Kirsten Sivesind

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Oversettelser av utdanningspolitikk i midlertidige nettverksorganisasjoner – et systemteoretisk perspektiv. In Sivesind, Kirsten (Eds.), Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202848392. doi: 10.23865/noasp.215.ch7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Utdanningspolitikk har stor betydning for hvordan barnehager, skoler og andre pedagogiske institusjoner drives. I arbeidet med disse institusjonene er det interessant å studere hvordan makt legitimeres og forvaltes. Denne boken presenterer en rekke faglige og metodiske tilnærminger for å studere utdanningspolitikk. I tillegg til å nyansere akademiske fagtradisjoner, presenterer forfatterne kvalitative og komparative tilnærminger til dokumentstudier og ekspertintervjuer. Boken gir en rekke eksempler på hvordan studier kan gjennomføres, inkludert digitale og praksisbaserte analyser. Den tar opp spørsmål om teoriens plass i studier og hvordan forskningen kan og bør rapporteres. Et sentralt tema er betydningen av evidens og ekspertise i utdanningspolitikk og reformarbeid, et fagfelt som forfatterne har utforsket gjennom POLNET-prosjektet (Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison). Boken henvender seg til akademikere, fageksperter, pedagogikkstudenter, lærerutdannere og ansatte i offentlig sektor.

• Sivesind, Kirsten; Nordin, Andreas & Ydesen, Christian (2024). Instrument constituencies and the brokering of OECD-knowledge in Nordic school reforms - a three country comparison. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy. doi: 10.1080/20020317.2024.2419480. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Major international surveys and reports have considerably altered the expectations and outlooks of national policymakers in education over the last three decades. Through a comparative content analysis of bibliographies in policy documents, this article explores the intermediary bodies that facilitate salient interconnections between international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and national policymakers and experts who prepare comprehensive school reforms in three Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. This article builds on a large Nordic research project that studied the transfer and translation of international policies in a Nordic reform context. It extends the study by examining the role of publishers as intermediary policy brokers that legitimize the usage of OECD knowledge as significant members of instrument constituencies. This study enhances our understanding of the variations in citation patterns across policy documents from three Nordic countries. It also investigates the extent to which differences in instrumental constituencies arise from institutional arrangements and the ideational foundations underpinning reform trajectories. Additionally, it examines the topics addressed by these reforms and the governments’ affiliations with new policy brokers supported by both public and private publishers.

• Hörmann, Bernadette & Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Ekspertintervjuer i det utdanningspolitiske feltet. In Sivesind, Kirsten (Eds.), Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202848392. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette kapittelet gir en kort introduksjon til ekspertintervjuer som kan utdype temaer og spørsmål ut over det man kan tolke ut fra dokumentstudier. Med eksperter menes personer som involveres i politikken og gis anerkjennelse på bakgrunn av sin spesifikke kompetanse og deltakerrolle. Kapittelet gir en oversikt over økningen av antall professorer og forskere i NOU-utvalg de siste tretti år i Norge, og viser til trender som antyder at folk kan være svært kritiske til akademisk ekspertise i offentlige sammenhenger. Ut over å drøfte teorier om ekspertifisering av samfunnet, inkludert betydningen av epistemiske nettverk, gjør kapittelet rede før metodiske valg en forsker må ta for å kunne gjennomføre ekspertintervjuer. Gjennom kapittelet trekker vi veksler på erfaringer og innsikt som ble utviklet gjennom POLNET-prosjektet.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Utdanningspolitiske dokumenter og reformstyring. In Sivesind, Kirsten (Eds.), Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202848392. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Utdanningspolitikk har stor betydning for hvordan barnehager, skoler og andre pedagogiske institusjoner drives. I arbeidet med disse institusjonene er det interessant å studere hvordan makt legitimeres og forvaltes. Denne boken presenterer en rekke faglige og metodiske tilnærminger for å studere utdanningspolitikk. I tillegg til å nyansere akademiske fagtradisjoner, presenterer forfatterne kvalitative og komparative tilnærminger til dokumentstudier og ekspertintervjuer. Boken gir en rekke eksempler på hvordan studier kan gjennomføres, inkludert digitale og praksisbaserte analyser. Den tar opp spørsmål om teoriens plass i studier og hvordan forskningen kan og bør rapporteres. Et sentralt tema er betydningen av evidens og ekspertise i utdanningspolitikk og reformarbeid, et fagfelt som forfatterne har utforsket gjennom POLNET-prosjektet (Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison). Boken henvender seg til akademikere, fageksperter, pedagogikkstudenter, lærerutdannere og ansatte i offentlig sektor.

• Tiplic-Lunde, Dijana & Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Kunnskapsoversikter og litteraturgjennomganger. In Sivesind, Kirsten (Eds.), Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202848392. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette kapittelet introduserer hva som menes med kunnskapsoversikter og litteraturgjenomganger som kan brukes i forskning, studier og faglige utredninger. Ulike tilnærminger blir gjennomgått, som meta-analyser, litteraturreview og meta-etnografiske analyser som er egnet for å syntetisere funn og fortolkninger fra tidligere studier. Videre beskrives to typer av litteraturreivew: en utforskende og en synoptisk gjennomgang. Mens meteaanalyser og bibliometriske studier bruker tall for å uttrykke funn, legger kvalitative og komparative review mer vekt på tekstlige uttrykk. Flere eksempler belyser muligheter og utfordringer i det å velge strategi for å lage oversiktene, som på den ene siden skal passe med problemstillingen og på den andre siden være tilpasset forskningsfeltet som belyses.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Sammenliknende studier: et sosiologisk perspektiv. In Sivesind, Kirsten (Eds.), Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202848392. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Kapittelet introduserer hvordan komparative analyser kan begrunnes og gjennomføres i studier av utdanningspolitikk. Først viser jeg hvordan sammenlikninger har vært begrunnet i teoretiske fagtradisjoner som utfordret empiristisk-historisk forskning på 1800-tallet. Kapittelet bygger på en sosiologisk forskningstradisjon som er knyttet til Simmels og Webers arbeider, som la grunnlaget for komparative perspektiver i samfunnsforskning fra tidlig på 1900-tallet. Jeg viser også hvordan kritiske og konstruktivistiske perspektiver endret noen av de epistemologiske forutsetningene som de klassiske sosiologene bygget på. På denne bakgrunn gir jeg to eksempler på hvordan komparative analyser av utdanningspolitikk og utdanningssystemer er designet. Eksemplene illustrerer forskjellen mellom å anvende en statsvitenskapelig og en mer sosiologisk forskningstradisjon for å sammenlikne utdanningspolitikk og utdanningssystemer. Til slutt konkluderer jeg med relevansen av komparativ forskning i utdanningspolitikken og behovet for å se vitenskap og politikk som to separate kontekster for å utvikle og anvende kunnskap.

