Norwegian Education Research Articles

The Icarus Effect Rephrased: Range of Semantic Gravity and Forms of Knowledge in New Norwegian Teacher Education

In the 2000s, several major education reforms have been implemented in Norway. The reform in the teacher education is heavily inspired by the Finnish model, with introduction of a new research-based content, with the aim of developing a new type of professional knowledge, as a basis for teachers’ professional practice. Drawing on Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, this paper explores the tensions in the new Norwegian teacher education, between knowledge and ways of knowing, by examining students’ practices, expressed in students’ research and development papers in the new teacher education. The paper refutes a one-dimensional concept of experience-based practical knowledge in the teacher education and argues that professional knowledge is based on practices that are informed by specialized and theoretical knowledge.

The rhetoric and reality of human rights education: policy frameworks and teacher perspectives

ABSTRACT A multicultural society that equates Christian and humanist values with human rights denies pluralism, placing human rights culture at risk. We examine Norwegian education policy discourses, noting human rights as a key feature of national identity, said to underpin schooling. Education policy maintains distinctions between those who embody national values and migrant others who need to learn them. We analyse the human rights-related competences students are expected to have on completing 10th grade, examining social studies and religious education curricula and teacher interview data. We consider whether the curriculum supports transformative human rights education (HRE), empowering learners to defend others’ rights and build solidarity across difference. Data suggest that HRE is frequently implicit, restricted, and dependent on teachers’ individual perceptions of rights. Teachers may lack legal knowledge and are unsure how to tackle everyday injustice or racism. We recommend education policy explicitly address shared HRE principles and recognize racial injustice.

Theoretical and practical, but rarely integrated: Norwegian primary school teachers\u2019 intentions and practices of teaching outside the classroom

This study investigates teachers’ intentions and practices related to teaching outside the classroom. We report on three months of fieldwork consisting of participatory observations and qualitative interviews of teachers in two Norwegian primary schools practising weekly uteskole [outdoor school]. We find that the teachers’ intentions for uteskole are to facilitate first-hand experiences for their pupils. The teachers organise and teach uteskole in two distinct ways: 1) friluftsliv activities [outdoor living activities] and 2) theoretical learning activities. The connections between friluftsliv activities and theoretical learning activities are seldom emphasised. Furthermore, the teachers rarely organise theoretical learning activities that entail pupils’ transacting with their surroundings. We discuss how the teachers’ work can be understood through the Romantic and the Pragmatist perspectives of experiential education and through the representational epistemology of traditional schooling. We outline how a transactional epistemology, operationalised as the “multi-modal model of knowing”, can support teachers in facilitating transaction between the pupils and the environment outdoors and aid in establishing continuity between learning activities outdoors and indoors. We argue that these are important factors that can enhance uteskole as a teaching method for facilitating deep learning in Norwegian primary education.

Practical aspects of implementing the IRIDA system as a solution for One Health bioinformatics analyses

Managing sequence data, associated metadata, bioinformatics analyses and results can be challenging. In a One Health context, the challenge is even larger as there are many actors involved, many diverse types of results need to be produced, and the ensuing process data, such as software versions and options have to be tracked for auditing purposes. In addition, results must often be produced rapidly to be actionable, and non-bioinformaticians should be able to perform the the analyses. Therefore, a graphical user interface (preferably web system) with pipelines and visualization tools are needed to do these analyses. The Public Health Agency of Canada has together with other actors developed the web based system IRIDA (https://www.irida.ca) which uses Galaxy for analyses. IRIDA comes with a set of pipelines, visualization tools and a project based data management system that allows for fine grained data access control, which satisfies many of the requirements that a One Health bioinformatics platform dictates. However, as is often the case with a system meant to satisfy high demands, the platform is not trivial to set up and adapt for local use. In our setup, we are using two web servers, two database servers and one file server. The IRIDA web server provides the user interface. The Galaxy web server receives commands from IRIDA, executes the commands and returns results. Each web server has a database that keeps their respective metadata: user information, file locations and results. The actual files are stored on the fileserver. This spoke-and-wheel infrastructure was implemented to ensure minimum disruption of service if a component should go down. To get the necessary compute resources for this system, we are contracting with the Norwegian Research and Education Cloud (NREC), which offers Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services for Norwegian institutions and universities. NREC utilizes template VM images which can be instantiated according to need. The automated configuration and orchestration of images ensure that we can have dynamic access to resources according to need. This dynamic scaling is accomplished through collaboration with Elixir Norway. They have implemented the Pulse software which can check usage and instantiate and take down virtual machines as needed. At the Institute, we have spent close to two years on exploring and setting up this system. We have learned that it is important to not underestimate the amount compute resources needed to get a solid setup. However, having enough compute is irrelevant without knowledgeable staff. IRIDA comes with many features, which require considerable prior knowledge to adapt and set up in a local infrastructure. This includes knowledge on webservers, database systems, linux administration and Galaxy systems administration. The complexity dictates that these systems need to be set up and managed by in-house IT trained staff that will be able to tend the system along the way. It is also very important to maintain interactions with the users of the system, to ensure that the setup produces results that are useful to the users. To accomplish this, bioinformaticians are needed to develop pipelines and visualizations that give results that will on their own be easy for users to interpret in a biologically correct manner. Last but not least - such systems require a significant investment from the institution, thus it is important to showcase the benefits that the system will provide.

