Norwegian science teacher educators’ views of the master’s thesis and the supervision process

The aim of this article is to investigate Norwegian science teacher<br/>educators’ views of the master’s thesis and the supervision process in<br/>connection with the recent change to five-year master’s programmes.<br/>Interviews with fourteen science teacher educators from the seven<br/>teacher education institutions offering a master’s specialisation in<br/>science education were analysed inductively through thematic analysis.<br/>The teacher educators’ perceptions were represented by four themes:<br/>development of personal traits, academic competence, value for<br/>classroom practice and value for the teaching community. Furthermore,<br/>they emphasised being project leaders and having competence in<br/>science education and relational competence when supervising master’s<br/>theses. The science educators are positive about the general features of<br/>the master’s thesis, such as developing personal traits and more<br/>research-competent colleagues of teachers. However, the study<br/>revealed that many supervisors expressed a lack of competence and<br/>supervision experience, and we suggest involving teacher educators in<br/>research projects in education.