• Hansen, Hans Petteri & Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Oversettelser av utdanningspolitikk i midlertidige nettverksorganisasjoner – et systemteoretisk perspektiv. In Sivesind, Kirsten (Eds.), Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202848392. doi: 10.23865/noasp.215.ch7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I dette kapittelet, som delvis baserer seg på våre tidligere forskningsartikler, undersøker vi hvordan oversettelser av utdanningspolitikk foregår i midlertidige nettverksorganisasjoner. Vi anvender et sosiologisk, systemteoretisk perspektiv og starter med generell introduksjon til Niklas Luhmanns systemteori. Vekten legges på organisasjoner som en form for sosiale systemer som gjennom kommunikasjon prosesserer ulike systemiske forventninger. Deretter retter vi fokus på organisasjonssamarbeid og midlertidige nettverksorganisasjonenes rolle i utarbeidelse og gjennomføring av politiske programmer i nordisk kontekst. Ved å introdusere to diskursanalytiske strategier, koblingsanalyse og semantisk analyse, og to empiriske case, diskuterer vår artikkel muligheter og grenser for oversettelser mellom politiske ideer, vitenskapelig kunnskap og pedagogisk praksis.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Hultén, Magnus (2023). Reform histories and changing educational conceptions of the nation and nationalism in Norwegian and Swedish curricula (1900 - 2000). In Tröhler, Daniel (Eds.), Education, Curriculum and Nation-Building Contributions of Comparative Education to the Understanding of Nations and Nationalism. Routledge. ISSN 9781032307589. p. 224–248. doi: 10.4324/9781003315988-11. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this chapter we explore the discursive formations of nationalism that resulted from political, cultural, and social processes that shaped curriculum reforms during the 20th century. The study addresses how the various constitutional histories of Norway and Sweden allowed for educational reasoning that legitimized public schooling "for all". A core purpose of national curricula is to connect everyday practices in schools to the outside world, and thereby create a mutual relationship among the school, the state, and the nation. Moreover, state authorities expect curricula to guide planning and teaching on a daily basis through the use of symbols and assumptions. By tracing the history of these relationships, we explore how nation-states have aimed to produce and reproduce themselves through the creation of social conditions and educational processes.

• Volmari, Saija; Sivesind, Kirsten & Jónasson, Jón Torfi (2022). Regional Policy Spaces, Knowledge Networks, and the "Nordic Other". In Karseth, Berit; Sivesind, Kirsten & Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (Ed.), Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy. A comparative Network Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030919597. p. 349–382. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-91959-7_12. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter examines the use of regional policy knowledge and the importance of Nordic cooperation in the latest education reforms in Finland, Iceland, and Norway. By drawing on interviews and bibliometric network analysis, the authors demonstrate that policymakers do not consider knowledge sources from other Nordic countries as essentially prominent. The authors offer four explanatory narratives for this finding and coin the concept the “Nordic Other” as various mindsets of experts that vary in different settings of cooperation. In the international policy space, a coalition based on a Nordic consensus is of core importance, while in the regional space, policymakers utilize knowledge to explore national solutions to common problems. Therefore, Nordic cooperation has various functions in terms of evidence-based policymaking that depend on the context in which collaboration takes place.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Karseth, Berit (2022). Introduction: A comparative Network Analysis of Knowledge Use in Nordic Education Policies. In Karseth, Berit; Sivesind, Kirsten & Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (Ed.), Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy. A comparative Network Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030919597. p. 1–31. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-91959-7_1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This introductory chapter establishes the context, background, and importance of studying what counts as evidence and expertise in Nordic education policymaking. The chapter gives a short overview of the theories, methods, and research design for the joint study where 17 researchers from 6 countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the US) collaborated. Key questions are: How do policymakers in five Nordic countries draw on domestic, regional, and international knowledge? How do they legitimize national school reform policy by referencing various types of knowledge? How do they authorize evidence in their attempt to propose reform agendas and issue school reforms in their respective countries? The chapter provides an overview of the book and summarizes each of the following chapters.

• Hörmann, Bernadette & Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Structuring School Reform Policy with Evidence: The Inter-mediational Role of Knowledge Sources and Arguments. In Karseth, Berit; Sivesind, Kirsten & Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (Ed.), Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy. A comparative Network Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030919597. p. 183–225. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-91959-7_7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Critics have targeted the quality of professional knowledge in policymaking, suggesting that education policy should draw on the best research evidence. This chapter examines the institutional responsiveness to this critique. The authors analyze the use and translation of knowledge sources in Norwegian policy documents on a recent school reform for basic education in Norway. A bibliometric analysis and an in-depth inquiry of the documents reveal the most often co-cited references and their argumentative use as evidence. They conclude that the reports bring together systems of reasoning that in practice are highly differentiated but in policy are aligned with each other. Moreover, evidence serves an inter-mediational role by shaping policy options connecting both policy realms and systems.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Curriculum Studies: Deliberations and Debates. IJHE Bildungsgeschichte. ISSN 2192-4295. 12(22), p. 51–57. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). The Rise and Relevance of Curriculum Reform. In Tierney, Rob; Rizvi, Fazal & Ercikan, Kadriye (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Education. Elsevier. ISSN 9780128186305. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Public schooling in a ‘post-factual’ society: A call for historically nuanced discussions. In Krogh, Ellen; Qvortrup, Ane & Graf, Stefan Ting (Ed.), Bildung, Knowledge, and Global Challenges in Education. Didaktik and Curriculum in the Anthropocene Era. Routledge. ISSN 9781032245829. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten; Tiplic-Lunde, Dijana & Johnsen, Lars Gunnarsønn Bagøien (2022). Surveying Policy Discourses Across Time and Space Internationalization of Knowledge Providers and Nordic Narratives. In Tröhler, Daniel; Hörmann, Bernadette; Tveit, Sverre & Bostad, Inga (Ed.), The Nordic Education Model in Context. Historical Developments and Current Renegotiations. Routledge. ISSN 9781032110462. p. 308–331. doi: 10.4324/9781003218180-21. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Overrasket over hvor lite forskningsbasert skole­politikken er. Khrono.no. ISSN 1894-8995. Full text in Research Archive
• Karseth, Berit & Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Conclusions: Toward a Renewed Understanding of Evidence-Based Policy in Education. In Karseth, Berit; Sivesind, Kirsten & Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (Ed.), Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy. A comparative Network Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030919597. p. 409–429. Full text in Research Archive
• Bachmann, Kari Elisabeth; Hörmann, Bernadette & Sivesind, Kirsten (2021). Bildung: alive and allowed? : a critical study of work plan practices in Norwegian schools. Journal of Curriculum Studies. ISSN 0022-0272. 54(2), p. 179–195. doi: 10.1080/00220272.2021.1936191. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article addresses how elementary school teachers approach Bildung when planning and monitoring the in-school- and at-home work of 6- and 9-year-old pupils. By examining a national sample of 204 weekly work plans designed by teachers in Norwegian schools, we investigate whether and how curriculum practices acknowledge principles of Bildung by opening up multiple futures through encouraging pupils to engage in meaning-making processes. To identify how work plans structure pupils’ schoolwork, we adopt a system-theoretical framework that distinguishes between conditional and purposive programme forms. The most interesting finding is that a substantial number of the investigated teachers use a purposive programme form. Through specifying objectives and assessment criteria, the teachers expect that pupils will develop and master a set of competencies. Some teachers apply a conditional form by devising work plans that emphasize subject matter content, but most of the work plans combine the two programme forms. By developing a typology of the various combinations, we find that, in addition to the pure conditional approach, a combined approach that provides objectives alongside broad descriptions of teaching content best reflects the principles of Bildung by promoting creative, dialogic interaction between teachers, pupils and parents. Keywords: work plans, bildung, system theory, lesson planning, curriculum practice

