Native-speakerism in the Norwegian subject teacher training program

Abstract In this article, we examine the language policy that underlies the training of Norwegian teachers in Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools. Based on a critically oriented document analysis of current policy documents, we consider (1) the language competence required to work as a Norwegian teacher, and (2) what can be inferred from the required language competence about the principles for the recruitment and training of Norwegian teachers. We interpret our findings as an expression of an underlying ideology of native-speakerism in Norwegian teacher training: both in principle and in practice, multilingual students with a different language proficiency profile than representatives of the majority population are in effect sidelined. We argue that a lack of diversity in teacher education due to this language policy has negative implications for the individual minority language student, for the Norwegian subject both in teacher education and in Norwegian schools, and—ultimately—for the society that teacher education is meant to serve. The model described privileges the majority’s language competencies, thereby contributing to linguistic hierarchization and—not least—the reproduction of a native-speakerist language ideology that contradicts key principles and directions in the current school curriculum.