THE TEACHER EDUCATION PANEL STUDY (TEPS) FRAMEWORK

Version 1.0

Abstract

The Teacher Education Panel Study (TEPS) is a landmark initiative in educational research on Norwegian teacher education: a comprehensive, large-scale longitudinal panel study designed to investigate the full trajectory of student teachers—from their entry into initial teacher education to their transition into professional working life.

In Norway, most existing research on teacher education has been small-scale, fragmented, and qualitative, making it difficult to build a cumulative knowledge base. At the same time, teacher education is continuously going through major reforms and facing pressing challenges, such as a trend of declining applicant numbers. Against the backdrop of such reforms and challenges, there has been a repeated call for systematic, high-quality data on the implementation of teacher education.

By collecting comprehensive data from different teacher education institutions, TEPS aims to enable evidence-based policy and practice through high-quality research. The longitudinal, multi-level, multi-cohort design of TEPS allows strong inferences, including causal ones. Similar large-scale studies on teacher education exist in only a few other countries, such as Germany and Australia. Thus, TEPS will position Norway at the forefront of international research on teacher education.

While the primary objective is to establish a research database that is accessible and supports state-of-the-art educational research, findings from this research can also contribute to improving the quality of teacher education.

This framework document introduces the objectives and status of the TEPS study, and outlines its contextual, theoretical, and empirical rationale behind the design. It describes the structure of Norwegian teacher education and addresses the need for a database in light of the current developments and challenges Norwegian teacher education faces. The TEPS framework also draws on key theoretical frameworks and lines of inquiry in prior empirical research on teacher education. It describes TEPS’ assessment design, including the target population, the longitudinal and multi-cohort modular design, the types of quantitative data collected, and the content areas covered.

This framework serves as the foundation for the ongoing development and piloting of TEPS instruments and represents a milestone in the establishment of a national data infrastructure that can be used for high-quality and impactful research on teacher education.