MP: Pedagogues are too academic

It was a mistake to turn the pedagogues into academics, and it’s time to reassess their education, argues MP Djóni Nolsøe Joensen.

Vocational courses should be vocational, and not academic. Joensen believes that today’s pedagogues, teachers and nurses have become far too theoretical in their approach since the University of the Faroe Islands took over their training in 2008.

He says that although theory is an important part of education, there is too much of it in today’s teaching of pedagogues, teachers and nurses, making it difficult for these people to adjust to the demands of real-life work.

“Very few of those who study pedagogy, teaching and nursing go on to work within research, and that means a lot of the theory they have learned is irrelevant,” says Joensen.

In the period 2008-2017, 279 teachers and 265 pedagogues received their diplomas.

Out of these, there were only three PhD students.

The annual practical training over this same period was reduced from 42 to 24 weeks.