This article sheds light on governance mechanisms at work when decentralised implementation of national educational and welfare policies encounters a heterogeneous sector of private service provider organisations. It illuminates how isomorphic pressure plays out at the interface between local governance and private providers' organisational…

This paper explores the policy discourses underpinning an international higher education partnership involving a large Ethiopian university. Particular attention is given to a partnership programme established between an Ethiopian (EU) and a Norwegian (NU) university, and the main ideas and practices expressed and negotiated from an Ethiopian…

This paper explores policy related to digital competence and the digitalisation of Nordic K-12 schools. Anchored in some key transnational policies on digital competence, it describes some current Nordic movements in the national policies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The concept of boundary objects is used as an analytical lens, for…

This paper examines the role of digital technology in national guidelines and regulations in Norwegian and Danish teacher education over the course of 28 years (1992-2020). These policy documents are used to examine policy perspectives on digital technology through an analytical framework based on Wartofsky's artifact categories. The analytical…

State school inspection in Norway has undergone multiple reform initiatives from the state level, a system predominantly aimed at controlling legal compliance of school districts and individual schools. Rather than focusing on policy reform, this article draws attention to how enactment of state inspection policy has taken place through…

The purpose of this review is to investigate cross-cutting research themes and issues related to access and stratification in Nordic higher education (H.E.) (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden). We synthesise how recent changes in H.E. policy, practise, and appropriations have influenced educational opportunities along social class,…

This article is based on a meta-ethnographic analysis of educational research from rural and urban areas in Finland, Norway and Sweden following the reorganisation of educational supply there in line with market policies. Edward Soja's concept of spatial justice shapes the analysis. Using meta-ethnography, we try to present a contextualising…

Norwegian education authorities pursue the objective that students in upper secondary schools should evaluate teaching. This kind of evaluation scheme has, however, elicited resistance from teachers. The aims of this article are to explain the advent of teaching evaluation policies in Norway and to explore which factors explain teacher resistance…

The article offers a comparative perspective on how educational policy is influenced by two key phenomena that sent something akin to shockwaves through the Western world, and that in both cases highlighted basic deficiencies within the school system. The case of Norway and Sweden in particular, as well as the role of new technology, is examined.…

Unlike many other countries, Norway has no induction programme or reduction of teaching load for newly qualified teachers. However, an interesting model has been developed through the "New Teachers in Norway" project. This project involves teacher education institutions and schools, novice and experienced teachers as well as teacher…

Traditionally, the Nordic curriculum has been viewed as a document with school subjects in focus. This article reports on how two national curricula function as instruments for governing education and explores the possible differences in how national curricula govern education. This investigation was carried out by researching curricula for…

In this article, inclusive education is analysed from the perspective of the interlinked, dynamic relationship between international neo-liberal movements and national policies and practices. The aim is to explore the significance of "competence" in recent Norwegian reforms and the changing position attributed to inclusion. The analysis…