• Hansen, Petteri; Sivesind, Kirsten & Thostrup, Rune (2021). Managing expectations by projecting the future school: Observing the Nordic future school reports via temporal topologies. European Educational Research Journal. doi: 10.1177/1474904121995695. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study focuses on the politics of time in education by analysing ‘The Future School’ reports published by Nordic state authorities between 2010 and 2015. Building on a system-theoretical understanding of social time, steering and second-order observations, we investigate how temporal political communication frames the future of Nordic basic education. By applying semantic analysis, we identified four temporal topologies according to which these reports deal with the future: (a) calculated futures based on future projections with numbers; (b) unpredictable futures based on future projections contrasting learning with adaptivity; (c) technology-determined futures; and (d) personalised futures based on child well-being. Whereas these topologies constitute a shared semantical base for discussing the future of school education, a comparison of the reports also reveals differences and paradoxes between the temporal topologies in the Nordic welfare state context.

• Sivesind, Kirsten; Hovdhaugen, Elisabeth & Hörmann, Bernadette (2021). Medierende betingelser for læring og danning – om bruk og betydning av digitale medier i et bachelorstudium i pedagogikk. Nordisk tidsskrift for pedagogikk og kritikk. 7. doi: 10.23865/ntpk.v7.2512. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Denne artikkelen presenterer funn og fortolkninger fra et forsknings- og utviklingsprosjekt i et bachelorstudium i pedagogikk. Vi spør hvorvidt ny bruk av digital teknologi ivaretar akademisk danning i samspill med tradisjonelle medier som forelesninger og pensumlitteratur. Danningsorientert didaktikk handler om å støtte studentene i deres arbeid samtidig som de gis frihet til selv å bestemme hva som er deres sluttmål med studiet. Analytisk anvendes en systemsosiologisk optikk for å utforske hvordan danning muliggjøres og vanskeliggjøres gjennom intermediale betingelser som angår forholdet mellom medier og relasjonen til systemer. Med utgangspunkt i fire gruppeintervjuer og en spørreundersøkelse analyserer vi hvordan studentene forholdt seg til ny og gammel teknologi, og drøfter hvordan samspillet mellom medier støttet opp om danningsformålet.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2021). Historical Trajectories of the Contract-School Model in Norway. In Tröhler, Daniel & Zhao, Weili (Ed.), Asian-European Encounters on 21st-century Competence-based Curriculum Reforms. Cultural Views on Globalization and Localization. Springer. ISSN 9789811630088. p. 57–84. doi: 10.1007/978-981-16-3009-5_4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  By situating the analysis in cultural studies of education history, this chapter explores how school authorities in Norway have promoted a school system that reflects historical reform trajectories influenced by both national and international reform ideas. Most of the school reforms in Norway have built on the contract-school model, which began as a Lutheran project in Northern and Central Europe during the early eighteenth century. This chapter presents this model, focusing on how it developed in Scandinavia and Norway and how complementary ideas and powerrelations emerged and contested the old legacy of this model during the nineteenth and twentieth century.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Hovdhaugen, Elisabeth (2021). Oppgaver som medierende betingelser for læring og danning – erfaringer fra et bachelorstudium i pedagogikk. Uniped - Tidsskrift for universitets- og høgskolepedagogikk. ISSN 1500-4538. 44(1), p. 43–59. doi: 10.18261/issn.1893-8981-2021-01-05. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I dag er det nærmest en selvfølge å be studenter om å gjøre obligatoriske oppgaver underveis i et studieløp. Likevel er det forsket lite på hvordan studentene erfarer å arbeide med denne typen oppgaver. Denne artikkelen presenterer et forsknings- og utviklingsprosjekt der målet var å utvikle ny kunnskap om hvordan arbeidet med obligatoriske oppgaver kan muliggjøre danning. Vi prøvde ut forskjellige oppgavetyper i et bachelorstudium i pedagogikk. Gjennom en spørreskjemaundersøkelse og fire gruppeintervjuer undersøkte vi studentenes erfaringer og vurderinger. Den første oppgaven var utgangsorientert ved å presisere hva arbeidet skulle munne ut i. Den ba studentene om å lage en Pecha Kucha i form av en PowerPoint-presentasjon med både tekst, bilder og lyd. Den andre oppgaven var i større grad inngangsbestemt. Den innebar å analysere et utvalg høringssvar relatert til en utdanningspolitisk sak og fokuserte på innholdet. Begge oppgavene la vekt på undersøkende arbeidsformer. Funnene tilsier at studentene erfarte den andre oppgaven som mest meningsfull. Studentene satte pris på den faglige innrammingen og den konkrete hjelpen de fikk. Oppgaven ga større rom for å studere en sak i dybden. Undersøkelsen illustrerer problemer med å innføre en ny oppgavesjanger, der både formatet og oppfølgingen har implikasjoner for studentenes erfaringer.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Bachmann, Kari Elisabeth (2020). Læreplaner: fra dokumenter til dokumentasjon. In Krumsvik, Rune Johan & Säljö, Roger (Ed.), Praktisk-pedagogisk utdanning – en antologi (2. utg.). Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245033717. p. 321–345. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Skedsmo, Guri (2020). Educational Governance, Gap-Management Strategies, and Reorganizational Processes of the State Authorities in Norway. In Ârlestig, Helene & Johansson, Olof (Ed.), Educational Authorities and the Schools. Springer. ISSN 9783030387587. p. 75–92. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter disentangles the organizational structures of national policies for basic education in Norway and examines how state boards and agencies fulfill their institutional responsibilities and roles within the education system. In the last two decades, state authorities have encouraged national reform programs to create innovation and change across policy realms and levels. They have also enacted changes by reorganizing their own administrative apparatus at the national level. This study examines policy documents, consisting of white and green papers, expert reports, and website articles. All texts were organized thematically in order to provide an overview of the reform programs, the problems and solutions that were addressed by policy-makers and experts, and the strategies that led to reorganizational processes at the state administrative level. To map out the challenges, the chapter summarizes reviews of policy-relevant research on the implementation of the Knowledge Promotion Reform (2006–2020) and similar studies that reflect how the government sets the agenda and formulates new policies for basic education. By investigating the current reorganization of state agencies, the chapter also demonstrates how gap management is employed at the state level to enable or constrain the ways in which school reforms change policies and practices.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Nordic Reference Societies in School Reforms in Norway: An Examination of Finland and the Use of International Large-Scale Assessments. In Waldow, Florian & Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (Ed.), Understanding PISA’s Attractiveness. Critical Analyses in Comparative Policy Studies. Bloomsbury Academic. ISSN 9781350057302. doi: 10.5040/9781350057319.ch-005. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Karseth, Berit (2019). An officially endorsed national curriculum: institutional boundaries and ideational concerns. Curriculum Perspectives. ISSN 0159-7868. 39(2), p. 193–197. doi: 10.1007/s41297-019-00074-4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Recently, there has been a notable renewal in nationalisation processes, which has had consequences on public policies and curriculum development in different countries (Winter 2018). There are both pros and cons associated with this development; increased nationalism can favour a kind of populism that hinders a society from adequately acting upon global problems, or national movements can result in domestic unification as people defend their democratic rights using institutional boundaries (Calhoun 2007; Hroch 1996). National movements can, for example, justify public education as an egalitarian project to guarantee democratic rights for all citizens. This was the case for the populist movement that evolved in the last part of the nineteenth century within the Nordic countries, where a folk movement served as a counter-force to state regulations that did not take egalitarian values and people’s interests into account (Jarning 1998; Lauglo 1995). It is from the viewpoint of relational power developed through local deliberations and public endorsement that this article examines a set of rationales for developing a national curriculum.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Læreplanen og det brede samfunnsmandatet, Styring og ledelse i grunnopplæringen. Spenninger og dynamikker.. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202605544. p. 91–110. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette kapitlet beskriver den nye overordnede delen av læreplanverket og tidstypiske trekk ved fagfornyelsen. Ifølge stortingsmeldinger og offentlige utredninger handler reformarbeidet om å realisere "skolens brede samfunnsmandat". Det skal ivareta elevenes rettigheter, vektlegge samfunnsverdier og skjerpe den faglige fordypningen og læringen. Kapitlet har til hensikt å avklare hvordan den overordnede delen utleder mandatet og bidrar til å forme en styrende samfunnskontrakt for skolen.

