| 1. |
- Augustinsson, Sören, et al.
(author)
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Making sense of assignment : on the complexity of being a school leader
- 2018
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education. - Oslo : OsloMet University Library. - 2535-4051. ; 2:2-3, s. 149-164
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The primary aim of this paper is to narrow down the description of how school leaders interpret the assignment (the task) and identify the markers for how they look upon the conditions of doing a good job in Sweden. The aim is in the context of practice-based and process-oriented research. We use complexity and complexity theories to frame the emerging practice of leading and organizing. This is in contrast to technocratic homogenization—that is, law texts, steering documents, documentation, standardized methods, planning, and ceremonies. A questionnaire was conducted with three open questions (n=363 out of a possible 548 participants) and four focus groups (n=21). Complexity, dilemmas, and inconsistency emerge in the respondents’ answers the closer they are to everyday action. The results show that complexity theories put focus on a conflict between the image of schools as complicated and complex. Complicated is accompanied by generalizing and weak contextualizing of control systems, standardized methods, planning, law texts, and evidence-based education—that is, the concept of technocratic homogenization. Complexity theories emphasize the life in organizations, everyday practice as leaders, and a conflict between weak and robust contextualizing from the perspective as practice-based and process-oriented research.
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| 2. |
- Ballo, Anduena, et al.
(author)
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International master’s degree students’ experiences of support at a Finnish university
- 2024
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education. - : OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. - 2535-4051. ; 8:1, s. 1-24
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This phenomenographic study explores international master’s degree students’ ways of experiencing support in Finnish higher education. The study draws on Schlossberg’s Transition Model and the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments Model as a conceptual framework. The phenomenographic analysis of 17 interviews with international master’s degree students identified four ways of experiencing support as: (a) study system adjustment, (b) learning enhancement, (c) personal growth, and (d) autonomy development. The findings identified participants’ experiencing support in relationships, use of information, communication, services, the flexibility of studies, learning and study environments. The presence of two indicators, Humanizing Educational Environments and Availability of Holistic Support suggested that the campus environment was culturally responsive to academic and personal support of international degree students. The findings contribute to the understanding of support for international degree students in higher education and may be used to develop services to support international degree students’ social, cultural, and career integration into host communities.
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| 3. |
- Burner, Tony, et al.
(author)
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Critical perspectives on perceptions and practices of diversity in education
- 2018
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). - : OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. - 2535-4051. ; 2:1, s. 3-15
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The term diversity has been a topic of discussion in educational research and has received increased atten-tion in recent years. Often, the focus has been on the use of the term at policy level. In this article, teacher educators’ and school teachers’ perceptions of diversity in education and self-perceived practices of work with diversity are explored. Five teacher educators and 87 school teachers participated in the study. Inter-views and questionnaires were used to collect data. The findings indicate that teacher educators and school teachersdiscuss and reflect on diversity at different levels of operationalization, that they rarely associate socioeconomic and structural issues withthe topic of diversity, and that they hardlymention national mi-norities and the Norwegian indigenous people as part of their understanding and work with diversity. This study suggests stable and long-term arenas for discussion and reflection for both teacher educators and school teachers.Further, the need fora more critical perspective on diversity in education, and an emphasis on learning from historical experiences with education and minorities is needed.
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| 4. |
- Döös, Marianne, 1949-, et al.
