Educational Management: Aspects Influencing Learning (EMAIL)

About the project

EMAIL is a research project located at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, but the project also involves partners at the Department of Political Science. The aim of the project are three-fold:

• to generate knowledge about managerial aspects influencing learning (in a broad sense) in education
• to provide scientifically based knowledge to serve policy makers, administrators, and school professionals
• to contribute to an internationally oriented scientific knowledge base for the study of educational management and the aspects influencing learning

The paramount goal of the research projects is to further our understanding of the nature of social practice among school professionals. The EMAIL project conducts in the first phase investigations in three different fields of education: (1) secondary schools, (2) adult education for immigrants, and (3) folk high schools. Special attention is given to comparisons of these fields in order to discuss the influence of the strength of accountability devices. In doing so, the researchers integrate several strands of research regarding the relationship between employees and their respective organizations: (1) theory on relational trust among school professionals, (2) literature on employee-organization relationship or human resource management (HRM), and (3) literature on accountability mechanisms. The project is funded by University of Oslo and VOX.

Key words: educational management; education governance; accountability: organizational citizenship behaviour; school academic press in teaching; human resource management.
 

Outcomes

International published in peer peviewed journals
Christophersen, Elstad & Turmo (forthcoming) Social Exchange Theory as Explanation of Teacher Organizational Citizenship Behavior. International Journal of Leadership in Education
Christophersen, Elstad & Turmo (forthcoming) The nature of social practice among school professionals: consequences for the school academic pressure exerted by teachers in their teaching. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research
Professional journal articles written for school professionals:
Christophersen, Elstad & Turmo (2010) De menneskelige relasjonenes betydning for lærernes ytelse. Bedre skole.Tidsskrift for lærere og skoleledere no. 3,pp. 29-31.
Elstad, Eyvind; Turmo, Are. (2010) Lærernes tidskapasitet til reflektert praksis. Skolelederen 2010 ; no. 4 pp. 15-17.
Elstad, E. & Turmo, A. (2009) Den menneskelige faktors betydning for skoleutvikling
Bedre skole. Tidsskrift for lærere og skoleledere no 4 pp. 51-55.
Elstad, E. & Turmo, A. (2009) Spredningen av et skoleforbedringsprosjekt. Skolelederen no 7, pp. 10-11

Instruments
The instruments used in the EMAIL project are explained in detail in chapter 3.2: Hovdenak, SS, Eggen, A.B. & Elstad (2009) Kunnskapsløftet – fra ord til handling. Acta Didactica no 3/2009.
 

Background

During the past decade in Norway – as in many other countries - accountability devices have been established in systems of education governance: devolution, tests, revision, transparency of results, and school inspections. These devices can be regarded as building blocks in often sprawling external accountability systems which vary from country to country. In Norway the national authorities have an overall responsibility for designing the management system. Responsibility for quality in the school has been delegated to the governing bodies, whilst the governing bodies to a varying extent have developed quality-assurance systems that pass responsibility to the schools. Some Norwegian governing bodies have established result-oriented external accountability systems that make the head responsible for attaining statistical targets in the school’s activity. In some cases quality-assurance systems have been established that make the head responsible for results achieved. To a varying degree the pressure on the head is passed on internally through the school and to the teachers. However, heads may react in different ways to this external pressure. How respond schools when external accountability knocks on the door? This depends on the quality of social relationships within schools. In the EMAIL project, focus is directed towards the quality and the nature of social practice among school professionals, the degree of trust between teachers and between head and teachers, the commitment of the teachers and their peer collaboration and how these factors affect the academic pressure exerted by teachers in their teaching (in Norwegian: “trykk i opplæringen, læringstrykk”).
The researchers use in the first phase (2009-2010) mainly cross-sectional surveys from different management systems: (1) teachers working under assessment-based accountability in a city municipality, (2) teachers in Norwegian adult-education centres, who are experiencing the gradual introduction of accountability devices, and (3) Nordic folk high-school teachers who work without tests and examinations. Structural equation modelling is the method used in analysis of the data. In the second phase of the project other approaches are considered.
During the past decade in Norway – as in many other countries - accountability devices have been established in systems of education governance: devolution, tests, revision, transparency of results, and school inspections. These devices can be regarded as building blocks in often sprawling external accountability systems which vary from country to country. In Norway the national authorities have an overall responsibility for designing the management system. Responsibility for quality in the school has been delegated to the governing bodies, whilst the governing bodies to a varying extent have developed quality-assurance systems that pass responsibility to the schools. Some Norwegian governing bodies have established result-oriented external accountability systems that make the head responsible for attaining statistical targets in the school’s activity. In some cases quality-assurance systems have been established that make the head responsible for results achieved. To a varying degree the pressure on the head is passed on internally through the school and to the teachers. However, heads may react in different ways to this external pressure. How respond schools when external accountability knocks on the door? This depends on the quality of social relationships within schools. In the EMAIL project, focus is directed towards the quality and the nature of social practice among school professionals, the degree of trust between teachers and between head and teachers, the commitment of the teachers and their peer collaboration and how these factors affect the academic pressure exerted by teachers in their teaching (in Norwegian: “trykk i opplæringen, læringstrykk”).
The researchers use in the first phase (2009-2010) mainly cross-sectional surveys from different management systems: (1) teachers working under assessment-based accountability in a city municipality, (2) teachers in Norwegian adult-education centres, who are experiencing the gradual introduction of accountability devices, and (3) Nordic folk high-school teachers who work without tests and examinations. Structural equation modelling is the method used in analysis of the data. In the second phase of the project other approaches are considered.