This project finished in 2024.
Interdisciplinary work is decisive to succeed with education rapidly developing and society bringing a future with uncertainties. Collaborating across different disciplines are needed to face the societal challenges we are up against.
To be successful, we need to bridge the gaps between academic disciplines and school subjects – within teacher education and in school. The overall aim of BRIDGES is to produce new research-based knowledge and practice for teacher education.
From August 2020 a new National Curriculum is implemented in Norway, changing the school with, among several things, three cross-cutting themes expected to address current and future societal challenges:
- public health and life skills
- democracy and citizenship
- sustainable development
Through systematic work with quality in education and partnership, BRIDGES will test, evaluate, and document teaching about, for, and through these three themes in search for examples of best practices. The project will also produce and share learning material.
The results of this project will improve teacher education’s capability to adapt to the needs of schools. Additionally, it will strengthen teacher education and teacher educators as resources for schools, local society, and policymakers.
The schools have started bridging the gaps between and across school subjects in their preparations for implementing the new curriculum. This is, therefore, a favorable time for this project as we can test new ways of collaboration and bridging gaps in the education system.
BRIDGES is based on three well-established teacher education institutions working in different ways with developing, strengthening and systematizing interdisciplinary work within their teacher education programs. This provides unique opportunities for rich comparative research.