LEX-EL project (2011 - 2016) Legal standards and Professional Judgement in Educational Leadership (completed)

1. Identify the tools and mechanisms that mediate interpretations of the legal standards in the Education Act

• What characterizes the tools that are made available to practitioners to ensure consistency and quality in the local achievement of legal standards?
• How do the tools promote local interpretations of legal standards?
• From which professional fields do the tools originate and how do they claim legitimacy?

2. Examine the transformation of legal standards into professional concerns and actions at local levels

• How are the Education Act’s requirements for a good psychosocial environment, special needs education and adapted education fulfilled at the local school?
• What characterizes school leaders’ knowledge and attitudes to these sections of the Education Act?
• How are school leaders wrestling with and making decisions on legal issues in education?
• What characterizes the production and use of documentation practices at school level?

3. Examine how national inspections of local educational authorities attend to legal standards and warrant the students’ legal rights

• How is national inspection formed by regulations set by the government?
• How do inspection teams exercise their judgments?
• How do actors on the municipal/county level use tools for control or support in their relationship with the local elected bodies? How are such tools employed in the communication with school principals?

The study mainly relies on qualitative data, but with the added value of quantitative data.

We start by mapping which tools and mechanisms that mediate interpretations of the legal standards in the Education Act and which school leaders at different levels rely on.

The analysis of the tools provides a stepping stone to multi-site case studies in three municipalities and six compulsory schools and two counties and four upper secondary schools. We will conduct semi-structured interviews and organize focus groups with key actors to collect information on the translation of the law into meaning and action at municipal and school level.

These data are supplemented by a national survey among school leaders on the translation of the Education Act into meaning and action at local authorities and school levels. In addition, we will observe how three inspection teams exercise their judgments.

The project will employ two PhD-students. One of the candidates will be enrolled in the PhD program at the Faculty of Law, while the other will be enrolled at the Faculty of Educational Science. The first will focus on the transformation of legal standards into professional action at the school level and take legal methods as a point of departure; the other will focus on national inspections of local educational authorities and draw upon methodology in social sciences.

The project group is cross-disciplinary and involves scholars from the Faculty of Educational Sciences and the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo. It is organized by the Dep. of Teacher Education and School Research. An international advisory panel of distinguished researchers in the field is also established.

Project Group

Dep. of Teacher Education and School Research

• Jorunn Møller (project leader)
• Eli Ottesen
• Kirsten Sivesind
• Jeffrey Hall

Dep. of Educational Research

• Berit Karseth

Dep. of Criminology and Sociology of Law

• Kristian Andenæs
• Trond-Erik Welstad

Dep. of Public and International Law

• Kirsten Sandberg
• Helga Aune
• Henning Jakhelln

Associated participants

Guri Skedsmo

Jan-Eric Gustafson

An international advisory panel of distinguished researchers in the field has been established for the project.

Professor Peter Gronn

Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, where he is Head of Faculty and head of the Leadership for Learning (LfL) academic group. He is a leading international scholar in the general field of leadership, and specifically in educational and school leadership. A number of his recent writings have been on distributed leadership and new ways of mapping leadership practice.

Professor Jenny Ozga

Professor of the Sociology of Education at the Department of Education, Oxford University. Her main research areas are education policy in international comparative contexts, with a focus on governance. Research topics include education and social policy; policy elites and policy communities, policy networks and policy for the teaching profession, within and across the UK and increasingly in the context of Europeanisation of education.

Professor Olof Johansson

Professor of Political Science at Umeå University and director of the Center for Principal Development. During the last 20 years the focus of his research interest has been school leadership, principal training, values and ethics in relation to schools and their leadership, school governance, school development, and evaluation. Most of his research has been comparative.

Professor Kirsten Ketscher

Professor of Social Security and Welfare Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. Her research areas are with social security and social welfare rights in Denmark and in the European Union, and social economic and cultural human rights, in particular women and childrens’ rights.

