Lærergrupper på Facebook II: RLE-lærergruppa og andre møteplasser

In two connected articles we introduce teacher groups on Facebook as a new field of research in the Norwegian context. Our study investigates RLE-laerergruppa («the RE teacher group»), a Facebook group created by and for RE teachers in 2015. By January 2020, the group had more than 2 800 members. We collected data on the group´s content and activity for the period of one year from 2018 to 2019, and combined a qualitative and quantitative coding of all posts, including who posts. In this second article we compare RLE-laerergruppa to the Norwegian association for RE teachers and other non-digital arenas in the field of RE pedagogy. RLE-laerergruppa is the first and only national arena where RE teachers across all levels come together. We argue that the group strengthens ties across school and academia by facilitating communication between teachers, pre-service teachers, and teacher educators. Finally, we contend that the group contributes to a vertical integration in the field of RE pedagogy that disrupts traditional hierarchies between school and academia. Keywords: Facebook, RE teachers, RE pedagogy, religion didactics, Norwegian association for RE teachers, school and academia