Blaming the game. Media and the formation of performancebased accountability in Norwegian school system
Author(s):
Nils Rune Birkeland
Conference:
ECER 2009
Network:
23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

23 SES 04 D, The Quality Agenda

Paper Session

Time:
2009-09-28
16:00-17:30
Room:
HG, HS 21
Chair:
Anne Larson

Contribution

The main question investigated in this paper is how a new toolkit of performancebased accountability is introduced and sustained in the Norwegian school system. The claim is that media plays a crucial role putting blame on stakeholders at different levels: national politicians, municipalities as school owners, local school leaders, teachers and even students and their parents. In the wake of PISA-movement initially blaming national politicians in Norway for inefficient school policies, a system of national testing of schools while exposed in massmedia makes visible the continous game om blame played out between different stakeholders. In the Norwegian curriculumtradition it is impossible to establish a tough bueraucratic system of performancebased accountability signified by rules, regulations introducing rewards and punishment based on academic performance indicators. Before introducing such "hard-power" systems preparatory work has to be done applying "soft-power" by establishing information systems putting cultural pressure on stakeholders at different levels. Publicing national league tables in the media ranking municipalities and communities based on their childrens academic achievement a system distributing blame from national level down to local levels is establised. The aim of this paper is to track, adress and investigate discussions where blame for bad performance and low achievement is managed.

Method

The empirical material consist of newspaper articles from two periodes: January 2005 and December 2007 - March 2008 where results from national testing of Norwegian childrens academic achievements were made public. 'The sources is six different newspapers, two with national distribution, two with regional distribution and two with local distribution. The material is accessed through texual analysis applying linguistic investigation techniques based on the critical discource analytical tradition inspired by Norman Fairclough.

Expected Outcomes

The paper will document how a general/public acceptance making educational stakeholders accountable for childrens academic achievement is established. The investigation will show how national politicians are able to redistribute PISA-blame to other stakeholders (local municipalities, school leadres and teachers) and employ shool testing as a political instrument. The paper will also investigate the internal media logic signified by minimax principle and show how this fact limits medias critical potential facing late modern governing techinques.

References

ASAP (2008) Final report to the Norwegian Research Foundation. Berliner, D. C. (2005) Our impoverished view of educational reform. In: Teachers College Record. Birkeland Nils R. (forthcoming) Resultat, ansvar og uansvarlighet: skole og media i ansvarlighetens tidsalder. PhD-thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Birkeland, N. R. (2008). Ansvarlig, Jeg? Nye redskaper i utformingen av norsk skolepolitikk. In G. Langfeldt, Elstad, E., & Hopmann, S. (Ed.), Ansvarlighet i skolen. Politiske spørsmål og pedagogiske svar: Cappelen Damm forlag Birkeland Nils R. (2007a) Ansvarlig, jeg accountability på norsk. Paper written for ASAP’s final report. Birkeland Nils R. (2007b) Beating the Crowds, How to build public legitimacy? Paper presented at ASAP’s third conference, Kristiansand february 2007. Burke, C. (2005) Achieving Accountability in Higher Education. Jossey-Bass. Dubnic, M. J. & Romzek, B.S. (1987) Accountability in the Public Sector: Lessons from the Challenger Tragedy. Public Administration Review, May/June 2007, pp. 227-238. Dubnic, M. J. & Romzek, B.S. (1993) Accountability and the Centrality of Expectations in American Public Administration. Research in Public Administration, vol. 2, pp. 37-78. Dubnic, M. (1998) Clairifying Accountability: An Ethical Theory Framework. In: Charles Sampford N.P & Bois C-A (eds.), Public Sector Ethics: Finding and Implementing Values. Leichardt, NSW, Australia: The federation Press/Routledge. Elmore, R.F. (2006) School Reform From the Inside Out. Cambridge (Harvard University Press). Elmore, R. F. (2002) Bridging the gap between standards and achievement, The Imperative for Professional Development in Education. Albert Shanker Institute 2002. Giddens, Anthony (1996) Modernitet og selvidentitet : Selvet og samfundet under sen- moderniteten(oversatt av Søren Schultz Jørgensen). Hans Reitzels Forlag, København. Hopmann, Stefan T. (2007) No Child, No School, No State Left Behind. Comparative Research in the Age of Accountability. Hopmann, Stefan T. (2003) On the evaluation of curriculum reforms, in Curriculum Studies vol. 35(4):459-478, Taylor & Francis. Hopmann, Stefan T., 1999, The Curriculum as a Standard of Public Education, in Studies in Philosophy and Education vol. 18: 89-105, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Lamar, A. & Thomas, J.A.: The Nation's Report Card: Improving the Assessment of Student Achievement. Stanford, CA (National Academy of Education) 1987. Lundgren, Ulf P. (2006) Political Governing and Curriculum Change – From Active to Reactive Reforms. The need for a reorientation of Curriculum Theory, in Studies in Educational Policy and Educational Philosophy 2006:1. NOU 2002:10. Førsteklasses fra første klasse. NOU 2003:16. I første rekke. OECD – Directorate for Education. (accessed 02-06-07) http://www.oecd.org/department/0,2688,en_2649_33723_1_1_1_1_1,00.html OECD – Programme for international Student Assessment (accessed 02-06-07) http://www.oecd.org/department/0,2688,en_2649_35845621_1_1_1_1_1,00.html http://www.pisa.oecd.org Stehr, N. (2005). Knowledge politics: governing the consequences of science and technology. Boulder, Colo.: Paradigm Publishers. West, M. R. & Petterson, P. E. (2003) The Politics and Practice of Accountability. In: Petterson, P. E. & West M. R. (eds.): (2003) No Child Left Behind? The Politics and Practice of School Accountability, The Brookings Institution, pp. 1-22.

Author Information

Nils Rune Birkeland
Agder University
Depatement of Education
Kristiansand
158

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