Evaluation of the new curriculum reform (EDUCATE)
EDUCATE evaluates the new curriculum reform in the subjects related to life skills, digital and exploratory competence. The project is funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training.
EDUCATE consists of a large team of researchers with expertise within the fields of school development, teachers professional development and educational research concerning a wide range of subjects (Photo collage by S. Colvin/UV. Photo: UV/private).
About the project
EDUCATE is an evaluation of how the curricular renewal is operationalised in the school subjects. The project will conduct comparative classroom studies in primary, lower and upper secondary school over time and across school reforms (LK06 and LK20).
EDUCATE aims to develop understanding of how teachers include life skills, exploratory and digital competence in the subjects English, religion, mathematics, science, Norwegian, social studies and German. We aim to carry out systematic video observations of classroom teaching in the same classes over time at schools in different parts of the country, combined with surveys, interviews, student work and international large scale assessment (ICILS og TIMSS).
Sub-projects
EDUCATE is organised into three sub-projects:
Sub-project 1: student perspectives, school development and teachers’ professional community
Project leader: Lisbeth M Brevik. Project members: Beate Goldschmidt-Gjerløw, Rebecca Linnéa Söderström Barreng, Inga Staal Jenset and Judit Novak.
Sub-project 1 looks at student perspectives, school development and teachers’ professional community across subjects. Sub-project 1 investigates how the new national curriculum is expressed in processes of school development through school managements’ support for operationalisation of digital and exploratory competence in subjects and teachers’ professional development.
Sub-project 2: exploratory competence and life skills
Sub-project leader: Gerard Doetjes. Project members: Kirsten Marie Hartvigsen, Mai Lill Suhr Lunde, Camilla Gudmundsdatter Magnusson and Henriette Hogga Siljan.
Sub-project 2 analyses the extent to which the new national curriculum contributes to a more exploratory competence and life skills in subjects. Sub-project 2 examines how teachers work to develop students’ exploratory competence in the classroom and how they work with life skills both within and across subjects.
Sub-project 3: digital competence and algorithmic thinking
Sub-project leader: Greta Björk Gudmundsdottir. Project members: Nora Elise Hesby Mathé, Ove Edvard Hatlevik and Roar Bakken Stovner.
Sub-project 3 analyses the extent to which the new national curriculum contributes to a strengthened digital competence and algorithmic thinking. Sub-project 3 examines how teachers work to develop students’ digital competence, how digital competence is realised through teaching and assessment practices in subjects, as well as teachers and students’ experiences of such practices over time.
Objectives
- develop knowledge of how the realisation of live skills, exploratory and digital competence in the new curriculum influences and potentially changes classroom practices,
- develop new and sought after knowledge of how teachers conduct their teaching and assessment of exploratory and digital competence in naturally occurring instruction,
- examine the experiences with such practices among students, teachers and school leaders, and
- identify teacher and student perspectives on changes in teaching practices to suggest implications for future practice.
Financing
EDUCATE is funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (2021-25).