Making teachers by policy? The case of teacher evaluation in Norwegian education

Abstract

ABSTRACT The reported study investigates the emergence of teacher evaluation (TE) in Norwegian green papers between 1988 and 2019. We examine how knowledge dissemination and discourses in Norwegian official reports shape suggestions for TE and discuss implications for how teachers are “made by policy”. Guided by Bacchi’s (2009) approach to critical discourse analysis, “What’s the problem represented to be?” (WPR), we explore where problem representations and their underpinning assumptions are produced and disseminated, and how they invoke new arguments and discursive and subjectification effects. The study contributes new knowledge on the origins of TE as a policy tool for governing Norwegian education in general, and teachers more specifically. Across time and irrespective of government coalitions, we identify the OECD as a main contributor to new problem representations and display how proposals for TE policies based on performance-based accountability (PBA) promote new discourses on teacher professionalism. Implications for research, policy and practice are discussed.