Abstract
A number of initiatives have been put forth over the last decade to improve quality in Norwegian schools. Many have been nationwide government-initiated programs. However, several studies express concern about the actual effect of these programs, and some also point to a lack of local anchoring and involvement of teachers. In this article, I draw on studies of one such program. Ungdomstrinn i utvikling (Lower Sec-ondary in Development) was a five-year school-based competence development program in more than 1200 lower-secondary level schools. We found that the local start-up phase and the co-determination of the teach-ers were crucial, and few schools drew on knowledge from the 1960s in Norway on how to organize dia-logue seminars so teachers might have a chance to participate in the local design of the program and estab-lish a shared understanding and knowledge of the challenges at hand. Instead, we found examples of a transaction perspective and an “order and deliver” model of competence development. I discuss this as a possible consequence of the influence of instrumental management theory and why the Nordic cooperation model, even though challenging for school leaders, local union representatives and teachers, would be a better approach to school development. Lastly, I argue that we should avoid historical amnesia and that we would probably be better off if we revived the knowledge from the 1960s and after on co-generation and collaboration.
Highlights
Moos (2013) argues that leadership thinking and practices are formed by discourses, policies, and literature as well as by national and local traditions, values, structures, and practices; it is essential to gain a good understanding of the institutional context and the historical and societal background in and against which educational leadership is situated (p. 282)
I argue that we should avoid historical amnesia and that we would probably be better off if we revived the knowledge from the 1960s on co-generation and collaboration
32 Historical amnesia: On improving Nordic schools from the outside and forgetting what we know suited for schools, as they are institutions with the important mission of providing learning and knowledge promoting the development of responsible, democratic citizens
Summary
Moos (2013) argues that leadership thinking and practices are formed by discourses, policies, and literature as well as by national and local traditions, values, structures, and practices; it is essential to gain a good understanding of the institutional context and the historical and societal background in and against which educational leadership is situated (p. 282). In line with Moos, Shirley (2016) claims that educational systems ought
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