Professor Håkan Hydén

Professor of Sociology of Law at the University of Lund. His research has the last 15 years focused in particular on the development of a norm-science. Publications include “The concept of Norms in Sociology of Law”, “The dependency of Laws upon Norms”, “Legal and Governing Strategies”, and “Normative Patterns – towards a Theory of Legal Transformation Processes”.

Professor Per Wickenberg

Associate Professor of Sociology of Law at the University of Lund. He has norms in education, leadership in organizations, democracy and participation, and sustainable development as his main research topics, and he also covers children’s rights. An on-going project focuses on “The implementation of education for sustainable development: the relation between the norm supportive structures and student’s moral learning”.

Professor William Koski

Professor at the Stanford School of Education. He is the founder and director of the law school’s Youth and Education Law Project (YELP). Reflecting his multidisciplinary background as a lawyer and social scientist, Professor Koski’s scholarly work focuses on the related issues of educational accountability, equity, and adequacy; the politics of educational policy reform; and judicial decision making in educational policy reform litigation. His current research concentrates on the normative case for and policy implications of ensuring equality of educational opportunity in the current context of educational standards, adequacy, and accountability.

A national panel of school leaders has been established for the project. The purpose is to discuss findings and dissemination activities in ways that may spur debates among leaders at different levels in the educational system. The panel includes union leaders, leaders at school level, county administrative level and KS (the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities), and will meet twice per year.

• Brit Jakobsson, Assistant Director, the County Governor of Oslo and Akershus, fmoabja@fylkesmannen.no
• Stein Kjelland Olsen, Principal, Ski lower secondary school, SteinKjelland.Olsen@ski.kommune.no
• Anne Tove Strande, Department Head, Sandefjord Upper Secondary School, annest@vfk.no
• Jan Sivert Jøsendal, Division Director, Education, KS, jan.sivert.josendal@ks.no
• Solveig Hvidsten Dahl, Norwegian Association of School Leaders, solveig.dahl@skolelederforbundet.no
• Berit Anne Halkjelsvik, Advisory Committee of School Leaders, Union of Education Norway, berit.anne.halkjelsvik@utdanningsforbundet.no

Latest publications:

Publications in academic journals and edited volumes:

Hall, J. B. (2018). The performative shift: middle leadership 'in the line of fire'. Journal of Educational Administration and History.50(4), 364 - 378.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2018.1518317 

Hall, J. B. (2018). Processes of reforming: The case of the Norwegian state school inspection policy frameworks. Education Inquiry 9(4), 397-414. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2017.1416247.  

Karseth, B. & Møller, J. (2018). Legal Regulation and Professional Discretion in Schools. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research (Online first). https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2018.1531918 

Hall, J. B. (2017). Statlig tilsyn av skoler i Norge: sikring av likeverdig opplæring? [State school inspection in Norway: ensuring equality in classroom instruction?]. In: S. Scheutz (Ed.), En likvärdig skola för alla (3). Iustus: Uppsala. ISBN 9789176789940. pp. 37-56.

Hall, J. B. & Sivesind. K. (2017). State school inspection policy in Norway and Sweden (2002–2012): a reconfiguration of governing modes?. In: S. J. Ball (Ed.). Governing by numbers - Education, governance, and the tyranny of numbers. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 9781138701151. 

Hall, J. B. (2017). "Governing by templates" through new modes of school inspection in Norway. Journal of Educational Change, 18(2), 161-182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10833-017-9295-y

Publications in 2016:

PhD-dissertation:

Hall, J. B. (2016). State School Inspection: The Norwegian Example. Doctoral thesis. Department of Teacher Education and School Research, Faculty of Education, University of Oslo. ISSN 1501-8962. 

Publications in academic journals:

Hall, J. B. (2016). Examining School Inspectors and Educational Directors within the Organisation of School Inspection Policy: Perceptions and Views. Scandinavian Journal of Educational  Research (online), 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2015.1120234

Jeppesen, S., Kelder, K. & Ottesen, E. (2016). Rektors handlingsrom mellom skolens rammer og forventninger til tilpasset opplæring. Norsk pedagogisk tidsskrift.  ISSN 0029-2052. 100(2), p. 143-154. 

