Pre-school teacher education in Norway is organised in knowledge areas, which are often denoted as interdisciplinary, consisting of several disciplines. However, interdisciplinary teaching and interdisciplinary research are ambiguous concepts, and can refer to various goals and characteristics. In this paper, we discuss concepts related to interdisciplinarity and sketch associated requirements and challenges. We further investigate whether regulations demand certain forms of interdisciplinarity. Based on literature on interdisciplinary research and interdisciplinary education, we divide the concept into transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, and we suggest what these may represent in research and education.

Studies of opportunities and challenges by using Lesson Study (LS) is asked for. This study’s focus is on lower secondary school teachers’ views on LS as visible in the analysis of their written reflections. The findings indicate that LS provides opportunities for the teachers to build professional learning communities for developing knowledge important for teaching in general, and for planning teaching in particular. The challenges put forward by the teachers are first of all related to LS being (too) time consuming. In addition, LS is experienced by the teachers as being “artificial” and the cooperation with (some) colleagues was experienced as challenging. Lastly, the teachers put forward observation in LS as challenging. Based on the opportunities and challenges identified in this study, implication for future LS cycles as well as future research are discussed.

This study explores reflection logs produced by course participants during a postgraduate university course arranged for Norwegian educational psychology counsellors. A grounded theory approach revealed that “useful” was a core category. The core category is described through three major categories: (1) Knowledge sharing with colleagues is useful, (2) reflections on models and theoretical concepts are useful, and (3) reflection on the role as an educational psychological service (EPS) counsellor is useful. In all the categories, the notion of useful occurs in the participants’ emphasis on and acknowledgement of the immediate and direct link between the university course content and their daily work practices.