(author)
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The Principle of Singularity : A Retrospective Study of How and Why the Legislation Process behind Sweden’s Education Act came to Prohibit Joint Leadership for Principals
- 2018
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education. - : OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. - 2535-4051. ; 2:2-3, s. 39-55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper provides insight into the legislative process behind the current Education Act of Sweden. The aim is to shed light on how and why it came to prohibit joint leadership for principals. Joint leadership is a sub-form of shared leadership between managers characterised by complete formal authority, hierarchic equality and merged work tasks. The sharing of a principal’s position is, in previous research, identified as potentially favourable for principals and schools as it decreases principals’ often heavy workload. Five retrospective interviews were done with people involved in the legislative process. The analysis points out both distrust in the governing line and uninformed notions of leadership among legislators as explanations behind the prohibition. In the legislative work, joint leadership was at most a marginal issue. Thus the legal prohibition was an unintended side-effect, yet completely in line with traditional and uninformed notions of leadership. The principle of singularity ruled and joint leadership was extinguished for principals without considering whether this favoured or harmed the overarching aims of the Education Act: increased pedagogical responsibility and leadership with a focus on the students’ learning, results and democratic upbringing.
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| 5. |
- Fredriksson, Ulf, 1954-, et al.
(author)
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School absenteeism among students in Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom: : A comparative study using PISA data
- 2023
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). - 2535-4051. ; 7:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- School absenteeism is a challenge in many countries. Still, there are few comparisons between countries, which is partly due to a lack of shared definitions of concepts. This article makes use of PISA data to compare self-reported student absenteeism in Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (UK). Three data sets are used, from 2012, 2015, and 2018. The self-reported absenteeism, which is referred to as truancy in the PISA studies, was measured as having skipped a whole school day at least once in the two full weeks before students completed the PISA student questionnaire.The results show great variation between the studied countries, from 24.4% in the UK in 2015 to 1.5% in Japan in 2012. The percentage of students who reported having skipped school is much higher in the UK than in the other three countries. The differences between the countries concerning the percentage of students reporting having been absent from school are significant for all years, except between Sweden and Germany in 2015. Germany and the UK have a similar pattern in development, with the highest percentages in 2015, while Sweden and Japan have small (albeit not significant) increases from 2012 to 2018. The UK is the only country where the changes between 2012 and 2015 as well as between 2015 and 2018 were significant.It is not possible to see any obvious patterns between the countries that might be linked to differences related to their welfare regimes, education systems, or values. To find such patterns, it may be necessary either to include more countries in a study or to conduct more in-depth studies on each country.
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| 6. |
- Haybano, Alebachew Kemisso, et al.
(author)
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North-South collaboration: On the making of a Center for Comparative Education and Policy Studies at Addis Ababa University
- 2021
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education. - : OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. - 2535-4051. ; 5:3, s. 36-52
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Ethiopian educational system has made promising advancements since the turn of the century. Despite this progress, education continues to grapple with a myriad of challenges, including differences in educational access and quality, insecure living conditions, and gender inequalities. Research can offer knowledge for tackling these challenges, but often it is knowledge from the global North that dominates, despite its questionable relevance to the global South. Therefore, this study analyses the evolvement of a Center for Comparative Education and Policy Studies, situated in an Ethiopian higher education context and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and how the Center has contributed to developing knowledge that is relevant to local contexts. An important outcome of the Center was the development of a doctoral program in International and Comparative Education and the knowledge produced in the doctoral theses that emerged. Our inquiry concerns how Southern theory contributes to an increased understanding of the development of the Center and the relevance of the doctoral theses. The findings underscore the importance of expanding Southern knowledge in education and the need for further reflection on the geopolitics of knowledge in research capacity development cooperation.
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| 7. |
- Hellsten, Meeri, 1962-
(author)
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Internationalising Nordic Higher Education : comparing the imagined with actual worlds of international scholar-practitioners
- 2017
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education. - : OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. - 2535-4051. ; 1:2, s. 2-13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This comparative case study addresses a timely issue engaging researchers involved in the internationalisation of Nordic Higher Education, in the context of Sweden and Finland. The study examines a hypothetical imaginary in the transition between university international policy statements and their understandings from the position of a globalised episteme. The investigation forms a tag-project as part of a funded large international research project examining ethical internationalism in times of global crises, involving a partnership between more than twenty higher education institutions in excess of ten countries across five continents. The data was collected using a mixed-methods design, whilst being controlled across the matched data collection period in 2013-2014. Data consisted of policy texts, surveys and interviews. The current research inquiry reports on a within and across comparative analyses of certain policy texts and follow-up interviews with university management. The results yield logical support for a global higher education imaginary driving internationalisation in ways which reveal paradoxical associations between the imagined and the real worlds of international scholar-practitioners.