Ottesen, E. & Møller, J. (2016). Organisational routines – the interplay of legal standards and professional discretion. European Educational Research Journal (online).  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1474904116638853  

Møller, J. og Ottesen, E. (2016). Rettslig regulering og profesjonelle normer i skolen. Utbildning & Demokrati 2016, Vol. 25, Nr. 1, p.113-132. 

Books:

Andenæs, K. & Møller, J. (Eds.) (2016). Retten i skolen - mellom pedagogikk, juss og politikk. Universitetsforlaget.  ISBN 9788215026671.  328 p.

Publications in 2015:

Books:

Gunnulfsen, A. E. & Hall, J. B. (2015). En skoleleders dagbok: Profesjonell praksis og juridisk skjønn. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk. ISBN 9788205459489. 232 p.

Publications in 2014:

Publications in academic journals:

Hall, J. B. & Sivesind, K. (2014). State School Inspection Policy in Norway and Sweden (2002-2012): a reconfiguration of governing modes?. Journal of Education Policy. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1080/02680939.2014.945488 

Welstad, T. (2014). Elevenes faglige utdanning og menneskelige utvikling i skolen. Rettslige utfordringer og praktiskedilemmaer. I: K.Westerheim & A. Tolo (red.). Kompetanse for mangfold. Om skolens utfordringer i det flerkulturelle Norge,s. 119-149. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

Academic presentations:

Ottesen, E. (2014). Exploring principals’ work with legal issues in schools. Paper presentation on «the second International ProPEL» (Professional Practice, Education and Learning) Conference at University of Stirling, UK, 25 – 27 June

Hall, J. (2014). School Inspection as a Regulatory Tool – Institutional Expectations from the Inspectors’ and Leaders’ Point of View. Paper presentation at the European Conference of Educational Research in Porto, 3-5 September.

Sivesind, K. (2014). Administrating Minds, Managing Hopes: Intendend and Unintended Implications of Aim-oriented Policy for Comprehensive Schooling. Paper presentation at the European Conference of Educational Research in Porto, 3-5 September.

Ottesen, E. & Møller, J. (2014). Working with and on organizational routines – the interplay of legal standards and professional discretion. Paper presentation at the European Conference of Educational Research in Porto, 3-5 September.

Hall, J. (2014). State School Inspection as a Regulatory Tool - Institutional Expectations from the CGO Inspectors' and Leaders' Point of View. Education, Governance and Inspection within Transnational and Cross-disiplinary Contexts (EDUGOV); University of Oslo  3.-5. June.

Hall, J. (2014). State School Inspection Policy in Norway and Sweden: a reconfiguration of governing modes? Presentation at research seminar. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Erziehungswissenschaften, Abteilung für Vergleichende und Internationale Erziehungswissenschaft. Berlin.

User-oriented communication (reports, seminars, working papers, articles, presentations):

Aune, H. (2014). Likestilling – et brudd med stereotypiene, Bedre skole, nr. 3, s. 56-59

Master's theses in educational leadership:

Fjellstad, H. & Olsen, I. (2014). «Det er jo ikke bare engler vi har her, da». Skolens arbeid med å følge opp elevenes psykososiale læringsmiljø. Masteroppgave ved ILS, UiO. https://hdl.handle.net/10852/39968

Muse, F.A. (2014). Tilpasset opplæring i en flerspråklig skole. Rektors ansvarliggjøring av lærere for å ivareta tilpasset opplæring for flerspråklige elever. Masteroppgave ved ILS, UiO. https://hdl.handle.net/10852/39997

Publications in 2013:

Publications in academic journals:

Sivesind, K. (2013). Mixed images and merging semantics in European curricula.  Journal of Curriculum Studies. Vol. 45.(1) pp. 52-66

Welstad, T. (2013). Nils Kristian Sundbys «Om normer» 30 år etter. En ny generasjon jurister - fortsatt aktuell? [In Norwegian]. Kritisk Juss, vol. 39 (2), pp. 83-106.

