Framing policy problems and solutions in education policymaking: Pre-vocational education in Norwegian lower secondary school

This article investigates policymaking for Norwegian lower secondary education, with a focus on policy problems and solutions emphasising pre-vocational education. The data consist of official policy documents such as Green and White Papers, hearings, propositions to the parliament, protocols of parliamentary debates and votes in the parliament. The conceptual framework focuses on framing in policymaking and policy problems and solutions. Results reveal that dropout, difficulties in adapting education to the pupils and a gap between the content of schooling and the demands of the world of work are framed as the main policy problems. Different policy solutions emphasising pre-vocational education are presented as legitimised responses to these problems. The three policy problems can be defined as complex issues. Despite the proposed policy solutions, these are not enacted in the curriculum in line with the discussions and votes in parliament. This could be attributed to conflicting values and purposes of Norwegian education. These differences raise the question of whether the problems faced by Norwegian comprehensive schooling are taken for granted, as the proposed solutions appear to be insufficient in dealing with the defined problems.

The Norwegian Case of School Reform, External Quality Control, and the Call for Democratic Practice

Traditionally, the Norwegian education system has been built on equality and democracy as core values, but the disappointing results in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) introduced the perception of a “crisis in education” and increased the occurrence of national reform initiatives. New assessment policies with an emphasis on performance measurement and emerging accountability practices have characterized the transition processes over the last decade. With increasing focus on monitoring based on performance indicators, there is a risk that the purpose of promoting democracy in schools will be downplayed by instrumental and managerial regulations. However, the Norwegian school reform of curriculum renewal in 2020 also highlights democracy and participation as separate interdisciplinary themes and includes a concrete elaboration of this topic, which strongly emphasizes that schools should promote democratic values and attitudes as a counterweight to prejudice and discrimination. To obtain more knowledge about how school professionals deal with possible tensions and dilemmas in their work with the contemporary reform, it is important to unpack the interplay between managerial accountability based on performance indicators and identify how educators legitimize their work on promoting democracy in schools. To capture the dynamic nature of educational leadership and the daily subtle negotiation, a micropolitical perspective and theory on democratic agency were used to analyze theoretical and empirical material from two larger studies focusing on certain aspects of school reforms in Norwegian lower secondary schools. The findings suggest that educational professionals respond to the policy of inclusion through negotiating and translating tensions between equalizing students’ life chances and being subjected to collective monitoring and control. The findings also illuminate stories characterized by a predominantly individualistic interpretation of the democratic purpose of education and the challenges and opportunities involved in balancing academic achievement with students’ well-being.

Designing an Accounting Course Module on Cost Allocation: Pedagogical and Didactical Considerations from a Norwegian Perspective

This paper aims to elucidate some didactical and pedagogical issues related to the design of a course module on cost allocation, a pivotal topic in management accounting education at the undergraduate level around the globe. The module in question is specifically tailored to third-year undergraduates in business pursuing a major in accounting-related topics. As a theoretical backdrop, the paper draws on the didactical relationship model developed by Norwegian education researchers Hiim and Hippe. While it has proved to be of considerable value in planning education and teaching in Norwegian primary and upper secondary schools, this model, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has not previously been applied in the context of accounting education at the university level. Without seeking to wholly generalize our thoughts and views to all higher educational institutions, we refer, in this paper, primarily to our own personal experiences of teaching management accounting gained at the three Norwegian universities, namely, Nord University, University of South-Eastern Norway, and The Arctic University of Norway. It is argued in this paper that the didactical relationship model may be of great help to accounting educators by providing an illustrative account of key conditioning factors (didactic elements) to consider while planning the learning process. Additionally, the paper strives to delve deeper into the use of technology in light of the current COVID-19 situation that we are all locked in.

Hvordan iscenesetter to lærere skriveundervisning ut fra den samme pedagogiske ressursen, og hvordan nyttiggjør elevene seg av denne undervisningen når de skriver?

