Perspectives

The Ministry of Education has decided that the Faculty of Education is to be evaluated by an external committee before the end of 2022. The results of such an evaluation will undoubtedly influence the future orientation of the teacher education programme and initiatives that will be taken (Kjølbro, 2020c). In addition to this, the leadership at the faculty is working on strengthening the programme and improve the continuing education options for teachers.

In 2006, a politically appointed work group recommended that the teacher education programme would be turned into a 5-year master’s programme within 10–15 years (Zachariasen, 2006). The Dean of the Faculty of Education has stated that this academic progress should be accomplished in the Faroes within the short term (Kjølbro, 2020d). Nevertheless, the decision to commence such a programme is a political one.

In 2018, a panel of experts, which analysed the Faroese Pisa results, recommended that the integrative teacher education model be supplemented with a consecutive model, where those, who already have a bachelor’s or master’s degree, can take a programme in education at the Faculty of Education, and in this way become certified as teachers (Olsen et al., 2018). This recommendation has not been considered seriously in the political system but must be viewed as a distinct possibility.

The leadership of the Faculty of Education is currently working on providing better options for continuing education for teachers. The continuing education programme, which has garnered most support among teachers, and which both the teachers’ union and the study board have called for, is a practicum guidance teacher programme (Gásadal et al., 2021). A working group was formed in the spring of 2022 at the faculty that will work on a proposal on a combined programme for practice teachers and mentors. The plan is to launch the programme in the fall of 2022.