An Equality Paradox? The Northern European Case

The Nordic countries are often regarded as unique, with relatively small income differences and welfare state policies characterised by universal and generous public support to its citizens. Educational policies aim at offering schooling for all, with a predominantly public comprehensive school system free of tuition. Based on a broad review of research contributions, this paper aims at investigating whether access to higher education in the Nordic countries are also more equitable than in most other countries. Research on inequality in higher education has adapted a broad range of data, methodology and theoretical approaches, and it is difficult to draw exact conclusions. Nevertheless, the Nordic countries are among the group of countries showing a positive development towards equality. At the other hand, the enrolment pattern is still socially biased in spite of a massive growth in higher education participation. Furthermore, recent comparative research has shown substantial differences between the Nordic countries in both level and trends in participation. While access to higher education in general has become more equal in the Nordic countries, enrolment to the most prestigious study programmes is still strongly socially selective, giving support to the Effectively Maintained Inequality theory

Policy, Perceptions, and Practice: A Study of Educational Leadership and Their Balancing of Expectations and Interests at Micro-level

As international and domestic policy initiatives continue to sweep over higher education, it is of utmost importance to study how those responsible for the implementation of the many initiatives taken perceive and respond to the many expectations about change and renewal. Through three different analytical perspectives — a managerial, a disciplinary, and a stakeholder perspective — the current article offers insights into how educational leaders responsible for the management of study programmes at micro-level interpret external expectations and how they prioritize between them. Based on data derived from a representative sample of Norwegian educational leaders, the current article finds — somewhat surprisingly — that the managerial perspective is less relevant for understanding the sense-making of educational leaders and how they prioritize between different tasks in their daily work. Disciplinary and the stakeholder perspectives are in this respect more relevant for explaining the practices related to programme management. The study provides indications of a (continued) gap between macro-level policy-making and its implementation at micro-level. In the conclusion, the findings are reflected upon and implications for policy and practice are outlined

Prepared for higher education? Staff and student perceptions of academic literacy dimensions across disciplines

This article explores beginner student and staff perspectives of study preparedness across higher education institutions and disciplines in Norway, focusing on writing, reading and academic working skills. Drawing on focus group interviews among academic staff and students, findings show a certain academic unpreparedness by beginner students. Students apparently are not used to working hard or independently enough, struggling to read large text amounts, showing a lack of academic writing and reading skills. For hard-working students, findings show differences between non-selective and selective study programmes. Selective programmes, for example, law, seem to be more structured and aligned with upper-secondary school. Students in these programmes are a positively selected group, expected to be better prepared than their counterparts in open programmes. The article contributes to a combined perspective by students and staff on study preparedness across disciplines and institutions, with implications for further research and quality in higher education

Measuring learning outcomes

The growing interest for measurement of learning outcomes relates to long lines of development in higher education, the request for accountability, intensified through international reforms and movements such as the development and implementation of qualifications frameworks. In this article, we discuss relevant literature on different approaches to measurement and how learning outcomes are measured, what kinds of learning outcomes are measured, and why learning outcomes are measured. Three dimensions are used to structure the literature: Whether the approaches have an emphasis on generic or disciplinary skills and competence; whether they emphasise self-assessment or more objective test based measures (including grades); and how the issue of the contribution from the education program or institution (the value-added) is handled. It is pointed out that large scales initiatives aimed at comparison between institutions and even nations seem to fall short because of the implicit and explicit differences in context, while small-scale approaches are burdened with a lack of relevance outside of local contexts. In addition, competence (actual level of performance) is often confused with learning (gain and development) in many approaches, laying the ground for false assumptions about institutional process-quality in higher education