En tydelig trend i norsk utdanningspolitikk er at myndighetene bidrar til utviklingen av pedagogiske ressurser. Lærere oppfordres til å ta i bruk disse ressursene i den hensikt å skape bedre undervisningspraksiser i skolen. Vi har begrenset kunnskap om denne formen for pedagogisk praksis. Gjennom denne doble kasusstudien undersøker jeg hvordan to lærere iscenesetter den samme pedagogiske ressursen og drøfter hvordan elevene nyttiggjør seg disse undervisningspraksisene når de skriver en argumenterende tekst i norskfaget. Empirien er hentet fra to ungdomsskoler som deltok i den nasjonale satsingen «Ungdomstrinn i utvikling». Studien er forankret i et sosiokulturelt perspektiv på læring der språklig mediering av artefakter som skal fasilitere elevers lærings­prosesser, står sentralt. Studien viser hvordan lærerne iscenesetter den pedagogiske ressursen på ulikt vis, og den drøfter hvordan disse lokale tolkningene – spesielt ulik mediering av en modelltekst – legger føringer for elevenes tekstskaping. Ved å undersøke eksempler på praksis gir studien økt innsikt i relasjonen mellom pedagogiske ressurser, undervisningspraksiser og elevers skriving. Nøkkelord: skriveopplæring, pedagogiske ressurser, argumenterende skriving, utdanningspolitikk How do two teachers enact writing instruction from the same pedagogical resource, and how do the students make use of the resulting teaching practices when they write? Abstract A clear trend in Norwegian education policy is that the government contributes to the development of pedagogical resources. Teachers are encouraged to use these resources in order to improve their teaching practices. We have limited knowledge of this form of pedagogical practice. In this double case study, I investigate how two teachers employ the same pedagogical resource and discuss how the students make use of the teachers’ different teaching practices when they write an argumentative text in L1. The empirical data is taken from two schools that participated in the national strategy Lower Secondary in Development (Ungdomstrinn i utvikling). The research is grounded in a socio-cultural perspective on learning. The study shows how teachers employ the pedagogical resource in different ways, and it discusses how these local interpretations – especially different mediation of a model text – condition students’ writing. By examining examples of practice, the study provides increased insight into the relationship between pedagogical resources, teaching practices and students’ writing. Keywords: writing instruction, pedagogical resources, argumentative writing, educational policy

‘He Has a Better Chance Here, So We Stay’. Children’s Education and Parental Migration Decisions

In our chapter we take the concept of agency and apply it to migrants’ search for a safe present and a good future for their children, who face the global challenges of living in a risk society. Our analysis draws on biographical, semi-structured interviews conducted with Polish migrants living in the capital area of Norway. The findings of our research show that, although the labour market and good living conditions are important for Polish migrants while taking migration decisions, it is their children’s education that frequently transforms a temporary stay into a permanent one. We argue that Polish migrant parents adopt the strategy of ‘purchasing’ education, which they consider to be more beneficial due to the principles and values of the Norwegian welfare state (especially equality and educational support). In our research we found that the interviewees consider a Norwegian education as a ‘currency’, a credential in the sense that it will give their children access to further studies and/or better jobs. We focus on the migrant strategies, which often take the character of ‘escaping forward’ in an attempt to increase the life chances of their children.

Hva settes i spill når ledere i kulturskolen planlegger elevenes timeplaner? Om en rhizomatisk forståelse av organisasjonen kulturskole og hvordan en slik forståelse kan berike kulturskolens samarbeid med andre aktører

This article presents a study that has examined the factors that come into play when “kulturskolen” sets its timetable for teaching. The findings indicate that kulturskolen must relate to internal considerations such as aspects concerning cooperation on pupils, teachers, localities and locations, but also external considerations such as political documents and interpretation of the Norwegian Education Act. To discuss the complexity that emerges in the analyzes, we look at the data material in the light of the philosophers Deleuze and Guattari (1988) and Rosi Braidotti (2013). We argue that the complexity taken into account when scheduling timetables is describing a certain understanding of kulturskolen as an organization. Kulturskolen is understood as a rhizome, and the complexity propels the school forward in constant evolution. This complexity is also important when kulturskolen is to collaborate with others. If kulturskolen is to collaborate well with compulsory schools, the complexity presents some challenges. Where kulturskolen can be described as a web of various influencial factors, we find compulsory schools better regulated and perhaps more linear, with clear requirements for learning goals and skills in the curriculum for basic education (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2017). We believe there is a missed opportunity for collaboration when seeing kulturskolen in a rhizomatic context.