Redefining public values: Data use and value dilemmas in education

In this article, we explore how values in education are negotiated and partly redefined by teachers, school leaders and local administrators with data use and accountability. Two dilemmas are prominent for the teachers: 1) Testing and data use are perceived as important to meet the needs of the students and to create transparency and initiating innovation in schools, yet they lead to performance pressure on the students and narrow the societal mandate in education, and 2) Although it is important to identify students at the lowest proficiency levels, the established accountability chains acknowledge the progress of these students and the teachers’ efforts only to a limited extent. However, values such as meeting the needs of individual students, transparency and innovation/renewal are partly redefined and narrowed on other institutional levels. The dilemmas represent real normative conflicts in public services that are ultimately unsolvable yet not necessarily at odds with professional values.publishedVersio

The Importance of School Leaders' Attitudes and Health Literacy to the Implementation of a Health-Promoting Schools Approach.

Schools are considered as important settings for health education and the promotion of functioning, healthy people. Health-promoting schools (HPS) take a holistic approach to health promotion that addresses all school levels and members of the school community. Although it is assumed that school leaders are crucial in the implementation of HPS, little is known so far about which specific factors are relevant. The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of school leaders' attitudes, health literacy, and health status in HPS implementation. An online survey was conducted in June 2021, and the final sample consisted of N = 358 school leaders. Regression and moderation analyses were conducted to answer the research questions. The results showed the relevance of health literacy and attitudes toward HPS for the implementation of HPS. By contrast, only some aspects of health status are relevant. Attitudes toward HPS moderate the effect of health literacy on HPS implementation, with positive attitudes toward HPS amplifying the effect. Implications for practice and future research are discussed

Comparison and benchmarking as governing processes in Norwegian schools

Over the past 15 years, the assessment of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is sponsored by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has become a strategically important actor in international education. This chapter aims to demonstrate how the OECD, and particularly the PISA, has influenced assessment policies and school governing in Norway. First, I examine the key functions of international and national assessment policies. Second, I explore the ways of which the use of national test results is included in local quality assessment systems and how superintendents, principals and teachers perceive the use of these results. Based on this, I will discuss the functions of national achievement tests, how comparison and benchmarking are integrated in school governing and the possible consequences for accountability practices in which visibility creates pressure on key actors in the school system

Nova gestão pública na Noruega: o papel do contexto nacional na mediação da reforma educacional

RESUMO: Desde o final dos anos 1980, o sistema educacional norueguês passou por grandes reformas amplamente influenciadas pelas novas ideias gerencialistas. As estratégias para renovar o setor público foram promovidas com a nova gestão pública (NGP). Este artigo investiga a forma pela qual as ideias ligadas às reformas da NGP foram introduzidas e interpretadas no setor educacional norueguês. Com base em nossos estudos de documentos de políticas públicas selecionados, de um período que compreende as últimas duas décadas, identificamos três áreas de luta discursiva. A primeira está vinculada a ideologias e à história nacional de escolarização; a segunda está relacionada a assuntos debatidos no que tange ao profissionalismo docente e, a terceira, está associada às estratégias de modernização e melhoria da educação. Um argumento central é que as reformas da NGP mudaram de direção e foram aceleradas quando a Noruega foi listada entre os países com "baixo desempenho" de acordo com o Pisa e outros testes internacionais. A liderança e a responsabilização (accountability) se tornaram os temas dominantes no campo da educação norueguesa

The German Context: School Turnaround in Ten Schools in Difficult Circumstances: The Need for Adaptive and Contextualized Approaches to Development and Change

In this chapter, we report on the research findings from a school development project which took place in a large city in Germany over a period of 5 years. In 2013, the central educational authorities formed a public-private partnership with a foundation to start a development project that was inspired by school turnaround models in the US and included various interventions and efforts to support change in ten schools that were identified as ‘schools in difficult circumstances’. As such, the adapted school turnaround model serves as an example of introducing policies or models in school systems that have proven to be successful elsewhere. In this chapter, we present findings from our analysis of the changes taking place in the schools related to efforts and interventions to support the schools. Moreover, we discuss challenges regarding measurement of success according to the school turnaround logic and the need for more adaptive approaches for changing and developing schools in difficult circumstances - at least a long-term perspective on school development

The battle for whole-child approaches: Examining the motivations, strategies and successes of a parents’ resistance movement against a performance regime in a local Norwegian school system

In different parts of the world, social movements led by parents, educators, and professional organizations have emerged that resist educational standardisation and use of (high stakes) standardised tests, and that push for educational change. With the aim of extending empirical coverage of protest movements in non-English speaking countries, this study examines a Norwegian parental movement called Foreldreopprør i Osloskolen (FiO) (in English: Parental Uprising in the Oslo School). We draw on exploratory research based on in-depth interviews with initiators and members of FiO (n=8), as well as documentary and press analysis and an examination of social media sites. The analysis sheds light on the emergence and nature of the movement, parents’ main motivations and discourses, as well as the movements’ collective action strategies and main successes. The findings highlight how rather than opting-out their children from standardised tests, some Norwegian parents chose to opt-out their children from public schools, while continuing their fight for whole-child approaches in public education

District administrators’ governing styles in the enactment of data-use practices

This study focus on how administrators in districts approach data and data use in education differently. Based on data material from local policy documents, interviews with district administrators and observations from meetings with district administrators, school leaders and teachers, we reveal how different views on learning outcomes manifest in language use and choice of influence attempts, calling for greater consideration and awareness of the role of local authority in education. Our analysis shows how policy goals, as defined in key policy documents, are transformed and adapted into varied local governing styles – sometimes shifting the focus of primary goals in another direction, and at other times enhancing and extending the goals

Redefining public values: Data use and value dilemmas in education

In this article, we explore how values in education are negotiated and partly redefined by teachers, school leaders and local administrators with data use and accountability. Two dilemmas are prominent for the teachers: 1) Testing and data use are perceived as important to meet the needs of the students and to create transparency and initiating innovation in schools, yet they lead to performance pressure on the students and narrow the societal mandate in education, and 2) Although it is important to identify students at the lowest proficiency levels, the established accountability chains acknowledge the progress of these students and the teachers’ efforts only to a limited extent. However, values such as meeting the needs of individual students, transparency and innovation/renewal are partly redefined and narrowed on other institutional levels. The dilemmas represent real normative conflicts in public services that are ultimately unsolvable yet not necessarily at odds with professional values