Helen Margrethe Voreland Eikeland

• Awasthi, Lava Deo; Eikeland, Helen & KC, Bhupendra Kumar (2026). Reappropriating local pedagogies Unfolding attributes of teachers in Nepal. In Eikeland, Helen & Stephens, David (Ed.), Teacher Education as Cultural Re-appropriation: Critical and Theoretical Perspectives from across the Globe. Routledge. ISSN 9781041092698. p. 41–52. doi: 10.4324/9781003649267-4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The intention of this chapter is to develop a more localised and contextualised knowledge of teachers in Nepal, derived from the gurukul heritage of education. There are visible effects of the gurukul tradition in the way teachers position themselves in Nepal’s school system. Teachers in schools bear a legacy of the gurukul and also serve as key actors in educational reform programmes initiated by the government, often with support from international development partners. But it appears that, in belief, behaviour, and practice, teachers remain close to their gurukul domain and intend to follow the values of gurukul education. As a result, we argue that teachers’ persona, the holistic attributes in forming and developing teacher’s role, seems to have been divided into two selves: the traditional gurukul self and the Western imperative self. Nevertheless, there seem to be some visible tensions between these two selves in the discharge of the teacher’s role in Nepali schools. On the one hand, teachers seem to accept their role and authority, which are primarily rooted in the imperatives of Western modern schooling; on the other hand, they seem deeply connected and loyal to their faith in traditional gurukul pedagogical values. These dual roles, as a result, create a state of lack of clarity and confusion for teachers, and we argue that teachers’ firm, gurukul-rooted faith, dominates their daily pedagogical roles in schools. It is, therefore, important to explore further how this tension between the two different selves could impact teachers’ persona and their roles in classrooms in Nepal. To explore this further, we draw on three interrelated concepts articulated in Sankhya philosophy, relating to teacher virtues and attributes: satwagun (harmony), rajogun (acceleration), and tamogun (restraint). Specifically, these theoretical premises provide a locally established framework for taking a closer look at how teachers construct and execute their roles in Nepal’s school system. The chapter, therefore, seeks to answer the following research questions: How do the three attributes of satwagun, rajogun, and tamogun explain how teachers position themselves in Nepal’s school system? How can these virtues inform and be integrated into teacher education programmes in Nepal?

• Eikeland, Helen & Ringereide, Hans Otto (2019). Rethinking pedagogical strategies: Vitalizing life experience in teacher education. Journal of Education and Human Development (JEHD). ISSN 2334-296X. 8(2), p. 129–134. doi: 10.15640/jehd.v8n2a13. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The main concern in this article is to investigate how to follow up and assist students, entering teacher training programs, to develop ownership to their process of becoming a teacher. The critical element here is the students‘ approach to the syllabus and textbooks. This paper argues the relevance of vitalizing students lived experiences as a central part of engaging in their studies to create ownership of their process of becoming a group of diverse and confident teachers. By giving life experiences a position as an active part of the syllabus in teacher education, life experiences will consequently be a relevant part of the content in the study and also be taken into account in any examinations

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• Eikeland, Helen & Stephens, David (2026). Teacher Education as Cultural Re-appropriation: Critical and Theoretical Perspectives from across the Globe. Routledge. ISBN 9781041092698. 170 p. doi: 10.4324/9781003649267. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This genuinely novel, cutting-edge volume advocates for a teacher education system that re-balances the influences of modernity and tradition, providing a theoretical, critical examination of West-centred notions of teacher education development in order to demonstrate what a culturally re-appropriated teacher education programme of the future might look like. This book explores theoretical and research-focused ways to understand re-appropriation as a new and radical approach to international development generally and teacher training specifically, promoting experiential learning and the integration of indigenous perspectives with a modern system. Chapters showcase a rich variety of research and evidence from field-based studies, looking at contexts such as a mathematics teacher education programme in Nepal; migrant teacher experience in Norwegian schools; play-based pedagogy in early childhood education in Ghana; and conflict and climate education in teacher education in South Sudan. The book explores the concept of ‘recognition’ in teacher education institutions, that is, the linking of taught content to students’ lifeworlds in order to bring the world of the classroom closer to the lived worlds of the teacher and pupil. This volume will appeal to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of teacher education, education and development, and educational policy and politics. Policymakers working at national and international levels, as well as NGOs will also find the volume of use.

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• Wergeland, Birgitte & Eikeland, Helen (2021). Hvordan bli en god lærer med Helen M. V. Eikeland. [Internet]. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/1030344d-d0b9-47de-ab3c-. Full text in Research Archive
• Kristiansen, Aslaug; Haraldstad, Åse; Eikeland, Helen & Endresen, Kristin (2019). DEMBRA-tematikk i pedaogogikkundervisningen - tilbakeblikk og veien videre. Full text in Research Archive
• Stray, Ingunn Elisabeth & Eikeland, Helen (2017). Refractions of the Global Educational Agenda - Educational Possibilities in an Ambiguous Policy Terrain. In Goodson, Ivor F. & Rudd, Timothy (Ed.), Negotiating neoliberalism: developing alternative educational visions. Brill | Sense. ISSN 9789463008525. p. 87–100. Full text in Research Archive
• Eikeland, Helen (2018). The lifeworld of Nepalese teachers : Ideals, beliefs and agency. Universitetet i Agder. ISSN 9788271178932. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study investigates aspects of Nepalese teachers’ lives and work through the portrayals of 12 teachers that are situated within their historical context by enquiring into why stories were told in particular ways at particular historical moments. The contextual considerations and the conceptual framework of the study emerged from the empirical data to present a perspective to further examine the teachers’ life histories. One of the purposes of the discussion of the Nepalese context is to try to frame the study within the teachers’ socio-historical context, while also recognizing that ideologies and policies are refracted in personal ways, focusing on both structure and individual agency. Over the course of the study major revisions of the text and the theoretical approach of the enquiry had to be taken in response to the inadequacy of western theoretical concepts when considering the cultural foundations of the study. The open/ closed perspectives from Popper’s criticism of ideologies presents a way to view the Marxist movement in Nepal and also the EFA models based on the western origins of these influences. The local cultural foundations had to be viewed by a set of other perspectives based on a Hindu cultural heritage. In this study the concepts of ideals, beliefs and agency emerged gradually during the progress of analysing the empirical data. On an individual level, the empirical data required a nuancing of the concept of teacher belief as a framework for analysing the life stories of teachers. The concept of teacher belief applied in a broad sense made it difficult to use as an analytical tool to view the data. The phenomena of ideals emerged from the data as somewhat different from the phenomena of teacher beliefs. In situations where deeply held values were challenged, then it seems that agency appeared to be closely connected to ideals rather than beliefs. The differentiation of these concepts and phenomena have emerged from the examination of life stories of the teachers in this study.

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