• Hall, Jeffrey Brooks & Sivesind, Kirsten (2017). State School Inspection Policy in Norway and Sweden (2002-2012): A reconfiguration of governing modes? In Ball, Stephen (Eds.), Governing by numbers: Education, governance, and the tyranny of numbers. Routledge. ISSN 9781138701151. p. 131–160. doi: 10.4324/9781315203898-8. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Wahlström, Ninni (2017). Curriculum and Leadership in Transnational Reform Policy: A Discursive-Institutionalist Approach. In Uljens, Michael & Ylimaki, Rose (Ed.), Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and Didaktik. Non-affirmative Theory of Education. Springer. ISSN 9783319586502. p. 439–462. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-58650-2_14. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Luimes, Maike (2017). Didaktik and curriculum studies: a European perspective. In Lee, John Chi-kin & Kennedy, Kerry J. (Ed.), Theorizing Teaching and Learning in Asia and Europe. A Conversation between Chinese Curriculum and European Didactics. Routledge. ISSN 9781138805996. p. 217–231. doi: 10.4324/9781315751900-13. Full text in Research Archive
• Baek, Chanwoong; Hörmann, Bernadette; Karseth, Berit; Pizmony-Levy, Oren; Sivesind, Kirsten & Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (2017). Policy learning in Norwegian school reform: a social network analysis of the 2020 incremental reform. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy. 4(1), p. 1–14. doi: 10.1080/20020317.2017.1412747. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This policy study examines how policymakers and policy experts in Norway made us of research and studies – produced in Norway, in the Nordic countries and outside the Nordic region – to explain the 2020 incremental school reform. In total, 2 White Papers, 12 Green Papers and 3438 texts, cited in the White and Green Papers, were used as data for the text-based social network analysis. The three major findings were the following: First, the policymakers and experts make excessive use of references (on average, 246 references per White or Green Paper). The publications they cite are highly specialized and issue centred with little overlap between the various papers. Second, the policy references for the 2020 reform were mainly domestic. Approximately 70% of the referenced texts were published in Norway. Finally, the social network analysis enabled the authors to identify five texts that were influential and that bridged curriculum with quality monitoring reform topics. The authors suggest that more attention should be paid to an analysis of incremental reforms such as the 2020 reform in Norway. They identify a few of the blind spots that the more commonly used focus on fundamental reforms tends to produce.

• Tønnesson, Johan & Sivesind, Kirsten (2016). The Rhetoric of the Norwegian Constitution Day: A Topos Analysis of Young Norwegian Students’ May 17 Speeches, 2011 and 2012. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. ISSN 0031-3831. 60(2), p. 201–218. doi: 10.1080/00313831.2015.1017837. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten; Skedsmo, Guri & Hall, Jeffrey Brooks (2016). Et felles nasjonalt tilsyn: Om rammeverk og reformbaner gjennom historien. In Andenæs, Kristian & Møller, Jorunn (Ed.), Retten i skolen - mellom pedagogikk, juss og politikk. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215026671. p. 99–119. Full text in Research Archive
• Møller, Jorunn & Sivesind, Kirsten (2016). Rektorers blikk på opplæringslovens rettslige regulering. In Andenæs, Kristian & Møller, Jorunn (Ed.), Retten i skolen - mellom pedagogikk, juss og politikk. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215026671. p. 161–181. Full text in Research Archive
• Westbury, Ian; Aspfors, Jessica; Fries, Anna-Verena; Hansen, Sven-Erik; Ohlhaver, Frank & Rosenmund, Moritz [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2016). Organizing curriculum change: an introduction. Journal of Curriculum Studies. ISSN 0022-0272. 48(6), p. 729–743. doi: 10.1080/00220272.2016.1186736. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper introduces the questions and approaches of a five-nation cross-cultural study of state-based curriculum-making discussed in this issue of JCS. The paper reviews the two decade-long interest of many nations in state-based curriculum-making and presents a framework for thinking about state-based curriculum-making as a tool of educational governance.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Westbury, Ian (2016). State-based curriculum work and curriculum-making: Norway’s Læreplanverket 1997. Journal of Curriculum Studies. ISSN 0022-0272. 48(6), p. 766–782. doi: 10.1080/00220272.2016.1186741. Full text in Research Archive
• Westbury, Ian & Sivesind, Kirsten (2016). State-based curriculum-making, Part 2, the tool-kit for the state’s curriculum-making. Journal of Curriculum Studies. ISSN 0022-0272. 48(6), p. 757–765. doi: 10.1080/00220272.2016.1186738. Full text in Research Archive

