Deregulation, Privatisation and Marketisation of Nordic Comprehensive Education : Social Changes Reflected in Schooling

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When assessment defines the content—understanding goals in between teachers and policy

© 2020 The Authors. The Curriculum Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Educational Research Association.Education policy development internationally reflect a widespread expansion of learning outcome orientation in policy, curricula and assessment. In this paper, teachers’ perceptions about their work are explored, as goals and assessment play a more prominent role driven by the introduction of a learning outcomes‐oriented system. This is investigated through interviews of Norwegian teachers and extensive policy analysis of Norwegian policy documents. The findings indicate that the teachers are finding ways to negotiate and adjust to the language in the policies investigated in this study. Furthermore, the findings show that the teachers have developed their professional language according to the policies. The teachers referred to their self‐made criteria and goal sheets as central tools in explicating what is to be learned. In many ways, the tools for assessment, thus determine the content of education as well as what is valued in the educational system.publishedVersio

The Plasticity of Bildung - Towards a New Philosophy of Education

Sometime around 500 BCE, Heraclitus is supposed to have said that it is impossible to step in the same river twice. Since then, the problem of being and change has never left Western philosophy. Evidently important in and to education, change continues to be an important field of inquiry. In this text, I approach the concept of change by way of an examination of Catherine Malabou’s philosophy of plasticity. I revisit what I identify as three main moments in her philosophy: Her re-elaboration of Hegelian time and dialectics as the process through which change happens; the open potentiality of the moment as she finds it in Heidegger; and change as driven by, and dependent on, concepts and schematization as she finds it implied in Derrida. By setting change at the center for what might be called her post-post-structural, materialist, yet non-deterministic ontology, Malabou’s three moments could open up for a rethinking of the changeable character of the Nordic model, as well as the character of ethical-political education

User Democracy in Schools? Comparing Norwegian Schools With Nursing Homes

Democratic user control is a hallmark of Scandinavian schools, but also of other services of the Scandinavian welfare states. This article studies variations in parental control and influences in public and non-public schools. In addition, how the use of different governance tools inspired by markets affects user control is analyzed. The empirical investigation consists of matching public and non-public schools and nursing homes in three Norwegian municipalities. The study concludes that there is important variation between public and non-public schools, while there is little variation between public and non-public nursing homes. The organization of the quasi-market is an important explanation for this.acceptedVersio