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.

The ambivalence of the psychosocial in Norwegian education. A policy document analysis

ABSTRACT In this article, I explore the central characteristics of the psychosocial as a field of knowledge in Norwegian education policy and the ways in which these characteristics are conditioned by their constituting social structures and historical contexts. This is achieved through a policy document analysis. Even though the psychosocial is habitually employed in educational discourses in Norway, its content often remains unclear. In the analysis, I derive three key dimensions of ambivalence from the documents. First, the psychosocial is ambivalent in its scope, as it oscillates between the entirety of the pupil’s emotional and relational life and the specific phenomenon of bullying. Second, it appears ambivalent in relation to aspects of accountability, as it simultaneously demands responsibility from society as a whole and from specific groups of professionals. Lastly, the psychosocial is ambivalent in the way it asserts its relative and subjective dimension, while also claiming objective and rigid frameworks of control and measurement. Viewed from a broader perspective, I demonstrate that the ambivalences surrounding the psychosocial correspond with the binary concepts of the liquid modernity and the new solidity, as conceived by Per Bjørn Foros and Arne Johan Vetlesen.

Legitimizing private school policy within a political divide: the role of international references

ABSTRACT Researchers are increasingly emphasizing the importance of international actors’ influence on defining education policy in different contexts. The article argues that referencing international organizations is a way of legitimizing changes to private school policy. Using Norway as an example, the article investigates how international references are used by the political divide: first, a centre-right government liberalized private school policy. This was reversed by the successive centre-left government, before the successive centre-right government again liberalized private school policy. The study draws on content analysis of policy documents from 2002 to 2018. The analysis displays the eclectic nature of how international references are used to (de)legitimize private school policies. Different governments have used similar international references either to legitimise the liberalization of private schooling policy, or to delegitimise such policy. However, the analysis also shows that concepts like free choice, diversity and competition are central in legitimising private school policy. The study of international referencing in the education field indicates several consequences for the Norwegian education welfare state ideal, such as emphasising a stronger market-orientation. This study shows that analysing how actors position political arguments is important when understanding how nation states, as proactive entities, negotiate meaning and evidence from international references.

A critical view of The National Student Survey as a quality indicator in Norwegian higher education

A critical view of The National Student Survey as a quality indicator in Norwegian higher education

Special issue: 30 years of ICT and learning in education – major changes and challenges

Special issue: 30 years of ICT and learning in education – major changes and challenges

When student-activating teaching conflict with students' desire for efficiency. A communication perspective on undergraduate students' media use

This article explores how students on a bachelor's course in Media Education understand the educational framework for teaching based on how they choose to participate in the teaching communication. The Norwegian Educational Quality Reform has promoted expectations of student-activating teaching methods to increase the scope of student-active learning. Digital technology was introduced in response to this challenge. Data was gathered through group interviews, a survey, and information from activity logs in the university college's learning platform. The article aims to shed light on what media practices the students consider as important and how their experiences correspond with the teachers' academic use of media. Students seem to prefer to study effectively, at the expense of activating teaching methods and of being active producers of learning. Although students are expected to be digitally competent, it should not be assumed that they master technology as expected in higher education. By drawing on Luhmann's communication theory the educational consequences of the students' media use in teaching and in independent study work is discussed.