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| 8. |
- Jaime Ndaipa, Charnaldo, et al.
(author)
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National Policy for Internationalisation in Higher Education : The Case of Mozambique
- 2022
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education. - : Oslo Metropolitan University University Library. - 2535-4051. ; 6:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The impetus of this study is to explore the internationalisation of higher education policy in Mozambique at a national level. Internationalisation has been one of the major themes of discussion across countries but except for South Africa, it is rarely researched in sub-Saharan Africa from the perspective of the policy of higher education at a national level. This study is qualitative and applies the policy analysis method. Data derive from higher education policy documents and semi-structured interviews with policy-makers. Two research questions are asked. First, how do policy-makers understand and strategise the internationalisation of higher education in Mozambique? Second, what are the rationales and challenges for undertaking internationalisation of higher education? The findings reveal that internationalisation is understood as mobility of students and staff, establishment of agreements and cooperation and integration of higher education in the Southern African Development Community and worldwide. The findings further reveal that the rationales for undertaking internationalisation of higher education policy encompass quality, academic training, competitiveness, prestige, and knowledge production. An ideological mismatch in the strategies of the internationalisation between policy-makers and policy documents was noted, identifying opportunities for a more creative approach.
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| 9. |
- Kreitz-Sandberg, Susanne, et al.
(author)
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Global Demands - Local Practices : Working towards Inclusion of Gender Equality in Teacher Education in Finland and Sweden
- 2021
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). - : OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. - 2535-4051. ; 5:1, s. 50-68
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Gender equality is a global aim that has been presented in numerous documents. However, teacher education programs in many countries still lack sustainable strategies for working towards gender equality in education. Working successfully in this area may promote more sustainable practices in schools to reach gender-fair societies. The Nordic countries are known for pro-active gender policies and they provide interesting cases for investigating achievements and struggles in the field. The purpose of this article is, from an international comparative perspective, to explore the rationales and practices when working with issues of gender equality in Finnish and Swedish teacher education and to reflect on related concepts. We describe, analyse and compare local practices, theoretical frameworks and challenges by revisiting gender and teacher education research and equality projects from the 1980s up to today. The comparative methodology chosen facilitates understanding examples from two neighbouring countries, illustrating different ways to develop policies and strategies. Local actors not only follow global claims to work with gender and equality in teacher education but also play an active role and contribute to these discourses. Our study suggests that gender equality cannot be achieved overnight; appropriate strategies need to be negotiated constantly in specific national and institutional contexts at universities and teacher education institutions.
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| 10. |
- Melesse, Samson, et al.
(author)
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Interventions for Inclusion in TVET through Private-Public Development Partnership in Ethiopia and Zambia
- 2022
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In: Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). - 2535-4051. ; 6:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The study is about reconfiguring Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) through Private-Public Development Partnership (PPDP) for the inclusion of disadvantaged groups in Ethiopia and Zambia. A PPDP is a cooperation between national and foreign actors targeted at development activities and is a governmental strategy to increase the standard of TVET, including strategies to include disadvantaged learners. This article focuses on two PPDPs, one comprising a TVET college in Ethiopia and another in Zambia. The aim is to analyse and compare the curricular strategies of these two PPDPs to revamp TVET for the inclusion of disadvantaged learners. Data was generated through document analysis, interviews and focus groups. The findings indicate that both PPDPs served as an intervention to the TVET institutions, thereby including disadvantaged learners in contexts of huge inequality of opportunities. The article points to tensions relating to inclusion, particularly about how global educational policy trends contend with the realities in local labour markets and the needs of TVET graduates who will work therein.
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