ERIC Number: EJ1425116
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0267-1522
EISSN: EISSN-1470-1146
Making Decisions about Attainment Grouping in Mathematics: Teacher Agency and Autonomy in Norway
Elisabeta Eriksen; Yvette Solomon; Annette Hessen Bjerke; James Gray; Bodil Kleve
Research Papers in Education, v39 n3 p379-399 2024
Grouping by attainment is a relatively new and contested practice in Norway, where strong historical discourses of heterogeneous education are under pressure from international test comparisons, particularly in mathematics. At the same time, research indicates that Norwegian teachers have a high degree of autonomy in education policy enactment. Analysing thirteen Norwegian mathematics teachers' reflections on grouping practices, we seek to understand their decision-making processes within this context. Our findings indicate that teachers report a high degree of autonomy in grouping practices which is exercised through considerable diversity in practice and defended when necessary. Using an ecological model of teacher agency reveals how teachers explore and explain their highly situated practice and its tensions and contradictions. We find that teachers who are removed from the central locus of autonomy have less to draw on in making and justifying their pedagogic choices, while those who are more central are able to continually reassess in this highly sensitive arena. We note the implications for practice and research on attainment grouping, particularly the need for teacher autonomy and support for professionally-based local decision-making.
Descriptors: Grouping (Instructional Purposes), Mathematics Instruction, Teaching Methods, Foreign Countries, Professional Autonomy, Decision Making, Educational Policy, Mathematics Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Educational Legislation, Elementary Secondary Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Norway
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A