Velferdsteknologi i helse- og oppvekstyrker: Digitalt kompetansebehov i yrkesfaglig utdanning

The fast-paced changes of the Western world community require vocational education and training (VET) that meets the future working-life needs for competence. One challenge in Norwegian health education is the lack of up-to-date teacher competence in welfare technology and digital competence. This article is based on a case study of how vocational teachers in health education programmes (HO) meet the future needs for competence in welfare technology. This research questions what can be changed in VET with these new technologies and how the technology challenges the vocational content of health and education work, and VET. This need for technological competence is also linked to the renewal of curriculum in Norwegian VET, which entails requirements for previous vocational specialisation. The study involved qualitative methods and development experiments. The results show examples of how vocational teachers and students at HO can meet the future needs for competence in welfare technology related to ethics. The results indicate the need for close collabo­ration between school and working life to meet the new technology-competence need in the content in both the HO education and the health care occupations. Didactical planned intern­ship in companies using welfare technology, were important for the participants learning about digital tools.

Exploring the Future of Universities Through Experimental Foresight

Throughout 2018/2019, The Futures Lab, Inc. (TFL) was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive foresight study on the potential futures for universities in Norway. For the most part, the project followed the full, TFL comprehensive six-stage foresight process and a number of customized approaches that leveraged the specificities of the Norwegian Education System. The foresight project covered two future time horizons, namely 2025 to 2030 and 2031 to 2040. Rather than focus here on the Future of the University project itself, this paper considers five experimental foresight methods that produced an extra edge to the creative inputs to this project and delivered some unexpected and critical insights that became decisive platforms and framing cues for the ultimate seven futures scenarios that were delivered, and for which strategies and action plans were created. The term experimental foresight is interpreted as freeform thinking, testing the boundaries, incorporating unorthodox, disparate approaches, tools, artifacts and environment, and real-time improvization, it is about testing new techniques and repurposing and updating older ones. Experimental foresight is closely allied with and some would claim often indistinguishable from experiential futures, which has become prominent within foresight. We distinguish the two insomuch that experiential refers to the way the foresight is conducted, whereas experimental is what is conducted. The paper describes the five experimental foresight methods and techniques based upon theory, practice and proprietary development processes, reflecting various approaches to creative thinking. The paper outlines the design and architecture of each method as well as how it was applied to the Future of the University project, the outcomes, values and benefits. Where appropriate examples of the outcomes have been used to explain or underpin the purpose and benefits of the method under discussion. The methods selected are always harmonized with the more linear, mathematical and modeling applied in the practice of foresight.

Superdiversity as a trajectory of diversity in Norwegian early childhood education and care: From a collection of differences to participation and becoming

This article uses the concept of ‘superdiversity’ as a lens through which various conceptualisations of diversity in Norwegian early childhood education and care policies and professionals’ understandings are made visible. Although Norwegian early childhood education and care is expected to highlight, value, and promote diversity and mutual respect, little has been written on how diversity is actually understood by professionals as part of early childhood education and care institutional practice. On the basis of interviews with 2 migration pedagogues, 10 early childhood education and care teachers, and 15 early childhood education and care teacher education students, the following conceptualisations of diversity were reconstructed: diversity as embodied by different children and families; diversity as a social context for every child’s becoming; and diversity as equal participation. Each of these accounts involved ways of working with children and families from minority and majority backgrounds, and ‘diversity as a social context for every child’s becoming’ seemed to be most in line with the Norwegian curriculum. The curriculum focuses on the process of formative development/becoming, which overlaps with and may be meaningfully supplemented by superdiversity. However, superdiversity as a sociological concept requires careful operationalisation in dialogue with the field and its empirics .

On a math mission: The time and space compression of professional identity and values in prospective mathematics teachers’ stories

This article analyzes and discusses the professional values of prospective mathematics teachers. Theoretical approaches to the understanding of teachers’ professional values, such as critical mathematics education and relational perspectives, are well developed. Still, there are few empirical contributions to the field. Here, professional values are understood as interwoven with professional identity. The article raises the question of how prospective teachers construct their identity and values in time and space, and the analysis is based on data material from mathematics teacher students at two Norwegian teacher education institutions. The main finding is that the teacher students construct their professional identity and values in a compressed timespace. Their professional responsibility is located in and restricted to themselves and the relation to the individual student, not including concern for, for instance, social justice. The students do not express opposition to ideals of social justice, but it is beyond their constructed professional timespace identity, values and responsibility.

