Tine Sophie Prøitz

Accreditation, standards and diversity: an analysis of EQUIS accreditation reports

The development of various national and supra‐national accreditation systems is currently being discussed as a possible response to an increasingly internationalized and deregulated higher education sector. However, the establishment of such procedures may have unintended consequences, not least with respect to limiting the diversity of higher education. By studying a number of accreditation reports in the field of business administration (the EQUIS system), the paper discusses whether this procedure manages to balance the need for minimum standards with demands related to institutional diversity and development.

Learning Outcomes as a Key Concept in Policy Documents throughout Policy Changes

Learning outcomes can be considered to be a key concept in a changing education policy landscape, enhancing aspects such as benchmarking and competition. Issues relating to concepts of performance have a long history of debate within the field of education. Today, the concept of learning outcomes has become central in education policy development, which is possibly focusing on other issues than was previously the case. Drawing on documentary analysis, the Norwegian national budget has been analyzed over a 14-year period to identify how policy makers conceptualize learning outcomes. Findings indicate that policy makers have embraced the concept of learning outcomes through phases of introduction, development and redefinition. They also suggest that policy makers apply one common overall definition, but that this is used differently by changing governments. The findings support an argument that the common understanding of learning outcomes limits discussion about what constitutes valuable learning.

Knowledge Regimes and Contradictions in Education Reforms.

The article outlines a theoretical framework for understanding education policy and education reforms based on the concept of knowledge regimes. The concept refers to understandings and definitions of governance and procedural aspects, manners of governing and curriculum issues, thus it comprises contents, structures, and processes of education policy and governance. The article discusses how the concept may be helpful in understanding the complexity and ambiguity of education policy and development. The article argues that the concept of knowledge regimes enables us to gain a better understanding of education policy, the politics of education, and the political in education. Greater awareness of knowledge regimes can also help us to better understand both the circulation of national policy documents and technical and administrative plans, and the situation of those involved in education practice.

Investigative modes in research on data use in education

ABSTRACT This article reports on the findings from a literature review of research on data use in education published in English, German and Scandinavian languages. The review is inspired by methods for systematic mapping. The analysis illustrates how the characteristics of the total corpus of 129 articles on data use in education vary across different contexts, countries and regions. In all contexts, the studies primarily investigate structures and systems around data use. While the Anglophone studies are mainly empirical and often concerned with implementation and effectiveness in terms of data use, the studies published in German and Scandinavian languages focus more heavily on discussions and analytical reflections upon the developments of data use in education. Six investigative modes of studies on data use that can contribute to creating a more nuanced understanding of research on data use in education are identified, presented and discussed.

From role models to nations in need of advice: Norway and Sweden under the OECD’s magnifying glass

Abstract By analysing five separate OECD reviews of evaluation and assessment practices with Norway and Sweden as cases, our study illustrates different ways in which a specific international educational reasoning is blended into more context-based national education policies and, as such, works in parallel with internal reforms and agendas. It is evident that an overarching narrative promotes the importance of coherent and integrated systems of evaluation and assessment in order to strengthen social and political endeavours for equity, quality and achievements. The parallel mix of OECD discourses and national discourses creates a combined narrative in which evaluations and assessments appear natural, self-evident and rational as well as highly adaptable to national settings. The study shows that national vertical and/or horizontal developments are intertwined with the OECD policy recommendations, which are quite general in character. In a continuing process of uploading and downloading, within different contexts, policies are elaborated and recontextualised. Evaluations and assessments are part of a contemporary rational paradigm for mapping and promoting performance in national educational systems – what we identify as a comparative curriculum code.

Uploading, downloading and uploading again - concepts for policy integration in education research

This article focuses on Nordic education policy research, investigating the connections between international and national education policy developments and the consequences of these for curriculum and assessment. Drawing on a study of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommendations for the development of education policy in Norway, supplemented by a document analysis of a comprehensive OECD review of evaluation and assessment frameworks for improving school outcomes this article considers the viewpoint of Nordic education research. The aim of the paper is to discuss the potential of adopting a broader viewpoint in education research that utilises theoretical and analytical concepts employed within European integration studies.

Curriculum versus Didaktik revisited : towards a transnational curriculum theory

no abstract available Citation: NordSTEP 2015, 1 : 27014 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/nstep.v1.27014

Educational Methods as Commodities within European Education: A Norwegian-Danish Case

A number of studies in the past few decades address how the governing of educational systems are changing as a result of intensified measurement and use of statistics. This article suggests that another consequence may be the construction of solutions, tools, and methods which target the problems constructed through comparable indicators and benchmarks. An increased proliferation and accessibility of models, methods, and outcomes has inspired both governments and practitioners to look beyond their national borders for solutions to specific problems or challenges. As a consequence, ideas, methods, and approaches increasingly resemble commodities in the global marketplace. The article investigates the diffusion of a method for school development, namely the model for learning environment and pedagogical analysis (the LP-model). The model was developed in Norway in 2005 and later spread to a number of schools and municipalities across the country, and subsequently to Denmark. We analyse the cross-national borrowing process by applying the framework of policy borrowing. The framework serves as a heuristic in our analysis of information from the LP-models websites, evaluation reports and booklets. The analysis shows that similar descriptions of problems and high policy expectations for addressing the problems constitute central preconditions for the borrowing process. We also find that claims that the model works play an important part in marketing the model. Moreover, the model was warranted by high-profile researchers in Norway and Denmark constituting powerful personal and professional networks.

Teachers’ use of knowledge sources in ‘result meetings’: thin data and thick data use.

In this article, we examine teachers’ use of knowledge sources in meetings where they discuss and formulate initiatives and solutions to develop existing teaching practice based on national test results. While practices of data use have been extensively researched, less attention has been given to the content of data use practices. Analyses of what kind of knowledge sources are used, and how, in discussions about student performance levels and accompanying initiatives to improve teaching can yield important insight into the potential and pitfalls of local data use practices. Based on an analysis of the knowledge sources that Norwegian secondary school teachers draw upon in so-called ‘result meetings’ and of the prognostic frames that teachers initiate, we find that teachers use several knowledge sources and that their data use practices can be characterised as complex and ‘thick’, although the data itself are ‘thin’. However, although teachers draw upon a range of knowledge sources and integrate these when identifying possible solutions, the solutions themselves are often short-term and directed towards improving test results. In order for teachers to ask more fundamental questions regarding existing practices, more attention should be directed towards problem-solving processes and also whether result meetings can provide arenas for complex problem-solving.

Disciplining the disciplines? How qualification schemes are written up at study program level in Norwegian higher education

ABSTRACT Qualification frameworks are spreading rapidly, not least in Europe following the introduction of the European Qualification Framework. The impact of such frameworks are contested, and the article contributes to this debate by analyzing how a selected group of different study programs in Norwegian higher education is adapting to the newly launched national qualification framework. The findings show that there are distinct differences as to how universities and colleges, as well as how different disciplines write up their study programs according to the new framework. In the conclusion, we discuss the implication of the findings for current debates about the relevance and function of qualification framework in higher education.