Comparative classroom research has gained increased interest over the last years (Praetorius et al. 2019, OECD, 2020) and especially recent developments in video technology and observation manuals/coding approaches have paved the way for new possibilities when it comes to systematically to investigate aspects of teaching and learning across different national systems. However, comparative analyses of teaching and learning across countries and contexts involve challenges at several levels such as the level of theoretical framework and conceptualization applied, data collection level, sequencing of the lessons, coding level, and maybe most important  the level of contextual information required.

In this symposium, we discuss challenges when aiming at cross-national comparisons drawing on comparative data in Mathematics, Language Art and Social Science lower secondary classrooms from respectively Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. All papers draw on classroom video data collected within the same overall research design in the three different subject areas (two-camera solution, four consecutive lessons video recorded in each classroom backed up with copies of student work and teacher background data) however the different comparative ambitions and individual research focuses raise several principled questions when it comes to comparing teaching and learning practices across contexts.

The six papers discuss different methodological and conceptual dilemmas related to comparative classroom research addressing conceptual, functional and structural equivalences (Schweisfurth, 2019) and whether additional data and analytical frameworks are required.

Paper 1 (Jóhann Ö. Sigurjónsson) highlights challenges when aiming at analyzing in cognitive activation in mathematics classroom and discuss how and whether additional data such as analyses of the textbooks and task are necessitated

Paper 2 (Alexander Selling) also drawing on mathematics classrooms discuss ways of combining standardized manuals with qualitative analyses. Focusing on the teachers’ use of goals in mathematic instruction, Selling argues how parts of the teachers goals might be hidden when only using observation manuals and show how additional qualitative analyses is required .

Paper 3 (Peter Aashamar), drawing on analyses of citizenship education from the social science classrooms, discuss the differential strengths of using different coding frameworks together with in-depth qualitative investigation.

Paper 4 (Jenny Högström) address how to ‘operationalize’ agency in a consistent way when analyzing qualitative video data from respectively Sweden and Finland. Drawing on a post-humanist framework she discusses the problem of operationalizing agency as a relevant tern for analyzing classroom data.

Paper 5 (Anna Nissen) discuss how seemingly similar areas in LA instruction, here literature instruction, imply and include rather different practice and areas of instruction across countries. While the role of the cultural heritage might be highlighted in one country – genre issues and ‘reading pleasure’ are in focus in yet another. Thus more fine-grained and contextual analyses are required in order to make systematic comparison.

Paper 6 (Jennifer M. Luoto) drawing on analyses of mathematics lessons in Finland and Norway explores how video recordings might be fruitfully combined with teacher intentions data in order to better understand patterns of instructional quality.

In sum the six papers highlight several dilemmas in comparative classroom research and with severe implications for a European audience, pointing to how multiple frameworks and analytical perspectives might be needed when aiming at understanding instructional practice across contexts. Second, the issue of ‘sufficient contextual information’ cut across all these papers.

The symposium will be organized in two parts with three papers in each and where the two discussants Post Doc Mark White (Oslo/ Ann Arbor) and Prof Michele Schweisfurth (Glasgow) will provide comments to both parts.

OECD (2020). Global Teaching InSights. A Video Study of Teaching. OECD Publishing, Paris.https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/global-teaching-insights_20d6f36b-en Praetorius, A.-K., Rogh, W., Bell, C., & Klieme, E. (2019). Methodological challenges in conducting international research on teaching quality using standardized observations. In L. Suter, E. Smith, & B. D. Denman (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of comparative studies in education (pp. 269-288). London, United Kingdom: Sage. Schweisfurth, M. (2019). Qualitative comparative education research: Perennial issues, new approaches and good practice. In L. Suter, E. Smith, & B. D. Denman (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of comparative studies in education (pp. 258-268). Los Angeles, Calif: Sage.