The PRANO project is a research and development project funded by the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (former DIKU). The project began in the Spring 2021 and runs till December 2023.

As from 2017, all student teachers in Norway are required to write a master’s thesis, and the mandatory teacher education program is now five years instead of the previously four years. The PRANO project is an important contribution to developing the master’s level part of the teacher education program.

The main goals of the project are:

• to strengthen the collaboration between schools and the university-based teacher education in order to develop high quality in the final year of the teacher education programs GLU 1-7 and GLU 5-10
• to facilitate the anchoring of the students’ master’s projects in the field of practice as well as in the ongoing research at the university
• to develop solid models for collaboration between school-based practice supervisors and university-based supervisors and between schools and universities

In the PRANO project, students, school-based practice supervisors and university-based supervisors work together on the development of master’s projects which are anchored in the field of practice. The project explores various forms of collaboration, including collaboration between students. At the core is the dialogue between students, school-based supervisors and university-based supervisors and our discussions of the empirical research carried out by the students in the school-based supervisor’s classroom. We all meet at seminars throughout the year to plan and follow up on the students’ field practice as well as the master’s projects. The school-based supervisor remains an important discussion partner in the student’s write-up phase.

In a nutshell, groups of four students develop their master’s projects in collaboration with their school-based practice supervisor in addition to a university-based supervisor with research competence on the themes addressed in the master’s project. This type of organization facilitates the anchoring of the students’ projects in research as well as classroom practices, and the students are framed as researching teachers within a competent professional environment. 

In the first year of the PRANO project (2021-2022), 15 students, four school-based teachers from two schools and nine university-based supervisors from the Department of Norwegian didactics (Department of Teacher Education, NTNU) took part. In the fall of 2022, two more school-based practice supervisors and four more students are joining the project.

The school-based supervisors and university-based supervisors are participants in the project as well as researchers. Together we try out and reflect on collaborative supervision models, and we systematically collect and analyze perspectives and experiences from ourselves as well as the students.