‘No assessment, no learning’: exploring student participation in assessment in Norwegian physical education (PE)

ABSTRACT In contemporary educational literature assessment is viewed as a key element of pedagogy, and student self- and peer-assessment is viewed as a vital component of the assessment processes occurring within pedagogical practice. This notion is also present within physical education (PE) literature. Within this body of work however, there has been little attention on how students participate in their own assessment. The focus has rather been towards the teacher’s assessment practices. The aim of this paper is therefore to explore how students themselves participate in the assessment processes that occur in PE. By drawing on assessment theory presented by Black and Wiliam (2009. Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5) and the educational perspective of American pragmatist John Dewey, the paper presents a theoretical reconceptualization of assessment that can occur within learning situations. By utilizing this conceptualization to analyse empirical material gathered within the Norwegian PE context, the paper presents findings under three main headings. These are participating in establishing; (1) where the students are in their learning, (2) where the students are going in their learning and (3) how to get where they are going. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and general implications of the findings for both practitioners and researchers interested in the phenomenon of assessment in PE.

Structural enablements and constraints in the creation and enactment of local content in Norwegian education

ABSTRACT In Norway, the national curriculum together with the Education Act serves as the foundation for teaching and learning in primary and secondary education and training. Local educational providers are given autonomy to develop local adaptations of the centrally given subject-specific curriculum competence aims. This article explores some structural enablements and constraints tied to teachers’ opportunities to make use of local content in curricula in lower secondary schools in Norway, including rural/urban differences. The analysis is based on data consisting of 18 qualitative interviews with teachers in two municipalities and participant observation in one of the municipalities in Northern Norway. The finding of this paper is that the design of the national curriculum allows for local content based on its competence aims. This serves as an enabler for teachers to create and enact local content in education. However, there are several constraints that limit local adaptation for teachers – time pressure, lack of access to content due to finances and distance and losing school control of local curriculum. Also, these constraints have a different impact depending on the geographical context. The article employs Margaret Archer’s theories on centralized and decentralized educational systems to analyse these structural enablements and constraints.

What is the motivation of Norwegian and New Zealand teacher educators for using digital technology when teaching?

There is a gap between policies regarding the use of digital technology in higher education in Norway and what is practiced. Therefore, we have conducted a comparative study of teacher education in Norway and New Zealand. Using Herzberg’s two-factor theory, this study investigates what motivates teacher educators to use digital technology when teaching. Although the professional application of digital tools is more frequent in New Zealand than in Norway, the ability to use digital technology seems to be greater in Norway than in New Zealand. Based on Meier’s formula (performance = abilities × motivation), teacher educators’ performance is considered a result of their abilities and motivation. This indicates that motivation is a key element in understanding why the use of digital tools is more frequent amongst New Zealand teacher educators. When explaining their motivation for using digital technology, Norwegian teacher educators mentioned nine motivation factors and nine hygiene factors. The hygiene factors relate to the mandatory policy and the work conditions when teaching online. New Zealand teacher educators explained their motivation with 14 motivational factors and only four hygiene factors. New Zealand teacher educators seemed to be more motivated to work with digital technology than their Norwegian counterparts. This lack of motivation is one reason that could explain why the application of digital tools seemed lower in Norway than in New Zealand. Norwegian teacher educators explained that the main reason they use digital tools is the top-down implementation of government policy. Therefore, a fundamental challenge in the use of digital technology in Norway is the policy related to its implementation; as a part of the job environment, policy creates job dissatisfaction. Teacher educators from both countries highlighted achievement and policy as their main reasons for using digital technology, but Norwegian teacher educators were especially critical of their own country’s policy.

Å føle seg angrepet intellektuelt Språkkartlegging av minoritetsspråklige elever i videregående opplæring

