Preparing Teachers for Democracy: Prioritisation and Variation in Democratic Education in Norwegian Teacher Education

Democratic education is context sensitive. The broader political conditions under which democracy is taught have changed. The current period, marked by democratic backsliding and geopolitical tensions, differs in important respects from earlier contexts. In this situation, questions of how democracy and citizenship are understood, articulated, and prioritised within educational institutions gain renewed relevance. Against this backdrop, this paper examines how different dimensions of democracy and citizenship are prioritised through the course literature in social studies in Norwegian teacher education. Democratic governance involves ongoing efforts to sustain the normative and institutional conditions necessary for democratic systems to endure. Education plays a central role in this process, as it is widely understood to contribute to the formation of shared reference points, understandings, and expectations that underpin democratic participation and legitimacy. Within the education system, teacher education occupies an important position, as it prepares those who will later interpret and convey democratic norms and practices in schools. Within this governance context, while democracy and citizenship are articulated as core objectives in national frameworks for teacher education in Norway, institutions are granted considerable autonomy in how these objectives are operationalised. This configuration of clear normative expectations with a high degree of autonomy raises a central question regarding governance: to what extent does teacher education contribute to a shared democratic reference framework, and to what extent does it produce variation in how democracy and citizenship are prioritised? Rather than examining pedagogical practices directly, the study approaches this question by analysing patterns of prioritisation across course literature in social studies teacher education. The study is based on an analysis of course reading lists in social studies teacher education programmes in Norway. By examining how different dimensions of democratic education are prioritised across institutions, the analysis explores the extent to which these patterns of emphasis appear shared or fragmented. The findings indicate both shared patterns as well as variation, suggesting that democratic governance through teacher education reflects convergence and differentiation. The paper contributes to debates on democratic governance and citizenship education by highlighting how shared mandates are operationalised in institutional practice under conditions of autonomy.