Institutional change is being called for to renew higher music education (HME). But what institutional pressures, specifically, are driving these calls, and how are HME organisations responding to pressures to change? By turning to institutional theory, we lean on the concept of institutional isomorphism to shed light on how HME organisations may…

This qualitative phenomenological study investigates international instructors' perspectives and experiences in designing a successful language-based massive open online course (L-MOOC). Detailed information was gathered during Summer 2018 about the instructor's challenges and strategies through semi-structured interviews with seven participants…

Although reflection has a key position in the development of teachers' pedagogical practices, few studies have investigated the development of physical education teachers' reflections over time. Against this backdrop, this study seeks to answer the following research question: "How does a one-year participatory action research project using…

The present article examines how a group of Norwegian pre-service teachers of English and other foreign languages perceived the term "cultural diversity" when student-centred learning activities were used. A qualitative inquiry, comprising data retrieved from three student-centred activities: student narratives, role-playing, and focus…

Student-centredness is being advocated for in research on higher music education (HME), yet its perils have been largely neglected by scholars. While issues of employability are important to address in order for music graduates to thrive in a neoliberal world, this article asserts that the underlying power mechanisms that are being criticised for…

Students' critical thinking is often researched using quantitative tests designed to measure critical thinking. In contrast, this study qualitatively analyses group and whole-class dialogues in an interdisciplinary SSI project by focusing on students' critical thinking practices. As such, the study provides an in-depth example of an immersion…

In this article, three researchers and music teacher educators reflect upon the possibilities for and challenges of fostering preservice teachers' critical and democratic capacities and agency in music teacher education in line with recent 21st-century skills-oriented policy reforms. Based on experiences from participatory action research with…

This article explores how quality is negotiated and challenged when two Norwegian rural schools cooperate with the local community and businesses. The article builds on three sub-studies on two upper secondary schools in the process of merging in the areas of follow-up services, physical school environment and leadership. Several methodological…

Digital technology is a central part of young children's everyday lives in most societies today. This paper contributes to current research by exploring two teachers' pedagogical strategies when creating digital stories together with groups of six kindergarten children (age 4-5). The study has a qualitative, multiple-case study design. The…

Amid increasing global and national interest in the built educational environment, this editorial considers developments within the Nordic countries that are investigated and discussed within the articles in this special issue. We discuss commonalities and divergences in the experiences of transition and change in the schools, located in a range…

Background: The literature on movement capability critiques the traditional content of physical education (i.e. the what of physical education) and the subject's reliance on teacher-led methods (i.e. the how of physical education). By re-focusing the content as well as the teaching methods of physical education, the literature on movement…

In this single-case experimental design study, eight adolescents with mild intellectual disability (ID) participated in a 3-month intervention with the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction. Findings indicate that student-directed learning may enable students with ID to increase their academic achievements, and the authors explore how this…

This paper presents and discusses the findings of a collaborative investigation into Nordic approaches to evaluation and assessment in early childhood education and care. The project explored values and principles that underpin and guide evaluation in ECEC systems and practices in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and…

The theme for this article is parents' and centre leaders' opinions regarding what makes a good kindergarten. Both stakeholder groups agree on statements expressing child-centred values as indicators of a good kindergarten. However, their opinions differ regarding children's learning and work with letters and numbers; more parents than centre…

This article traces the travelling of neo-liberal learning discourses through and between international and local political documents and practices. It does so by focusing on professionalism in Norway's Early Childhood Education and Care. The investigation explores how particular discourses are taken up, merged and transformed in relation to the…