Educational Accountability Reform in Norway

Name: Educational Accountability Reform in Norway
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Author: Lasse Skogvold Isaksen
ISBN: 978-3-631-72918-2

Isaksen, Lasse Skogvold

Educational Accountability Reform in Norway

Education Policy as Imitation

by Lasse Skogvold Isaksen (Author)

Education

Summary

Educational accountability systems have during the last decades levitated as the leading global political instrument to turn around education systems. International organizations are promoting the accountability system as key tool for enhancing the quality in all levels of the enterprise of education. The study analyses how national education policy in the age of globalization is a result of an adjustment and transformation of international education policy and trends. The author enquires how the national level in Norway comprehended the international educational accountability policy and transformed the policy to fit the Norwegian context. One of the main findings is that the international educational accountability policy was transformed in Norway in a manner that discarded the core rationale behind the policy – the policy became an imitation.

Excerpt

Cover
Title
Copyright
About the author
About the book
This eBook can be cited
Abstract
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 The Case: The Norwegian Educational Accountability Reform 2001–2009
1.1.1 Political Groundwork 2001–2004
1.1.2 The Implementation of the System 2004–2006
1.1.3 Subsequent Revision 2006–2009
1.2 Research Field
1.2.1 Comparative Education Policy Research
1.2.2 Education Policy Research
1.2.3 Educational Accountability Research
1.3 Research Questions: Differences and Similarities
1.3.1 Educational Accountability as a Transnational Policy
1.3.2 The Norwegian Output
1.3.3 The Norwegian Outcome
1.4 Design and Method
Part I. Educational Accountability Policy
2. The Origin and Development of Educational Accountability
2.1 Educational Accountability and the Scientific Curriculum Tradition
2.2 Educational Accountability in the Area of Equal Opportunities and Social Reform
2.3 Educational Accountability in the Knowledge Economy Paradigm
3. International Educational Accountability: The Core Features
3.1 Convergence in Scenarios
3.1.1 Knowledge-Based Economy – Nation at Risk Scenario
3.1.2 Function of Schooling in the Knowledge Society
3.1.3 Erosion of Trust Scenario
3.1.4 Shortcomings in the Education System
3.2 Convergence in Policy Ideas
3.2.1 From Process to Product
3.2.2 From Professional Community to School Organization
3.2.3 Transparency
3.3 Convergence in Policy Instruments
3.3.1 Student Achievement Tests
3.3.2 Identifying Failing School Organizations
3.3.3 Autonomy
Part II. Educational Quality Discourse in Norway
4. Education Quality Discourse: Equal Opportunities and Equal Results 1945–1990
4.1 School Structure as Quality
4.2 Decentralization as Quality
4.3 National Learning Plan as Quality
4.4 Professional Community as Quality
5. Education Quality Discourse 1990–2001
5.1 Emerging Mistrust in the Eighties and Nineties
5.2 The OECD Review in 1987
5.3 Intentions, but no Further – White Papers in the Nineties
Part III. Educational Accountability Reform in Norway
6. Political Groundwork Documents 2001–2005
6.1 School Knows Best – The Reports
6.1.1 Educational Accountability Scenarios
6.1.1.1 Knowledge-Based Economy – Nation at Risk
6.1.1.2 Function of Schooling in the Knowledge Society
6.1.1.3 Erosion of Trust – Shortcomings
6.1.1.4 Lack of Efficiency
6.1.2 Educational Accountability Policy
6.1.2.1 From Input to Output
6.1.2.2 From Professional Community to School Organization
6.1.3 Educational Accountability Tools
6.1.3.1 Student Achievement Tests
6.1.3.2 Identifying the Failing Schools
6.1.4 Review
6.2 The Committee for Quality in Primary and Secondary School Education: First Class from First Class: A Proposal for a National Framework for Quality System
6.2.1 Educational Accountability Scenarios
6.2.1.1 Knowledge-Based Economy– Nation at Risk
6.2.1.2 Function of Schooling in the Knowledge Society
6.2.1.3 Erosion of Trust – Shortcomings
6.2.1.4 Lack of Efficiency
6.2.2 Educational Accountability Policy
6.2.2.1 From Input to Output
6.2.2.2 From Professional Community to School Organization
6.2.2.3 Distribution of Power
6.2.3 Educational Accountability Tools
6.2.3.1 Student Achievement Tests
6.2.3.2 Identifying the Failing Schools
6.2.3.3 Decentralization
6.2.4 Review
6.3 The Committee for Quality in Primary and Secondary School: In the First Row
6.3.1 Educational Accountability Scenarios
6.3.1.1 Knowledge-Based Economy – Nation at Risk
6.3.1.2 Function of Schooling in the Knowledge Society
6.3.1.3 Erosion of Trust – Shortcomings
6.3.1.4 Lack of Efficiency
6.3.2 Educational Accountability Policy
6.3.2.1 From Input to Output
6.3.2.2 From Professional Community to School Organization
6.3.2.3 Distribution of Power
6.3.3 Educational Accountability Tools
6.3.3.1 Student Achievement Tests
6.3.3.2 Identifying the Failing Schools
6.3.3.3 Decentralization
6.4 The Report to Stortinget: Culture for Learning – 2004
6.4.1 Educational Accountability Scenarios
6.4.1.1 Knowledge-Based Economy – Nation at Risk
6.4.1.2 Function of Schooling in the Knowledge Society
6.4.1.3 Erosion of Trust – Shortcomings
6.4.1.4 Lack of Efficiency
6.4.2 Educational Accountability Policy
6.4.2.1 From Input to Output
6.4.2.2 From Professional Community to School Organization
6.4.3 Educational Accountability Tools
6.4.3.1 Student Achievement Tests
6.4.3.2 Identifying the Failing School Organizations
7. Implementing the Accountability Policy 2004–2006
7.1 Developing and Implementing National Tests
7.2 The Transformation
7.3 The Boycott
8. Reforming the Reform 2005–2009
8.1 The New Coalition 2005: Soria Moria Declaration
8.2 Reforming the National Test System
8.3 The Function of National Tests
Part IV. Discussion and Conclusion
9. The Output: Similarities and Differences
9.1 Education Scenarios in the Groundwork Documents
9.1.1 The New Paradigm – Nation at Risk
9.1.2 Function of Schooling in the Knowledge Society
9.1.3 Mistrust and Shortcomings
9.1.4 Ineffective System – Money is not Enough
9.2 Educational Accountability Policy
9.2.1 From Input to Output
9.2.2 From Professional Community to School Organization
9.3 Educational Accountability Tools
9.3.1 Student Achievement Tests
9.3.2 Identifying the Failing School Organizations
9.3.3 Decentralization
10. The Outcome: Differences and Similarities
10.1 The Municipal Accountability Policy
10.2 The Geographic Achievement Gap
10.3 Lack of Capacity
10.4 The State Level
11. Conclusion – Convergence in Policy as Imitation
11.1 Education Policy as Imitation
11.2 The End of National Education Policy
11.3 Education Policy as Social Learning
11.4 The Lost Logic
11.5 Comparative Education and National Culture
Bibliography

