Formulace a realizace evaluační politiky: rozpory a problematické oblasti

Abstract

In 2005, a national evaluation which includes tools such as standardised achievement tests, was introduced in the Norwegian education system. This can be described as a shift in the Norwegian educational policy from the use of input oriented policy instruments towards a more output oriented policy. On the one hand, this article investigates the policy purposes of the evaluation tools included in the national evaluation system as they are formulated in policy documents. On the other hand, it examines how Norwegian principals, who are de!ned in policy documents as one of the key actors responsible for improving educational quality, perceive the use of the evaluation tools. Bringing these two !elds of inquiry together, attention is drawn to some problematic aspects related to the tools’ modes of regulations, but also to inconsistencies between the policy purposes and how the tools in use are perceived by the principals. Empirically, the study is restricted to recent changes in educational policy and school governing in Norway. In order to analyse evaluation policy, combination of content and discourse analysis is used. A national survey directed to school principals in Norway in 2005 provides data for the empirical study and Structural Equation Modeling is used to analyse the data.