Endringer i den sosiale rekrutteringen til høyere utdanning etter 1980

Det har i den senere tid vært hevdet, dels med dekning i enkeltstående undersøkelser, at den sosiale rekrutteringen til høyere utdanning er blitt skjevere. Formålet med denne rapporten er å belyse om så er tilfelle. I løpet av vinteren 1992-93 sammenstilte Statistisk sentralbyrå et omfattende datamateriale etter retningslinjer fra NAVFs utredningsinstitutt. Professor Aage B. Sørensen (Harvard) og professor Knud Knudsen (Høgskolesenteret i Rogaland) ble trukket inn for å forestå analysene av datamaterialet. De har skrevet denne rapporten sammen med avd.sjef Per O. Aamodt, NAVFs utredningsinstitutt. Utredningsassistent Jens-Are Enoksen har bistått i arbeidet med dataene. Prosjektet er finansiert av KUF. I denne rapporten er det bare en del hovedresultater som trekkes fram. En rekke detaljer og underliggende mønstre er det aktuelt å studere videre med utgangspunkt i det meget omfattende datamaterialet som foreligger. Datagrunnlaget er ellers omtalt i et eget avsnitt

Digitalisation in higher education: mapping institutional approaches for teaching and learning

This paper explores the digitalisation of teaching and learning understood as external processes, influenced by government and international trends and as internal processes within the institutions, in Denmark and Norway. These are countries with similarities regarding digitalisation and educational systems. In the internal processes, there was some use of digital technology in teaching and learning when initiated from administration including IT-staff, in collaboration with academic leaders. There was little or only limited reported use of technology for teaching and learning, when the processes were initiated by administration together with enthusiasts among faculty staff, who did not have leadership roles or influence on change. There was more reported use of technology in teaching and learning in Denmark than Norway. The paper discusses possible explanations for these findings and thus illuminates how processes of digitalisation are influenced by broader governance arrangements, institutional maturity and academic and administration staffs

Digitalisation in higher education: mapping institutional approaches for teaching and learning

This paper explores the digitalisation of teaching and learning understood as external processes, influenced by government and international trends and as internal processes within the institutions, in Denmark and Norway. These are countries with similarities regarding digitalisation and educational systems. In the internal processes, there was some use of digital technology in teaching and learning when initiated from administration including IT-staff, in collaboration with academic leaders. There was little or only limited reported use of technology for teaching and learning, when the processes were initiated by administration together with enthusiasts among faculty staff, who did not have leadership roles or influence on change. There was more reported use of technology in teaching and learning in Denmark than Norway. The paper discusses possible explanations for these findings and thus illuminates how processes of digitalisation are influenced by broader governance arrangements, institutional maturity and academic and administration staffs

Evaluering av den nasjonale rektorutdanningen 2015-2019

​Dette er sluttrapport i evalueringen av den nasjonale rektorutdanningen i perioden fra 2015 til 2019. I rapporten følger vi opp mange av de samme resultatene fra de to delrapportene fra 2017 og 2018, særlig deltagerundersøkelsen som hvert kull har mottatt ved starten og i etterkant av utdanningen. Den kvantitative undersøkelsen inkluderer også kontrollutvalg. Den kvalitative undersøkelsen omfatter et utvalg case-skoler med tre besøk over tid og analyser av intervjudata samlet inn fra skoleledere, lærere og skoleeiere. I tillegg har vi gjennomført intervjuer med to av tilbyderne, og samlet inn skriftlige sluttoppgaver fra et utvalg deltakere​

Evaluering av den nasjonale rektorutdanningen 2015-2019

​Dette er sluttrapport i evalueringen av den nasjonale rektorutdanningen i perioden fra 2015 til 2019. I rapporten følger vi opp mange av de samme resultatene fra de to delrapportene fra 2017 og 2018, særlig deltagerundersøkelsen som hvert kull har mottatt ved starten og i etterkant av utdanningen. Den kvantitative undersøkelsen inkluderer også kontrollutvalg. Den kvalitative undersøkelsen omfatter et utvalg case-skoler med tre besøk over tid og analyser av intervjudata samlet inn fra skoleledere, lærere og skoleeiere. I tillegg har vi gjennomført intervjuer med to av tilbyderne, og samlet inn skriftlige sluttoppgaver fra et utvalg deltakere​.publishedVersio