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The Norwegian Research Council Division for Culture and Society 'Knowledge, Education and Learning'.
Director: Professor Ivar Bleiklie,
Rokkan Centre in Bergen/Department of Administration and Organization Theory,
University of Bergen
Deputy Director: Associate Professor Kirsti Klette,
Institute of Educational Research, University of Oslo
email: kirsti.klette@ped.uio.no
Programme Website:http://www.program.forskningsradet.no/utdanning/
The programme focuses on research on learning in education, the labour market and society in general.
The programme’s goal is to enhance the level of competence in Norwegian educational research, contribute to the long-term development of knowledge about education and research, strengthen the knowledge base of Norwegian education policy and play a part in public debate about education and knowledge.
The programme has two main perspectives. One perspective deals with change and re-organisation; the second is a comparative view of knowledge and education.
These perspectives are to inform and constitute the background for the three priority research topics: the interaction between the education system, home, workplace and voluntary sector as arenas for lifelong learning; educational leadership, organisation and steering; learning processes and fields of knowledge.
The program Knowledge, Education and Learning (KUL) focuses on the education and research system, as well as the learning taking place in the labour market and in society in general. While education is connected to systems, institutions and phases in life, learning is a life-long process. The program's goal is to enhance the level of competence in Norwegian educational research, contribute to the long-term development of knowledge about education and research, strengthen the knowledge base of Norwegian education policy and play a part in public debate about education and knowledge.
The most important sub-goals are the production of high quality research, providing an overview of the status of knowledge in the research field, ensuring breadth and long-term perspectives in research, contributing to the development of a data base on knowledge, education and learning, concentrating efforts on some selected questions and challenges, as well as creating a meeting place for researchers and users of the research.
The programme has two main perspectives. One perspective deals with change and re-organisation; the second is a comparative view of knowledge and education. These perspectives are to inform and constitute the background for the three topics of research priority: 1) The interaction between the education system, home, workplace and voluntary sector as arenas for lifelong learning, 2) leadership, organisation and steering, 3) learning processes and areas (all fields) of knowledge.
In accordance with the general policy of the Research Council the programme will give priority to a small number of larger projects, specifically those which can in a systematic manner contribute to the development of sustainable milieus. It is an advantage that projects are built around integrated research groups i.e. research groups with a mixture of researchers on different levels, where top-qualified researchers work together with doctoral students or master students who are interested in the one program's topics. The programme will therefore fund research groups rather than more loosely connected research networks. The program will only to a limited extent open for the award of individual doctoral and post-doctoral stipends, as well as individual projects for senior researchers.
Knowledge, Education and Learning adopts an active stance towards internationalisation. Applications must be written in English. The goal of internationalisation is that Norwegian researchers should reach a position, where they can actively participate in the presentation of their results to an international public. This will ensure that Norwegian researchers are informed and aware of what is taking place on the international "research front". Project leaders with international networks are necessary, and support for a stay abroad for those with stipends and researchers is an important instrument. The milieus should as far as possible become capable of co-operating with partners from abroad. The program aims to assist international publishing, by helping to prepare texts for international publication.
The programme builds upon a widening of research in the programs Competence,
Learning Processes and Value Creation in Worklife (KUV) completed in 2001,
Evaluating Reform 97 completed in 2003, and Knowledge Development in Professional
Education and Practice (KUPP), which runs until 2004. KUL must to some extent
be seen in relation to the Knowledge for Business and Innovation Policy (KUNI)
program, the Worklife Research program, the new program Transforming Norwegian
Government: structure, performance and governance (OSIE), and NIFU's strategic
institute program on the internationalisation of research and higher education
(2002 to 2005).
Perspectives
Change and re-organisation
The programme takes as its starting point the changes taking place in knowledge,
education and learning as we enter to the 21st century. The changes can be
seen in the context of more comprehensive international processes - a new
industrial and technical revolution - where the development of knowledge,
knowledge based professions and new technology constitute central elements.
On all levels of the system, the growth of mass-education has fundamentally
changed the expectations of pupils and students to schools and education,
the interest politicians show towards education policy, and the expectations
society has to those communicating knowledge, producing it and to the results
of education. In addition, internationalisation has become a greater formative
force with greater intensity than was earlier the case.