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1. Introduction

This book deals with the Norwegian educational accountability reform from 2001 to 2009. The aim of the study is to explore how an international educational policy, in this case an accountability policy, was transformed when implemented in a new national context. The Norwegian accountability reform has to be considered as a special case, not because of its failure or success, but because of the degree of transformation. It appears that Norway adopted and implemented a policy recommended by most international organizations, i.e. the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the World Bank, United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), etc., but in reality developed a quasi-accountability system that more or less rejected the core political ideas and beliefs behind the policy. The paradox of global education policy is outlined by showing how a state implemented a recommended policy, but at the same time tuned and adjusted the policy and tools in a manner that discarded the core rationale.

A central issue in comparative education research is convergence in cross-national education policy. The two major questions here are why convergence has occurred and if the policies adopted are actually similar. Most studies in the field of comparative education have emphasized questions related to why the policy is adopted. In the eighties and nineties, comparative researchers more or less competed in efforts to show how neo-liberal ideology or new public management impacted their countries, and used this as an explanation of why accountability policies were emergent at national level. This convergence in policy was linked to a pronounced shift towards globalization. At the same time, some research set out to question whether national policies were indeed similar and so to an extent modified the idea of cross-national convergence. Often inspired by new institutionalism, the studies looked at how domestic differences in international institutions and structure have transformed accountability policy (Stefan Thomas Hopmann, 2008). The studies highlighted divergence where convergence had been assumed.