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• Wermke, Wieland & Sivesind, Kirsten (2025). Curriculum Dynamics within and across Contexts: Collected Works of Stefan Thomas Hopmann. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISBN 9783631923771. 516 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Stefan Thomas Hopmann's scholarship offers one of the most thorough and insightful examinations of curricular making processes across historical and cultural contexts. His research spans a wide range of research areas and perspectives, including cross-disciplinary reasoning and topical analysis, integrating insights from classical theories to late-modern approaches. This book of Hopmann's collected works offers both broad perspectives, theoretical explorations, and concrete knowledge, making it useful to researchers, students, and practitioners working with curriculum and didactics. The book presents 19 Essays of Hopmann’s scholarly production and an extended introduction to his work and its academic contribution. The volume is structured into three sections: State-regulated curriculum work: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Curriculum Coordination Across Social and Cultural Contexts, and Curriculum Constitutive Mindsets.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISBN 9788202848392. 261 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Utdanningspolitikk har stor betydning for hvordan barnehager, skoler og andre pedagogiske institusjoner drives. I arbeidet med disse institusjonene er det interessant å studere hvordan makt legitimeres og forvaltes. Denne boken presenterer en rekke faglige og metodiske tilnærminger for å studere utdanningspolitikk. I tillegg til å nyansere akademiske fagtradisjoner, presenterer forfatterne kvalitative og komparative tilnærminger til dokumentstudier og ekspertintervjuer. Boken gir en rekke eksempler på hvordan studier kan gjennomføres, inkludert digitale og praksisbaserte analyser. Den tar opp spørsmål om teoriens plass i studier og hvordan forskningen kan og bør rapporteres. Et sentralt tema er betydningen av evidens og ekspertise i utdanningspolitikk og reformarbeid, et fagfelt som forfatterne har utforsket gjennom POLNET-prosjektet (Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison). Boken henvender seg til akademikere, fageksperter, pedagogikkstudenter, lærerutdannere og ansatte i offentlig sektor.

• Karseth, Berit; Sivesind, Kirsten & Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (2022). Evidence and Expertise in Nordic Education Policy. A comparative Network Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783030919597. 429 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Harboe, Turid Løyte & Sivesind, Kirsten (2026). Briding General Education and Practice-Oriented Teacher Education by Research: The Emergence of Doctoral Programs in Education and their Implications. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Education research was institutionalized as an academic field at the University of Oslo in 1938, primarily to establish a research-based foundation for education, including teacher education. This initiative resulted in the development of a research portfolio and degree programs that qualified graduates for diverse roles within the education system. In contrast, teacher education institutions—organized through university seminars and regional colleges—were expected to apply research generated at the university while simultaneously cultivating their own knowledge base in collaboration with school authorities, schools, and teachers. Within this framework, pedagogy (and Didaktik in the German tradition) emerged as a bridging discipline, mediating between the university and teacher education institutions. The university contributed a scientific knowledge base grounded in academic research, while professors also engaged in developing practice-oriented perspectives that acknowledged the experiential insights and interpretive understandings of teacher educators, school authorities, and practitioners. Over the past decades, this shared responsibility of general education at universities and teacher education has shifted significantly. Teacher education has evolved into a scientific, evidence-based field, driven by its integration into universities in the late 20th century, and by substantial investment in research training during the last two decades (Elstad, 2023). Supported by the Research Council of Norway, teacher education programs have established their own doctoral programs (Smith, 2020), participated in general doctoral programs (Ludvigsen & Ulfsnes, 2013), and joined Nordic networks of collaborating institutions. In addition, specified doctoral programs in e.g. science education and philosophy have evolved in parallel, also supported by the Norwegian Research Council. These developments have repositioned general educational research as a core academic field within universities, introducing new disciplinary tracks and educational expectations for evidence-based practices, also for teacher education, while simultaneously diminishing general didactics/pedagogy as a key bridge between academia and schools. For this reason, general didactics, once central to teacher education, seems no longer to hold the same authority among scholars in this research-driven context, although nuances also can be found by encouraging hybrid approaches (Smith, 2022). The change is a consequence of political strategies and academia itself, and their numerous efforts to change the scientific rationales and the division of labor between general educational sciences and teacher education as an institution and practice (Caspersen & Smeby, 2023). General didactics, appears to have lost some of its significance, not necessarily because of the research field itself, but because of an epistemic drift towards evidence-based knowledge in teacher education institutions. This shift is largely shaped by political strategies and academic reforms aimed at redefining scientific rationales and reorganizing the institutional division of labor between general educational sciences and teacher education as both institution and practice. This article presents the historical trajectories of general and teacher education in Norway, traces the development and the disciplinary differentiation of doctoral education in Norway from its inception during the 1990s to the present, and examines how institutional and conceptual bridges have been re-constructed between the academic-scientific and practical knowledge domains. It finally concludes by discussing emerging implications of a more evidence-based approach for the field of pedagogy/didactics. References: Caspersen, Joakim, & Smeby, Jens-Christian. (2023). Research-based teacher education in Norway – a longitudinal perspective. International journal of educational research, 119, 102177. doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2023.102177 Elstad, Eyvind. (2023). Teacher Education in the Nordic Region: Challenges and Opportunities (1st Edition 2023 utg.). Cham: Cham: Springer Nature. Ludvigsen, Sten, & Ulfsnes, Kari-Anne. (2013). Forskerskoler som modeller for forskerutdanning: Progresjon og utvikling av ekspertise. Research schools as models for research education - progression and development of expertise, 36(4), 65-79. doi: 10.3402/uniped.v36i4.23144 Smith, Kari. (2020). Expansive learning for teacher educators-the story of the norwegian national research school in teacher education (NAFOL). Paper presentert ved Frontiers in Education. Smith, Kari. (2022). Balancing teacher educators' researcherly and pedagogical dispositions - an example from Norway. Asia-Pacific journal of teacher education, 50(4), 328-342. doi: 10.1080/1359866X.2022.2073868