Academic presentations at international conferences:

Hall, J. & Sivesind, K. (2013). State School Inspection Policy in Norway and Sweden (2002-2012) – A reconfiguration of governing modes? Paper presentation at ECER Conference 2013, Istanbul.

Skedsmo, G. et al. (2013). Classifying approaches to school inspection. Paper presentation at  ECER Conference 2013, Istanbul.

Welstad, T. & Hall, J. (2013). Digital Legal Resources for Use in the Education of School Leaders and Teachers. Symposium Paper at NERA Conference 2013, Reykjavik

Popular scientific articles:

Hall, J. (2013). Felles nasjonalt tilsyn – kontroll eller «hjelp til selvhjelp»? [In Norwegian]. Bedre skole, No. 4. (Published by Union of Education Norway).

Masters theses in educational leadership:

Eng, H.C. (2013). Alternativ opplæringsarena – utenfor skolens mandat? Masteroppgave ved ILS, UiO. https://hdl.handle.net/10852/38175

Holm, V. N. (2013). Tilsyn i skolen – Et bidrag til utvikling? Masteroppgave ved ILS, UiO. https://hdl.handle.net/10852/38182

Jeppesen, S. & Kelder, K. (2013). Rektor i et spenningsfelt: Mellomskolens rammer og forventninger til tilpasset opplæring. Masteroppgave ved ILS, UiO. https://hdl.handle.net/10852/38171

Kristian, E. & Ossum, C. (2013). Rektors arbeid med psykososialt skolemiljø i videregående skole. Masteroppgave ved ILS, UiO. https://hdl.handle.net/10852/38189

User-oriented communication (reports, seminars, working papers, articles, presentations):

Hall, J. (2013). Nasjonalt tilsyn: hva trenger vi det for? Nye funn fra en komparativ tekstanalyse av nasjonalt tilsyn i Sverige og Norge. [In Norwegian]. Presentation at Annual School Leader Conference 2013, Dept. of Teacher Education and School Research, U. of Oslo.

Welstad, T. & Møller, J.  Tilpasset opplæring for alle – er organisering i nivådelte elevgrupper svaret? [In Norwegian]. Breakfast seminar led by the cross-disciplinary cooperation “Knowledge in schools” (KIS). March 21, 2013.

Welstad, T. Hvordan sikre rettssikkerhet i skolen? [In Norwegian]. Breakfast seminar with panel debate.

Møller, J. (2013). Legal Standards and Professional Judgment in Educational Leadership. Presentation of the LEX-EL project at an information meeting for municipal and county school-/kindergarten owners, April 12, 2013, led by County Governor’s Office in Oslo and Akershus.

Møller, J. (2013). Skolen som juridisk aktør. [In Norwegian]. Presentation at Annual School Leader Conference 2013, Dept. of Teacher Education and School Research, U. of Oslo.

Radio Interview with project leader concerning survey results. P2. June 27, 2013.

Presentation of LEX-EL project in «Skolelederen». No. 6, August, 2013, pp. 18-19.

Møller, J. (2013). School leader’s professional judgment and legal standards in schools. Presentation of preliminary results from LEX-EL project at The Directorate for Traning and Education. September 23, 2013.

Digital learning tools:

Digital learning tools for use in educational leadership education. Related to three chapters in The Education Act (1998): §1-3, §5-1 and Ch. 9a

Publications in 2012:

Jakhelln, H.  &  Welstad, T. (Eds). Utdanningsrettslige emner. Artikler med utvalgte tema fra skole- og utdanningsrettens område  [In Norwegian]. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk.

Welstad, T. (2012). Grunnlovsfeste retten til utdanning - hva så?  [In Norwegian]. Bedre skole, No. 3.  (Published by Union of Education Norway).

LEX-EL presents findings at the Faculty's Anniversary Seminar

The Faculty of Educational Sciences celebrates 20 years in 2016. The Anniversary Seminars are part of our celebrations.