Even though the amount of education, formal organisation and the way politicians and the general population understand education and knowledge has greatly changed, other things have only changed to a lesser degree. Teaching and research on all levels are marked by strong traditions, and the daily practice of teaching has remained unchanged in many areas. Several ideological conceptions of the content, function and organisation of education have been relatively stabile for many decades. The importance of education for democracy, equality and citizenship has been asserted in many connections. There are indications that our understanding of both the effects of education and the debate about its role are under transformation. While socioeconomic differences were focused in the 70ies, the debate has now got several dimensions. The relationship between men and women has become an important part of educational research, and equality is a basic goal for educational policy. A normal assumption has been that education has an effect, but both the incentives to take an education, as well as the effects for the individual and for the relationship between elites and society at large have changed in ways which are still not clear with the growth of what has been called the modern 'knowledge society'.
Large challenges await and the programme aims to meet them:
Research must provide a better understanding of what these changes mean
for education and research as a form of cultural expression, for societal
institutions, for producers and disseminators of knowledge, and as a resource
for society and the individual. It is a great challenge to our understanding
that it is often influenced by concepts and perspectives appropriate to yesterday's
conditions. A critical review of theory and concepts is important, otherwise
research can quickly become of little relevance to today's problems. Among
the processes of change having an effect upon education and learning we can
identify the following:
Changed conceptions of competence
Our conceptions of competence (the sum of knowledge and skills) and the goal
of competence has consequences for what is learned in education institutions
according 1) to the weighting given to specialised professional knowledge
vs. general knowledge and, 2) technical and discipline knowledge vs. social
skills. The weighting will have fundamental consequences for how education
is organised, as a training for specific professions or as a more general
education to cope with general challenges of life. Furthermore, increasing
access to education has consequences for the content in the learning of general
functions and how a sense of social responsibility and citizenship are acquired.
Research is putting less of an emphasis on knowledge understood as a scientific
method (knowledge as method) and more upon knowledge as practically applied
and a useful product (knowledge as a result). The understanding of what this
means is far from clear, since different groups can have quite different meanings
about concepts such as "knowledge" and "useful results".
Changes in organisational form and new technology
The organisation of the education system and its institutions have changed
as new ideas on steering, leadership and organisation have become topical.
The development has been characterised by contrasting tendencies. One tendency
has been a greater emphasis on standardisation and integration in the implementation
of main education policy goals. A second tendency has been the greater de-centralisation
of authority and stronger leadership of individual institutions. A third tendency
has been the use of incentives, such as bonuses, the selection of demonstration
schools and the award of prizes for effectiveness and teaching many pupils.
This means that institutions are in the process of changing from being regarded
as strong discipline-based collectives into integrated organisations with
the need for an active and strategically reflectiev leadership. Work forms
are characterised less by individual professional practice and more by organised
co-operation. At the same time, a form of 'individualisation' is taking place
with more emphasis upon the career of the individual and the use of individual
incentives and forms of wage compensation, even if this is occurring to a
differing extent on different levels of the teaching profession. New technology
has in addition led to new and improved opportunities for communication, steering,
co-ordination and teaching. Both the consequences of and the degree to which
technological advances can be appropriated has yet to be clarified.
Changes in the relation between education and society
A typical assumption is that education and research constitute important pre-conditions
for renewal and the generation of value. The steadily higher demands placed
on formal education and how the education system can best meet the needs of
the labour market are recurring issues. The relationship between general and
professional education are central in this respect. Another issue is the relevance
of vocational and professional education in relation to the demands and needs
of society and the labour market. The connections between formal education,
innovation and growth in the business sector are from clear. The corresponding
connection between research, inventions, developing new processes and technologies
and the manufacture of saleable products is also unclear.
Comparative and international perspectives
The programme will invite projects in the different topics where the focus
is on comparative and international perspectives. A foundation in empirical
evidence, something desired by the programme, will be strengthened if a comparative
perspective can throw light upon analyses of Norwegian education.
A comparative perspective will form the basis of knowledge of Norway's position in relation to other countries and can be used to understand our own system and what makes it distinctive in an international context. A question worth asking is if there exist Norwegian or Nordic models for education and education policy on different levels of the education system. A comparative perspective can provide insight into a larger arsenal of concepts on solutions faced by education than was the case when only a one-sided national perspective was used. In this connection one can ask: What kind of variation exist in the different countries when it comes to goals, means and results in the quality of education? A comparative perspective can reveal how much variation is actually hidden behind concepts such as the "market", "independence", "leadership" and "quality". This can again form the point of departure in asking if education in different countries is becoming more alike when it comes to organisation, content and results in quality and effectiveness.