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2025). Hvordan skape en demokratisk skole på vitenskapelig grunn? In Vogt, Bettina; Sundberg, Daniel & Nordin, Andreas (Ed.), Skolan och demokratin. Linnaeus University Press. ISSN 9789180823906. p. 73–84. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Siden tidlig 2000-tall har forskningsbasert utviklingsarbeid vært et gjennomgangstema for reformarbeid i skolen. Økt søkelys på evidens og brukerundersøkelser har økt forskernes og ekspertenes status i utdanningssystemet I dette essayet problematiserer jeg denne utviklingen med utgangspunkt i Joseph Schwabs kritikk av den vitenskapssentrerte læreplantenkningen fra 1960-tallet og framover. Inspirert av John Deweys ideer, argumenterer Schwab for betydningen av å behandle elever, lærere, skolens innhold og miljø likt i drøftinger av praktiske problemer hvor teorier brukes på en eklektisk måte. Kapittelet gir en kort introduksjon til Schwabs argumentasjon som han presenterte i «The practical» 1 og 4 som er det mest kjente essayene fra hans forfatterskap og reiser spørsmålet om de er relevante i dag.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2025). Ingen kan lære alt, men alle kan lære noe – hvordan lage læreplaner med innhold? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette foredraget gir en historisk og analytisk gjennomgang av utviklingen av norske læreplaner fra 1800‑tallet til dagens LK20, og viser hvordan skolen over tid har balansert ulike syn på kunnskap, profesjon og styring. Presentasjonen trekker linjer mellom handlingsregulerte læreplaner, som vektlegger innhold, formål og profesjonell dømmekraft, og standardbaserte læreplaner, som legger mer vekt på målbare resultater, progresjon og ansvarliggjøring. Gjennom eksempler fra ulike reformperioder belyses hvordan læreplanarbeid formes av institusjonelle tradisjoner, politiske prioriteringer og skiftende kunnskapsforståelser, samt hvordan kompleksiteten i læreplaner kan reduseres ved å styrke handlingsprinsipper og knytte kompetanse til tydeligere innholdsrammer. Samlet argumenterer foredraget for at et bærekraftig læreplanverk må forstå både skolens historiske utvikling og de profesjonelle og samfunnsmessige forutsetningene som påvirker hva det er mulig å undervise og lære.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Wermke, Wieland (2025). Tracing Curriculum Dynamics within and across Contexts. An Introduction to Stefan Thomas Hopmann’s work. In Wermke, Wieland & Sivesind, Kirsten (Ed.), Curriculum Dynamics within and across Contexts: Collected Works of Stefan Thomas Hopmann. Peter Lang Publishing Group. ISSN 9783631923771. p. 2–52. doi: 10.3726/b22138.001. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter offers a concise introduction to Stefan Thomas Hopmann’s central contributions to curriculum studies, emphasizing his focus on education as a historically grounded institutional practice. By examining curriculum dynamics across local and transnational contexts, the authors show how Hopmann’s work illuminates the relationships between formal regulations, professional judgment, and classroom practice. His concept of “curriculum‑as‑practice” highlights how curricular intentions are continually interpreted and reshaped by educators, challenging assumptions about linear reform processes. Wieland and Sivesind also underscore Hopmann’s historical‑comparative approach, which reveals how educational traditions, didactics, cultural norms, and conditional dependencies shape the development of schooling. The chapter positions Hopmann as a key theorist whose analytical tools continue to influence debates on accountability, standardization, and the changing conditions of educational professionalism.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Ydesen, Christian (2025). Editorial: Revitalizing European Educational Research in Times of Global Change. European Educational Research Journal. 24(5), p. 559–570. doi: 10.1177/14749041251377220. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As the global order undergoes rapid transformation, education and educational research face significant disruptions. This editorial underscores the responsibility of European education researchers to engage critically with the profound changes driven by geopolitical instability, climate change, the growing influence of non-state actors in education politics, international policy and the expanding impact of edu-business. European educational research, once a reference point for internationalization, is now scrutinized for the universality of its models and the colonial legacies within them. This prompts a necessary reconsideration of research frameworks, and the cultures and contexts prioritized in scholarship. The editorial outlines four focal areas: the rise of layered education governance and a shifting public arena shaping education; the interplay between knowledge, technology, markets and schooling; the political dynamics influencing policy agendas; and the changing conditions for European research within academic institutions. Together, these highlight the urgency for researchers to champion democratic values and principles, address ethical dimensions in knowledge production, explore historical perspectives and matters of concern and engage with emerging challenges both locally and globally. Ultimately, the European Educational Research Journal aims to publish innovative scholarship that responds to these dynamics, contributing to the development of democratic societies and European educational research.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Utdanningspolitikk. Store Norske Leksikon (Nettutgaven). Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Enhetsskolen. Store Norske Leksikon (Nettutgaven). Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Burner, Tony (2024). Kunnskapsløftet. Store Norske Leksikon (Nettutgaven). Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Tracing curriculum development by topical analysis. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). Innledning. In Sivesind, Kirsten (Eds.), Hvordan studere utdanningspolitikk? Tekster, teorier, tilnærminger. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202848392. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette kapittelet introduserer temaene og formålet med antologien. Den gir en kort introduksjon til POLNET-forskningsprosjektet (Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison, NRC. nr 283467) som motiverte forfatterne til å samarbeide om publikasjonen. Siste del av kapittelet gir en oversikt over de ulike kapitlene.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Minge, Oscar Preben Garberg (2023). Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison: student involvement and research assistance. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette innlegget presenterte involveringen av studenter i arbeidet med POLNET-prosjektet (Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison). Prosjektet har involvert studenter både på bachelor og masternivå og bidratt i systematisering og analyse av data og bidratt i drøftinger av funn og fortolkninger. Prosjektet har også inspirert til flere masterprosjekter og et PhD-prosjekt som ble kortfattet presentert i seminaret.

