Entrepreneurial theses aim for practice relevance – Rakel Rohde Næss and Tuva Bjørkvold argue that entrepreneurial master theses can make teacher‑student projects more practice‑oriented, noting many existing theses are solid research yet feel irrelevant to busy teachers[2].
Critics claim theses lack direct teaching relevance – Opponents cite NOKUT findings that a quarter of teacher students do not understand why they must write a thesis, and even those who do remain skeptical about its relevance to classroom work[4].
Ministers suggest loosening thesis requirement – Officials in the Ministry of Education have indicated that the master thesis may need to be set aside to create tighter links between study programmes and school practice[5].
New study identifies four thesis functions – A recently published study examined students, programme leaders, teachers and instructors, revealing four distinct purposes the thesis serves and showing how participants connect thesis work to concrete teaching situations[6].
Process skills from thesis valued beyond final product – The author emphasizes that the learning process itself equips future teachers with experience and competencies that are often under‑communicated in the relevance debate[1].
Debate on five‑year teacher education persists – Public discussions over the past year have repeatedly scrutinised the five‑year teacher‑education track and the master thesis, especially since the first cohort of primary‑school teachers graduated four years ago[3].