Moreover, Norwegian education, especially higher education, has changed from an emphasis upon the national and nation building, such that internaitonalisation is an increasingly important institutional mechanism in the integration of the country in the global society. In the 1980s the international discussion focused on the role of knowledge in bringing about economic growth and enhancing international economic competition. The goal was to have the best possible education so that a country could excel in competition. In recent years internationalisation has gained a new dimension, with attention and efforts focused upon introducing supra-national standards, especially in higher education through the Bologna process, international accrediting, student exchanges and EU research programmes. All these things have left their mark on higher education and reform on a national level. The OECD has for a long time been an important actor in questions of education connected with our participation in the OECD.
It is important to recognise that the models and concepts we use to understand
the forces forming the Norwegian system have often been adopted from so-called
model countries, where social relations are quite different. If Norwegian
analyses and debates on such central issues as privatisation, the market,
leadership and quality are only anchored in international trends without a
firm foundation in Norwegian reality, then the analyses will be weakened because
knowledge about the structures supporting processes will be too weak to gain
a real, living content. It is therefore important that empirically based analyses
of Norwegian education are developed, with a foundation in research-based
issues relevant to the challenges faced by the education system. This means
that the focus must not be solely upon the Norwegian context. An adequate
understanding of the Norwegian context is dependent upon its comparability
with similar contexts in other countries. Furthermore, it should be possible
to distinguish between aspects of our education system, which are specifically
Norwegian and those that are local variants of international trends in development.
Knowledge of how Norwegian education meets international trends is an important
kind of knowledge with respect to the comprehensive process of integration
taking place today.
Priority research topics
The interaction between the education system, home, workplace and voluntary
sector as arenas for life-long learning.
The programme would like to set in motion research that throws light upon
the interactions between different arenas or institutions for learning and
life-long learning.
The business sector has expressed an increasing demand for highly qualified workers. Society faces a situation in which workers with more knowledge are needed, and the authorities need knowledge about how this is to be achieved. At the same time the view has become generally recognised that learning is a life-long and comprehensive process. Not merely expressed in the view that learning doesn't take place just in the formal education system, but in the interaction between four important arenas for learning: the home, the formal education system, the workplace and the voluntary sector (organisations and peer group arenas). A central topic will therefore be to study the interaction between these institutions with the intention of improving the opportunities for learning and the resultant development of human resources in society. In a wider perspective the education system along with the home, voluntary organisations and business sector are not merely part of the total process in the production of knowledge, but also play a role in the reproduction or even reduction of inequalities with respect to the distribution of knowledge and therefore the distribution of income in society. The reason for such a connection is that education of a formal and informal character are some of the most important factors accounting for income differentials in modern society and will most likely assume an increasing significance in coming years. A central topic in this perspective, which has been on the agenda since the beginning of education research, is the extent schooling compensates for differences in growing up milieu. Analysis of the organisation of the school and the organisation of the production of the most important input factor in schools, namely teachers, will clearly fall within this topic. There is in fact a total lack of up to date knowledge and systematic, empirical knowledge in these fields. The comparative perspective will be of great significance, since a considerable amount of the experimentation with different forms of school organisation has taken place in other countries.
One of the questions which authorities can ask when they desire a higher level of knowledge in society, is not just what makes a school more effective and contributes to a raised level of competence, but also the connection between childhood milieu and subsequent learning. What is the connection between parental background and the later career of their children in education and employment? It will be of interest to look more closely at the interaction between the education system (in vocational training for example) and the local/regional business sector. How can it be characterised and how can education contribute to improving its productive results?
It is clearly the case that a lot of knowledge in society is produced by companies in which individuals work. This covers informal learning in the workplace, more formal training courses and completely formal state department schools. What gives effective learning in such systems? What kind of interaction is there between the education system and training system? A comparative perspective will be relevant.
Topics worthy of closer attention:
• What is the connection between family background and childhood milieu
in general, with respect to later success at school and in the workplace,
and how can the school compensate?
