The World Inside the Classroom
Abstract
In August of 2020, the new curriculum called “Læreplan for Kunnskapsløftet 2020” (LK20) was implemented in all of the primary schools and secondary schools in Norway. In the overarching part it is stated: “Through the teaching and training the pupils shall gain insight into the indigenous Sami people's history, culture, societal life and rights. The pupils shall learn about diversity and variation in Sami culture and societal life.” (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020, p. 6) This research seeks to gain insight in how teachers in Norwegian schools are experiencing the Sami content in the curriculum and how they experience the implementation of the themes in their own teaching. Furthermore, this research seeks to understand how institutionalised patterns, such as the educational curriculum and the teaching material, is affecting how groups, in this context the Sami people, become recognised and misrecognised in various ways. In order to answer the research questions, the research applies a qualitative method, in order to capture the experiences of the research participants. The research participants are four teachers from Norwegian schools. The methods which are applied are semi-structured qualitative research interviews, as well as a thematic analysis of the findings from the gathered research data. The research is carried out in a broader context of multiculturalism and has a human rights framework at the basis. The philosophical perspectives of constructivism and interpretivism provides the lens which the research is seen through. The research participants experienced their realities in different ways and saw both benefits and limitations with the curriculum and the implementation of the Sami themes in education. There were also identified various sub-themes of recognition and misrecognition, which in their own way is connected to the education and the context of the Sami people.