Denne artikkelen omhandler språkkartlegging av nyankomne minoritetsspråklige elever i videregående opplæring i Norge. Den tar utgangspunkt i elevenes negative reaksjoner på at norskkompetansen deres skulle kartlegges andreåret på videregående, og undersøker hvordan egenskaper ved selve kartleggingsverktøyet som brukes, og sider ved kartleggingspraksisen ved skolen, kan belyse elevenes opplevelse. Studien som ligger til grunn har et etnografisk design med deltakende observasjon, uformelle samtaler og mer formaliserte intervju som konkrete metoder. Det teoretiske rammeverket er kritisk sosiolingvistisk testteori og -forskning (Shohamy, 2013), og distinksjonen mellom riktighet (eng. «fairness») og rettferdighet (eng. «justice») i kartlegging står særlig sentralt i analysen (McNamara & Ryan, 2011). Analysen viser at elevene reagerer både på konsekvensene og intensjonene med kartlegginga, og opplever den som devaluerende og annengjørende. Videre finner vi at kartlegginga kjennetegnes av mangel på både riktighet og rettferdighet: Det er vesentlige svakheter ved verktøyet når det brukes med denne elevgruppa, og det er vesentlige svakheter ved skolens fortolkning og bruk av kartlegginga. Vi fortolker disse funna som uttrykk for mangler på systemnivå når det gjelder opplæringa for minoritetsspråklige elever, og som uttrykk for selvfølgeliggjorte forståelser av språk og språkopplæring i det norske utdanningssystemet. Diskusjonen fokuserer på hvordan språklige ideologier som enspråklighetsideologi, nativespeakerism (Ortega, 2019) og grafosentrisme (Blommaert, 2004) virker sammen – og på uheldige måter – i denne opplæringskonteksten.
 Nøkkelord: språkkartlegging, nyankomne elever, språklige ideologier, enspråklighetsideologi, nativespeakerism, grafosentrisme.
 To feel intellectually attacked. Language Assessment for Newly Arrived Students in Upper Secondary School.
 AbstractThis article explores language assessment for newly arrived adolescent students in upper secondary school in Norway. Its starting point is the students’ negative reactions to having their Norwegian skills assessed in the beginning of their second year in upper secondary school, and it highlights aspects of the assessment tool itself and of the school’s assessment practice to illuminate the students’ reactions. The study has an ethnographic design with participant observation, informal conversations and more formalized interviews as concrete methods. Theoretically, it draws on critical sociolinguistic test theory and research (Shohamy, 2013). Following McNamara and Ryan (2011), the distinction between «fairness» and «justice» in language assessment is particularly central in the analysis. The analysis shows that the students react negatively both to the consequences and the intentions of the assessment, experiencing it as both devaluating and othering. Furthermore, we find that the assessment is characterized by lack of both fairness and justice: the assessment tool has severe weaknesses when used with newly arrived language minority students, and the interpretation and use of the assessment results are not in the best interest of the students. We interpret these findings as an expression of systemic shortcomings in the education for language minority students, and as an expression of naturalized perceptions of language competence and second language teaching and learning in the Norwegian education system. The discussion highlights how powerful language ideologies like the monolingual bias, nativespeakerism (Ortega, 2019) and graphocentrism (Blommaert, 2004) work together – and in detrimental ways – in this educational context.
 Keywords: language assessment, newly arrived students, language ideology, monolingual bias, nativespeakerism, graphocentrism.

A System-Based Approach to Expert Assessment Work-Exploring Experiences among Professionals in the Norwegian Educational Psychological Service and Schools

ABSTRACT The focus of this Q methodological study was to explore how professionals in the Educational Psychological Service (EPS) and schools experienced a system-based approach to expert assessment work. Forty informants from the EPS and schools sorted 60 statements about the assessment process. The following two shared viewpoints were identified: (1) teacher-focused EPS advisers and (2) principal-focused EPS advisers. While the two groups of EPS advisers seem to approach the school via either the teacher or the principal, joint collaboration on developing knowledge during the assessment process seems scarce in both viewpoints. The students’ experience with school life is the least emphasized. Challenges related to collaboration on developing expert knowledge between the EPS and the student, teacher and principal are discussed. Three practical implications for the realization of a system-based approach to expert assessment work are suggested and further linked to implications for understanding and interpreting EPS's statutory task.

Glimpses Into Real-Life Introduction of Adaptive Learning Technology: A Mixed Methods Research Approach to Personalised Pupil Learning

Adaptive Learning Technologies (ALT) and Learning Analytics (LA) are expected to contribute to the customisation and personalisation of pupil learning by continually calibrating and adjusting pupils’ learning activities towards their skill and competence levels. The overall aim of the study presented in this paper was to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how a systematic implementation of ALT influenced the learning outcomes, learning environment and motivation of 10- to 12-year-old pupils (grades 5–7 in Norwegian education) in mathematics, and the paper explores the following research question: How do systematic use of adaptive learning technology influence pupils’ learning and motivation? In this small-scale, Mixed Methods Research (MMR) study, a real-life introduction of adaptive technology was initiated and explored. Fifteen minutes of ALT homework each day or a total amount of 60 minutes a week, was applied to streamline individual volume training and root learning and thus free up time for practical mathematics and deep learning at school. The pupils’ level of competence, learning, motivation and basic psychological needs were measured quantitatively before and after the four-week intervention, and the intervention was observed qualitatively. The findings of the study indicate that use of ALT can help streamline volume training and root learning, and thus free up time for practical mathematics and deep learning at the upper primary level (ES = 0.39, P = 0.001). However, the study also indicates a interwoven relationship between learning, motivation and volume training that teachers should be aware of when using ALT. Particular attention should be paid when pupils learn new mathematical concepts.