LEX-EL and Horizon research workshop

Time: June 4-5, 2014 in Oslo
June 2014 "Education, governance and inspection within a transnational and cross-disciplinary context" (EDUGOV)

LEX-EL has in cooperation with the project Horizon, led by Peter Maasen, been awarded funding amounting to 150.000 NOK from The Research Council of Norway. The funds will be used to hold an international research conference/workshop.

Legal Norms - ensuring the right to education

Time: Apr. 26, 2012–Apr. 27, 2012
The purpose of the conference is to bring together researchers in the field of education law, education reforms, and educational administration and leadership. Professor William Koski, Faculty of Law, Stanford University, is invited as a keynote speaker.

Organiser
Faculty of Law, University of Oslo

The project examines how school leaders on multiple levels interpret and enforce regulation aiming at ensuring adaptive education and protecting each student’s right to a good psycho-social learning environment and special needs education as required.

The research concerns the relation between the development and use of legal standards, and the professional considerations which are important for both pedagogical work and legal practice. This is investigated through three sub-projects: Sub-project 1 mapped and analysed key documents and procedures developed to aid schools in interpreting the Education Act. In sub-project 2, we used survey data from all principals in five counties as well as data from interviews with principals, leadership groups and teachers in six schools to inquire into how legal standards are transformed into professional actions on the local level. Sub-project 3 addressed how state school inspection policy is enacted and draws on documents, surveys, interviews and observations.The mapping of key documents has shown that new regulations and guidelines increasingly articulate standards within the above-mentioned areas. The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training plays an important role in interpreting the duties and rights of school leaders.

Results show that, in their work with the psycho-social environment, school leaders repeatedly evaluate what can be expedient and feasible solutions in concrete student cases, and often refer to what they believe to be in the child’s best interest. The law demands that the child’s own views must be taken into consideration in decision-making, but our study indicates this is not always the case, with the risk of jeopardizing individual legal rights. Moreover, conflicts are often solved at the lowest possible level. This approach is close to procedures put forth in the law, even if school leaders are more pragmatically oriented than what is prescribed in legal acts and regulations. Nevertheless, tensions arise between legal regulations focusing on individual students, and pedagogical discretion embracing both individual students and the student body as a whole.

In compulsory education, a range of programs are used to ensure a good learning environment. These programs are flexibly utilized as a key resource in schools, but are dependent on the situation. It should be emphasized that handling bullying in schools is a challenging task, and teachers experience a lack of adequate tools. Annual student surveys offer important indicators, and are perceived as more important than national guidelines and circulars concerning this area. Schools acknowledge the need for documentation. At the same time, school leaders highlight that their work linked to such documentation of practice is time-consuming. Legal discrepancies uncovered through state school inspection are regarded as control, but also of great help. School leaders welcome state school inspection because it enables them to reflect upon their own school’s challenges, routines and procedures together with external partners; however, teachers are less involved in the process. So far, state school inspection has not radically intervened into schools’ daily work.

The current state school inspection handbook introduced in 2014 represents a clear shift, where schools are not only controlled, but are also offered guidance as part of the inspectoral process. The aim is a stronger quality evaluation of schools’ pedagogical practices, presupposing considerable documentation from schools. Observations of the inspectoral practice show that inspection authorities primarily utilize standardized templates which do not capture practices in an adequate way. This raises questions about the benefit of using a lot of resources on national inspection.

School leaders and teachers experience many ethical dilemmas when adaptive education is to be realized. Dilemmas arise through tensions between economic conditions and the demand to individually adapt teaching to meet students’ capabilities and needs; between individual considerations and those of the student body as a whole; between individual needs and a prohibition of permanent aptitude differentiation (especially challenging in large classes). Informants question whether students with a right to special needs education receive the help they are entitled, and if the offered support is sufficient. Since non-qualified teaching assistants often are delegated the task to follow up students with special needs, without sufficient time to collaborate with classroom teachers, there is reason to question if schools act as responsible providers. Local school authorities encourage more flexible and creative uses of resources, but schools are nevertheless required to give notice to the policymakers when student rights are violated due to insufficient funding. Based on the findings, we argue that the capacity for legal and pedagogical discretion must be developed in schools.