• What characterises schools that have managed to reduce differences
between pupils with different social, family, economic and cultural backgrounds?
• How do different incentives work on different levels of the education
and training system?
• What is the connection between school results, structural factors,
teaching, leadership and the organisation of resources?
• What restricts/promotes the workplace as a learning arena in itself
and in co-ordination with other educational actors in a life long learning
perspective?
• What role is played by the voluntary sector when it comes to the development
of learning and competence in society?
• What is the connection between the business sector and education, with
respect to vocational training?
• To what extent does the content of professional education correspond
with the practical needs of the workplace?
• What is the role played by private education actors in our education
and training market?
Leadership, organisation and steering
The attempt to decentralise authority from the central level to institutions
and at the same time strengthen their leadership and administrative apparatus
constitute central elements in the modernisation and renewal of the public
sector. Such attempts characterise the steering and organisation of Norwegian
as well as foreign education institutions, especially in higher education.
With respect to steering, the reforms of the last 10-15 years have been marked
by rational goal steering which means less detailed steering by directives
and more use of goal and incentive driven steering. Better leadership and
organisation have been given a prominent position as conditions for improved
effectiveness and better quality. The thought behind reform work has been
that education institutions should be led and organised in accordance with
principles found elsewhere in working life.
Changes in forms of management have entailed a number of partially contradictory consequences. On the one hand, the economic control of institutions has been decentralised and resulted in greater freedom for the individual institution. On the other hand, the introduction of new forms of steering have resulted in standardisation because common criteria have been used to judge goal attainment and the award of incentives. Moreover, an opening has been created to use wage and work condition incentives, and this can result in greater individual differences between employees.
The reforms of recent years have expressed the view that leadership is important and for a long time there has been a clear focus upon the headmaster in the school and the role of the institute boards in higher education. The leadership and organisation of education institutions have experienced quite significant changes. The Regional College Reform introduced the form of steering found in universities. Education institutions on all levels have experienced a strengthening and professionalisation of administrative functions upon which the leadership depends. Leadership and organisational questions have been characterised by relatively clear lines of conflict between modern organisational thinking, concerned with effectiveness and ideals of quality, and traditional conceptions of control by the subject disciplines and the educational institution's role as a social and cultural institution. In different ways, questions of the organisational structure with respect to ownership (public vs. private) and finance have been raised on all levels of the education system.
The programme will support research projects providing knowledge on how steering and changed steering forms function in practice, how education institutions are led and organised, how leadership and organisation influences the results of education institutions, the changes that are about to take place and the consequences they will have when it comes to the institution's ability to realise goals set in different subjects. At the same time, not only is the kind of leadership and organisation form resulting in good leadership under discussion, but also what is good leadership. Nor is there any certain or agreed upon view on what is "quality" and how it can best be measured. Here there are significant variations over time and from country to country.
Research can nevertheless contribute to important clarifications, among other things by directing attention to the following questions:
• What conceptions of leadership and quality exist on different levels
of education, how have they changed over time and what is characteristic of
Norwegian conceptions in a comparative perspective?
• What kinds of experiences have actors had with different forms of leadership
and under what conditions do these experiences vary?
• How do the local and county municipalities, as owners of schools, fulfill
their responsibility with respect to teaching, administration and providing
vocational training?
• What connections exist between organisation forms, processes and results,
and how are such connections influenced by structural factors, such as ownership
and funding?
• How do incentives work on different levels of the education system?
• In which areas and in what manner are there differences between public
and private education institutions, with respect to steering, organisation
and leadership?
• To what extent and how has the development of leadership and forms
of organisation been influenced by international trends and initiatives in
supra-national organisations (EU, OECD, UNESCO…etc)?
Learning processes, fields of knowledge and the benefits of learning
Topic 3 moves from the conditions, framework and macro-oriented processes
to a learning and content oriented perspective. Along the learning dimension
it will be important to examine the differentfactors, which further or restrict
what the pupil or student learns and how the quality of learning can be assessed.
While educationis connected with institutions, systems and phases in life,
learning is something in the modern society that takes place throughout a
person's life. There is therefore a need for knowledge about the relationship
between education and learning and the different aspects of knowledge generation
in the school and the workplace, and across levels and between levels. There
is a need for knowledge on all levels of education and especially perhaps
in further education. With respect to the learning dimension, there is a special
interest in looking more closely at what can enhance the learning of different
pupil and student groups (according to ethnic, gender, socio-economic background).