• Sivesind, Kirsten & Karseth, Berit (2023). Hvem lager utdanningspolitikken og hva byggger den på? Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten; Baek, Chanwoong & Karseth, Berit (2023). Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison: Final results. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten; Tiplic, Dijana & Johnsen, Lars Gunnarsønn Bagøien (2023). Tracing Reform Trajectories in Norwegian Education Policy: A Computed Text Mining Study of Topologies and Discursive Shifts. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten; Johnsen, Lars Gunnarsønn Bagøien & Tiplic, Dijana (2023). Tracing Reform Trajectories in Norwegian Education Policy: A Computed Text Mining Study. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Nordin, Andreas (2023). Internationalization of Nordic school reform: a two country comparison. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Karseth, Berit (2023). Politikk og kunnskapsbruk i utforming av de siste skolereformer i Norden. Full text in Research Archive
• Hovland, Brit Marie & Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Tracing the empirical and practical groundwork of national curricula in the interwar period. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). The democratic value of didactics, pedagogy and educational sciences in a digitized world. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Hvordan brukes kunnskapskilder for å begrunne reformer for skoleverket? Hvem deltar? Resultater fra POLNET. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Forsvinner fagene med fagfornyelsen? Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Funn og fortolkninger fra POLNET prosjektet. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). Comparing reform trajectories by moments of historical and societal transitions. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The paper addresses how historical analysis of texts that are digitalized into full-text archives, provide new opportunities to examine dominating rationales and changes in reform trajectories and forms of curriculum control within a larger framework of historical and societal transitions. How can a researcher by the usage of digitalized search strategies identify 1) when in the history interests to develop national curricula were prevalent 2) which areas of knowledge they addressed, and 3) how international comparisons created moments of historical transitions? The paper provide examples from an ongoing-study of school reform policy in Norway. It illustrates how to use N-gram search to identify books and articles that can deepen existing knowledge about the usage of international comparisons, how spatial and temporal dynamic of the reform processes can be visualized and how examination of full-text sources help interpreting how educators have translated rationales about schooling by their scholarly role of acting as authors.

• Sivesind, Kirsten (2022). PISA har blitt en politisk kjepphest. Gjør ingen forskjell. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Karseth, Berit (2022). Hvordan innhentes og brukes kunnskap i arbeid med norske og nordiske skolereformer? Full text in Research Archive
• Hörmann, Bernadette & Sivesind, Kirsten (2021). Structuring School Reform Policy with Evidence: The InterMediational Role of Knowledge Sources and Arguments in Norwegian Policy Documents. Full text in Research Archive
• Hörmann, Bernadette & Sivesind, Kirsten (2021). Structuring School Reform Policy with Evidence: The inter-mediational role of knowledge sources and arguments. Full text in Research Archive
• Hörmann, Bernadette & Sivesind, Kirsten (2021). Structuring School Reform Policy with Evidence: The inter-mediational role of knowledge sources and arguments. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten; Tiplic-Lunde, Dijana & Johnsen, Lars Gunnarsønn Bagøien (2021). Discourses of "the Nordic" within a transnational context: the salience of issues in white and green reports in Norway (1988-2017). Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten; Tiplic-Lunde, Dijana & Johnsen, Lars Gunnarsønn Bagøien (2021). Tracing Semantic Shifts in the History of Norwegian Reform Policy (1978 – 2017): Towards Stronger International Governance? Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2021). Kan et skolefag planlegges? Om moderniseringen av fag og kvalifikasjoner gjennom historien. Full text in Research Archive
• Volmari, Saija; Sivesind, Kirsten & Jónasson, Jón Torfi (2021). Regional Policy Spaces, Knowledge Networks and the “Nordic Other”. Full text in Research Archive
• Volmari, Saija; Sivesind, Kirsten & Jónasson, Jón Torfi (2021). Regional Policy Knowledge and the Nordic "other". Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Petteri; Sivesind, Kirsten & Thostrup, Rune (2020). Managing Expectations by Projecting the Future School:Observing the Nordic Future School Reports via Temporal Topologies. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2020). Hvordan skape god utdanning i en globalisert tidsalder? Historisk sammenliknende læreplanstudier gir flere svar. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  FNs bærekraftsmål om «God utdanning» fremmer verdier og rettigheter for befolkninger over hele verden. Målet tematiserer forventninger om å gi alle barn og unge en gratis og likeverdig grunnskole og videregående opplæring av høy kvalitet. En slik utdanning forutsetter offentlige læreplaner som beskriver hva som er skolens innhold og oppgaver. Sammenliknende læreplanstudier undersøker hvordan læreplaner utformes i lys av globale nøkkelproblemer. Dermed kan fagfeltet vise til eksempler på hvordan myndigheter forholder seg til slike problemer. Men kanskje viktigere er betydningen av å forske på likheter og forskjeller mellom læreplaner fra ulike regioner og land. Slike sammenlikninger bidrar til å se betydningen institusjonelle betingelser for å drive skole som ivaretar nasjonale og lokale variasjoner i en globalisert verden.

