Developing research literacy in teacher education

In many jurisdictions, teacher quality is seen as key to system improvement. One approach to improving teacher quality is to include research activities in teacher preparation. Yet, little is known about how conducting research might improve teacher quality. Research literacy, defined as both knowing enough about research to understand and critique findings and being able to take a research approach to teaching, can be used to consider how research can improve teaching. This study examines the master's theses of 236 initial teacher education students in Norway to consider how their chosen research topics and approaches develop their research literacy for teaching. We find wide variations in question type and approach across the theses and that some questions and approaches open more opportunities to gain research literacy than others. While all 236 theses potentially developed an understanding and critique of research, only some involved topics and approaches that built understanding and skill in taking a research approach to teaching.