The programme will also invite research on children with special needs and
the topic of inclusion/exclusion. In addition, attention should be focused
upon the importance of education institutions for democracy, upbringing and
citzenship.
For the content dimension the programme would like a broad perspective. From an epistemological, historical, comparative and international perspective there is a desire to look at the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes of today's pupils and students in terms of what they are exposed to and need, as well the institutional foundation in terms of legitimacy and rational justification. One should look at the relationship between the development of knowledge in general and the teaching institution's content in particular. What is the balance between education with the goal of teaching a common knowledge base and education to meet the needs of a more pluralistic and multi-cultural society?
For learning and results from learning measured along the content dimension, a better and broader knowledge base on classroom and institutional practice is considered desirable. There is a need for subject specific didactic research connected to individual subjects and disciplines, as well as more cross disciplinary, process and interaction studies. Furthermore, there is a need to find out how different organisational solutions on the institutional level (the role of professionals, use of technology, private vs. public provision, different models of user based influence) contribute to different models which improve the quality of education and learning.
Current topics for closer attention are:
• What views/approaches to learning and the benefit of learning in the
field of education are there and which dimensions/instruments exert an influence
on the quality of learning and education?
• What is the connection between the content dimension (areas of
content, ways of working, the role of basic subjects…etc), different
uses of technology and the quality of learning?
• What kinds of connection exist between teaching activities, the role
of professionals (teacher, tutor…etc) and results?
• What are the effects of integrating pupils in primary school and in
further education (eller secondary education eller high school education)
- for the individual pupil and for the class/school?
• How is education and learning influenced by the tension between the
ideal of education as an individual project of development and the ideal of
education as a social and community project?
• To what extent are evaluation and education research practised on an
institutional level?
The publication and dissemination of research
Within the Knowledge, Education and Learning programme the dissemination
of results will be an important way of contributing to and stimulating public
and scientific debate in the field.
General and user oriented dissemination
Research on knowledge and education deals with questions of great interest
for a wider general public and for cultural and social debate, and the programme
intends that it should be a source of insight, understanding and premises.
The dissemination can take place in the form of books, popular articles, newspaper
contributions, radio and television programmes, on the Internet and so on.
The scientific dissemination based upon the projects must be strengthened
and stimulated, especially in refereed journals and recognised scientific
publishers, at home and abroad. Applications for the general funding of publication
of scientific works can be made to the Section for Culture and Society. The
programme board are positive towards projects arranging seminars, conferences
and doctoral research courses, which create meeting places for both researchers
and others.
The programme will fund good and innovative general, user oriented and scientific dissemination of the programme's projects, whether this is organised by the project's themselves, by the programme or by professional communicators who present and disseminate results and insight from the projects.
Programme seminars and conferences
In addition to stimulating and supporting dissemination by the projects themselves,
the programme will arrange seminars and conferences for the programme's researchers
and others. Such meeting places are central when it comes to establishing
contact between researchers in education and in other fields. At the same
time, such arenas can also function as meeting places for researchers and
groups and those with interests outside the research system.
The programme board will work actively to create meeting places for researchers who work with knowledge, education and learning in other Research Council funded programmes and projects.
Programme board and administration
Programme board
The programme board was appointed in June 2002 by the Research Council and
has the following members:
Professor Ivar Bleiklie (chair), Rokkan Centre in Bergen/Department of Administration
and Organization Theory, University of Bergen
Professor Ingrid Carlgren, The Stockholm Institute of Education
Head of Section Roar Grøttvik, Teacher's Union
Associate professor Hanne Foss Hansen, Department of Political Science, University
of Copenhagen
Director General Eivind Heder, Ministry of Education and Research
Associate professor Kirsti Klette, Institute of Educational Research, University
of Oslo
Professor Ingrid Markussen, Department of Cultur Studies, University of Oslo
Professor Kjell G. Salvanes, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of
Economics and Business Administration, Bergen
The programme's mail address
The Norwegian Research Council
Division for Culture and Society
Post box 2700 St.Hanshaugen
N-0131 Oslo
For more information here
All Norway Projects here.