• Volmari, Saija; Sivesind, Kirsten & Jónasson, Jón Torfi (2020). Regional Knowledge Transfer in School Reform Policy and the Nordic Other. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Policy transfer, regional workshop: Summing up – future steps. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Karseth, Berit (2019). Knowledge sources in crafting school reform policy: The case of Norway. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). En podcast om gamle og nye læreplaner. [Internet]. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Kunnskap, kyndighet og kjærlighet - den læreplanhistoriske arven." En kommentar Gudmund Hernes. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Fagfornyelsen. [Radio]. NRK P2. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Kunnskapsløft eller kunnskapsbløff? Innlegg og deltakelse paneldebatt om fagfornyelsen i regi av Klassekampen. [Journal]. Kulturhuset i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
• Karseth, Berit & Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Recent reform trajectories in Nordic school reform - towards stronger international convergence? Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Læreplanen som kontrakt. Et foredrag for 300 skoleledere i regi av Faggruppen for Utdanningsledelse, ILS. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison: A Double Symposium. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Læreplan, ledelse og styring av utdanning. Full text in Research Archive
• Hörmann, Bernadette; Karseth, Berit; Sivesind, Kirsten & Tiplic, Dijana (2019). Knowledge sources in crafting school reform policy: The case of Norway. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Å muliggjøre danning gjennom måter å forske på: om betydningen av bilder, scenarier og historiske linjer. Full text in Research Archive
• Skedsmo, Guri & Sivesind, Kirsten (2019). Educational governance, gap-management strategies, and reorganizational processes of the state authorities in Norway. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Skedsmo, Guri (2019). Styring, gap-analyser og reorganisering av den statlige utdanningsadministrasjonen i Norge. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2018). Fagfornyelsen: muligheter og utfordringer. Innlegg og paneldebatt i regi av Utdanningsforbundet. [Internet]. Lærernes hus. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten (2018). Læreplanen i et samfunnsperspektiv. Full text in Research Archive
• Steiner-Khamsi, Gita; Baek, Chanwoong; Hörmann, Bernadette; Karseth, Berit & Sivesind, Kirsten (2018). Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Hörmann, Bernadette (2017). Bildung – Alive and allowed? Curriculum practices, European didactics and the governing role of new assessment pedagogies in schools. Full text in Research Archive
• Sivesind, Kirsten & Karseth, Berit (2017). Externalization in Norwegian School Reform: A Social Network Analysis of International and Regional References. Summary of the Norwegian Project. Full text in Research Archive
• Baek, Chanwoong & Sivesind, Kirsten (2017). The Use of International and National "Evidence" in White and Green Papers from Norway: A detailed SNA of references. Full text in Research Archive
• Lie, Elin Rødahl; Sivesind, Kirsten & Landfald, Ørjan Flygt (2017). Medierende betingelser for læring og danning: et pedagogisk forsknings- og utviklingsprosjekt. Full text in Research Archive
• Afsar, Azita & Sivesind, Kirsten (2016). Undervisning. In Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202494667. p. 137–154. Full text in Research Archive
• Elvestad, Agnethe Tofte; Bostad, Inga & Sivesind, Kirsten (2025). Musikkfagets begrunnelser gjennom verdier og innhold i skolen. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Hvilken rolle musikkfaget har i den norske grunnskolen er et omdiskutert tema. Musikklærere og akademikere ønsker at faget skal få flere timer og ha en større praktisk orienteringstilnærming. Andre vil gi flere timer til de teoretiske fagene, da musikkfaget er lite og ser ikke betydningen av musikkfaget i skolen. I denne studien vil jeg undersøke hvilke faglige og pedagogiske hensyn som er relevante i begrunnelse av det musikk faglige innholdet. Studien vil undersøke hvordan høringer synliggjør musikk læreplanens innhold og ulike oppfatninger om musikkfagets verdier for elever. Hvordan begrunnes musikkfaget gjennom verdier og innhold i skolen? Studien vil presentere en tematisk analyse av høringsuttalelser fra høringen av læreplaner i musikk fra 2019, da fagene ble fornyet i arbeidet med utformingen av Kunnskapsløftet 2020. Min tematiske analyse av høringsuttalelsene er basert på teoretiske perspektiver fra bl.a.: Varkøy (2015), Sevilhaug (2022), Ashbee (2021), Sivesind (2024), Hopmann & Künzli (1997) og Yates (2009). Hovedfunnene i studien viser at det er spenninger mellom ulike aktørgrupper i hvordan læreplanens ambisjoner i kompetansemål og musikkfagets rammer påvirker læreres praktisering av faget. Det er idealisme vs. realisme. Høringsuttalelsene synliggjør en diskurs om musikkfagets lave timeantall, vide og diffuse kompetansemål og uteblivelse av sentrale tverrfaglige temaer. Læreplanen i musikk har for lite timeantall i skolen til at kompetansemålene kan oppnås på en forsvarlig måte. En konsekvens av dette er at skolehverdagen forblir teoritung og som igjen kan føre til kjedsomhet, ensomhet og at elevers opplevelsesglede og mestringsfølelse forsvinner.

• Fosse, Øyvind Andre; Biesta, Gert & Sivesind, Kirsten (2024). “To Teach Them That They Are Free”? The Educational ‘Projects’ of Christian Faith Schools in Norway. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This PhD thesis explores the educational projects of Christian faith schools in Norway, defined in this context as their stated ambitions and efforts to achieve their educational goals. The aim of this study was to investigate how Christian faith schools in Norway define their educational project, how they foster critical thinking, and how they respond to claims of indoctrination and lack of emphasis on critical thinking. First, I analysed data from the websites of all 83 Christian primary and lower secondary schools in Norway. Second, I analysed formal documents, including curriculum guidelines used by teachers, from five of the largest groups of Christian schools in Norway. Third, I conducted expert interviews with school leaders from the same five school groups. Through this methodology, I acquired complementary data with both breadth and depth, encompassing public statements (websites) versus internal documents, as well as insights into the leaders’ intentions and justifications for the education provided by the schools. Central to the analysis is Biesta’s (2010a) theory of qualification, socialisation, and subjectification. The empirical results point to seven main findings: 1) Variations exist in how the schools present, articulate, and justify their educational projects. According to the document analysis, all five school groups prioritise socialisation as the most prominent part of their educational purposes. Differences were identified among the groups regarding which purpose they emphasise secondarily, whether qualification or subjectification. 2) The majority of the schools aim for their students to become or grow in their Christian faith, often emphasising the nurturing of personal religious beliefs. 3) Emphasis on critical thinking varies among the schools, with differences in how it is integrated into their teaching practices. While some schools focus on critical thinking related to specific content, values, or influences, others pursue what the literature refers to as “strong” critical thinking, which encourages students to critically examine even their own religious beliefs and worldviews. 4) The schools have differing attitudes towards the students’ freedom. While most of the school leaders emphasise the importance of students becoming secure in their own (in practice, the school’s) worldview before exposure to rival views, the leader of the Catholic schools emphasises students’ freedom and views the school’s task as helping them discover this freedom. 5) Responses to allegations of indoctrination vary. Some schools acknowledge the risk of possibilities for indoctrination in religious schools, while others deflect attention to public schools and textbooks. Some reject these claims outright, while others acknowledge the possibility of what they call “blind spots”. 6) The schools do not perceive contradictions between promoting the Christian faith and encouraging critical thinking. All participating school leaders see critical thinking as a solution to the problem of indoctrination and believe it can coexist with conveying Christian faith and values. 7) The schools generally experience favourable operating conditions under current legislation but perceive enforcement as strict and inflexible. While legislation provides good framework conditions for running schools different from public schools, criticism is directed towards the Directorate of Education and Training for a strict interpretation of regulations with limited room for discretion. Based, on my theoretical examination of the relationship between critical thinking and religious education, I find that indoctrination is linked primarily to the transmission of ideological content via distasteful methods. I also find that schools can engage in indoctrinating activities unintentionally. I therefore conclude that is crucial for schools, regardless of type or profile, to be vigilant about the potential indoctrination. Given that indoctrination is associated with ideological content, conveying such content, whether religious, political, or otherwise, carries a special responsibility toward children. In these cases, it is imperative that students are afforded significant freedom to engage with these values as they see fit. Such a pedagogical approach would not only focus on socialisation, but also prioritise subjectification. This study offers more than just empirical knowledge about Norwegian faith schools. It aims to contribute to the understanding, both in academic and practical contexts, of the potential for fostering critical thinking in religious schools. The theoretical discussions on freedom, autonomy, critical thinking, and the subjectification of students are equally important. These discussions are not limited to faith schools but are also relevant to other independent schools and public schools. I hope the findings will have relevance beyond the Norwegian context and resonate with those interested in various types of schools, both in Norway and internationally.

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