Governing School Choice in Norway: Why Local Educational Government Capacity Matters

Abstract

Among different initiatives for change and improvement of upper secondary education, in 2020, the Norwegian government decided to implement free school choice as mandatory enrolment principle for upper secondary education nationally from 2022, restricting the regional autonomy to decide on enrolment principle. This chapter explores the rationale behind different strategies for distribution of students for upper secondary school. The analysis relies on a multi-level governance perspective (Bache I, Flinders MV, Multi-level governance. Oxford University Press, 2004) and the analytical concept governing capacity (Lodge M, Wegrich K (eds.), The problem-solving capacity of the modern state: governance challenges and administrative capacities. Oxford University Press, 2014). Governing capacity includes formal, structural and procedural features of the governmental administrative apparatus as well as informal elements such as how the features work in practice (Christensen T, Lægreid P, Rykkja LH, Organizing for Crisis Management: Building Governance Capacity and Legitimacy. Public Administration Review, 76, 2016). By comparing two Norwegian counties with different institutional structure and governance of upper secondary education, this chapter illuminates and explores how the different principles of enrolment both respond to and influence regional educational challenges. We argue that the local conditions for upper secondary education challenge an equal principle of free school choice across the country.KeywordsUpper secondary educationEnrolmentFree school choiceGovernment capacityCounty municipalities