The launch was opened by Centre Director Professor Arne Lervåg explaining that CREATE aims to generate groundbreaking knowledge about equality in education. The Centre will identifying barriers to equality in education by disentangle the causal mechanisms hindering equality and to understand for whom, how, and why these mechanisms operate. This will be done by jointly examining individual and context effects on skills like oral language, reading and mathematics. Further, the Centre will Investigate which individual and contextual characteristics have the potential to promote equality in education and could be changed. Another main aim is to develop and examine effects from reliable, durable, and educationally meaningful interventions addressing the barriers to equality in skill development. A particular focus will be on examining both causal mechanism and long-term effects of these interventions. To be able to reach these aims, the centre will also have to address some key methodological challenges. Challenges that concern developing tests that are consistent with theory and purpose and that are invariant across different groups and time, developing efficient estimation methods for more realistic models and incorporating latent variables in modern causal inference methods.
A huge thanks to everyone who participated at the launch of the centre. A special thanks to the State Secretary for the Minister of Education Sindre Lysø, Pro Rector Åse Gornitzka at the University of Oslo , Dean of the Faculty of Education Rita Hvistendahl, Executive Director Benedicte Løseth from the Research Council of Norway, Director for Schools and Education Marthe Gerhardsen at Oslo Municipality, and Richard Murnane at Harvard University for generous and insightful talks supporting the centre and the importance of generating knowledge about equality in education. Also, a thanks to the jazz band Tov a Vot for a wonderful musical experience.
State Secretary for the Minister of Education Sindre Lysø talked about importance of the centre and its research aims.
Director for Schools and Education in Oslo Municipality, Marte Gerhardsen welcomed the centre and a collaboration with the Section for Schools and Education in Oslo Municipality.
Centre Director for the five last years to come, Professor Henrik Zachrisson talked about equality aspects of education in Norway and introduced the keynote speaker of the day, Professor Richard Murnane from Harvard University.
Professor Richard Murnane from Harvard University held his keynote talk: "Can Schools Make Equality of Opportunity a Reality? The Massachusetts Experience" Here, he talked about relative intergenerational mobility and discussed education and schools as potential equalizers of conditions or the lack of so. His talk can be seen here.
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CREATE's leadership group: Deputy Centre Director Ronny Scharer and Centre Director Arne Lervåg for the first five years and Centre Director and Deputy Centre Director Monica Melby-Lervåg for the last five years.
All photos: Shane Colvin