The present study emphasizes divergence rather than convergence. A focus on divergence also provides an opportunity to explore a domestic policy from a comparative perspective. One question in this study is whether the adoption of an international policy or program actually produces the expected policy output and results at national level (Holzinger & Knill, 2005; Stefan Thomas Hopmann, 2008; Rosenmund, 2007). ← 13 | 14 →

Analyzing the experiment of importing and exporting in policy is a familiar exercise. Western countries have exported policy around the globe for centuries, often understood as giving a helping hand to the less fortunate. The failure or the many unintended outcomes of this export and import has been a recurring topic and the research has mostly focused on third-world countries’ lack of capacity to implement a given Western policy. The Norwegian accountability reform copied in a sense many other attempts to transfer a highly sophisticated policy into a new context without the wherewithal to relate and adapt this policy to local challenges. In a review, it is possible to outline the transformation of the policy by analyzing the reform process to disclose how or if the policy was comprehended and put into action.

Education policy is often developed in international arenas and is assumed to be “downloaded” to a national context. International organizations promote education policy for their members and current national educational policy is often a product of a transformation process of global policy into a national context. Analyzing national educational policy accordingly requires an understanding of the origin of the international policy that is adopted and an understanding of the national context within which policy is transformed and implemented. Policy is not developed in an international vacuum, but is a result of a particular social and economic context. The comparative approach is used in this study by first exploring the policy that is imported, using this as a framework to explore how a national context may work as a filter. In using identified generic features of educational accountability policy, it is possible to analyze how this filtering affects the actual policy that is applied, and discuss possible explanations for differences and similarities.

The Norwegian education reforms that were initiated at the beginning of the century have to be understood as more than an accountability reform. The reforms entailed objectives and tools that were not limited to educational accountability reform; there was a structural reform, a content reform, a teacher education reform, a knowledge promotion reform, etc. It is not the aim of this study to describe and analyze the Norwegian reform as a whole, but to identify and analyze the policy elements that set out to make the education system more accountable. The accountability reform was closely connected to the development and implementation of the National Quality Assessment System (NQAS), a system for national student tests.

In this chapter, the study is framed and linked to the research fields of comparative education, educational accountability research, and education policy ← 14 | 15 → research. The research questions are outlined and the comparative method and design are presented.

1.1 The Case: The Norwegian Educational Accountability Reform 2001–2009

During the last decade, Norway has enrolled in the global machinery of educational accountability systems (Elstad, Hopmann, Langfeldt, & Achieving School Accountability in Practice, 2008; Isaksen, 2008; Langfeldt, 2011). Numerous local and national accountability systems have been established as tools to secure quality in the education system. The centerpiece for education policy debate in Norway has been, and still is, the NQAS, the aims associated with tests that belong in this system, and the effects of the increasing number of systems for monitoring the learning outcome.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results administered a sharp shock to the traditional view of the unified schools system in Norway. This continued with a succession of low ratings in international tests after 2001, culminating in 2006 when Norway had the lowest score among the Nordic countries and was rated below Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. The social democratic Prime Minister Stoltenberg in his New Year television address saw the 2006 PISA report as a painful warning:

In Norway we are used to being at the top of international rankings, but last month we got an international report that showed that Norwegian schools are far from the top, actually under the mean. It is a painful warning. The government has got the message and we will review the school reforms of recent years. Have we loosened up too much of the framework around instruction? Have we placed too much responsibility on the single student and parent? (The Annual New Year Speech 2006 by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg).

Details

Pages: 192
Year: 2018
ISBN (PDF): 9783631729168
ISBN (ePUB): 9783631729175
ISBN (MOBI): 9783631729182
ISBN (Hardcover): 9783631728451
DOI: 10.3726/b11476
Language: English
Publication date: 2018 (June)
Keywords: Comparative Education Histrory of Education Education Theory Pedagogic
Published: Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2018. 191 pp.

Biographical notes

Lasse Skogvold Isaksen (Author)

Lasse Skogvold Isaksen is Associate Professor in Pedagogy at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He is connected to the University of Vienna and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University.

Educational Accountability Reform in Norway

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