Early educational provision – emphasised in education policy reforms in Norway? An analysis of education policy documents

The article analyses how the intentions of early provision in Norwegian schools have been expressed in the education policy reforms in Norway from the 1970s to the present day. The first area deals with the intentions that most explicitly cover early provision; prevention, early detection and intervention. The second area of analysis relates to the early provision intentions with an emphasis on the correlation between individual and environmental factors seen in light of differentiation and disability. The third area examines how significance is attached to pupils’ social background with regard to early provision in learning in schools. Finally, consideration is given to the relationship between early provision intentions and efforts to prevent pupils dropping out of upper secondary education. The analysis also shows that the policy guidelines on early provision for schools and teachers have been weak and unclear. This is due to the fact that the early provision intentions have primarily been expressed in reports to the Storting, and rarely given any kind of focus in national curricula.     

Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen und Pädagogisches Professionswissen im Verlauf des Lehramtsstudiums

Teacher Self-Efficacy and General Pedagogical Knowledge During Teacher Education. The present study investigates how teacher self-efficacy beliefs develop during teacher education and how self-efficacy beliefs and general pedagogical knowledge of student-teachers are related. In a cross-sectional study, 257 student-teachers were investigated (173 first year students, 27 advanced students, 35 examination candidates, 19 preservice teachers). The data show that self-efficacy beliefs for the subscales classroom management and assessment increase between the start and the end of training (preservice teachers). Concerning diagnostic competency, self-efficacy beliefs do not change during studies and even decrease for the preservice teachers. For the subscales communication and conflicts as well as coping little difference is noticeable. Professional knowledge, in contrast, increases during studies. Self-efficacy beliefs for classroom management and assessment are linked to professional knowledge. Finally, the usefulness of the multidimensional measuring of self-efficacy beliefs is discussed and implications for future research approaches are presented.     

The development of intentions for adapted teaching and inclusive education seen in light of curriculum potential. A content analysis of Norwegian national curricula post 1980

This article analyses and discusses the development of the principles of adapted teaching and inclusive education in the three most recent Norwegian national curricula, seen in light of curriculum potential as an overarching perspective. This potential highlights teachers' opportunities for choosing and adapting their teaching content. The area of problems is first related to relevant curriculum theory and choice of method. Our qualitative text analyses and then examines the relevant curricula and other national documents which provide guides and intentions for schooling in Norway. The analysis will also be viewed in an international perspective in relation to OECD evaluations of Norwegian schooling. The discussion highlights the fact that the Norwegian curriculum reforms are affected by these international evaluations. This particularly applies to the relationship between the central governing of the school's content and the individual school's curriculum potential.     

On Comparing Transition Rate Gains

Reuterberg, S.‐E. 1985. On Comparing Transition Rate Gains. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 29, 175‐190. Making transition rate gains comparable is a problem because it is much more difficult to change a very high or very low transition rate than to change a rate near the proportion 0.50. It is shown that measures based on the proportions themselves — i.e. the difference between proportions, the proportion ratio and the residual gain ratio — do not make the gains comparable. Instead a non‐linear transformation has to be done. Two such transformations are discussed: probits and logits. As shown in the report, they both make the transition gains comparable.

A problem more important than the choice of transformation is that of sample error. Therefore, a statistical test is to be recommended. It is shown that log‐linear models are an appropriate test for this purpose.     

CO2-Einsparpotenziale des Energietr?gers Erdgas

Zusammenfassung Angesichts der staatlichen Klimaschutzziele stellt sich die Frage, wie diese mit m?glichst geringer Beeintr?chtigung einer sicheren Versorgung zu günstigen Preisen erreichbar sind. Erdgas, das im Vergleich zu anderen fossilen Energietr?gern deutlich kohlenstoff?rmer ist und darüber hinaus bei der Verbrennung auch keine weiteren Schadstoffe emittiert, kann hier einen Beitrag leisten. Gegenw?rtig hat Erdgas für die Versorgung mit W?rme sowie bei der Erzeugung von Strom eine erhebliche Bedeutung, die zukünftig weiter wachsen wird. Anhand verschiedener Szenarien werden Prognosen zur weiteren Entwicklung von Erdgas und die Auswirkungen auf die CO₂-Emissionen angestellt. Es zeigt sich, dass der Anteil von Erdgas im Bereich der W?rmeversorgung von 46 % auf 56 % steigen wird. Durch ?nderung des Energiemix und Effizienzsteigerungen kann der CO₂-Aussto? für Raumw?rme daher bis 2020 um 8,3 % gesenkt werden. Für die Stromerzeugung werden alternative Szenarien berechnet. Beim derzeitigen Energiemix k?me es zu einer j?hrlichen Steigerung des CO₂-Aussto?es um 0,8 %. Würde Kohle komplett durch Gas ersetzt, k?nnte der CO₂-Aussto? j?hrlich um 1,9 % gesenkt werden.

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Given the governmental climate targets, the question arises how these targets can be achieved without affecting a secure and cheap energy supply. As natural gas causes less carbon emissions than any other fossil fuel it might be able to make a contribution in this regard. Currently, in the generation of heat and power natural gas plays a significant role, which will further increase in the future. Using several scenarios, we predict the development of the importance of natural gas and the consequences for carbon emissions. The calculations show that the share of natural gas for the supply of heat will increase from 46 % to 56 %. Efficiency increases together with changes in the structure of power generation can reduce heating-related carbon emissions by 8.3 % until 2020. For power generation, we calculate alternative scenarios. If the current structure of power generation is held constant, carbon emissions will increase by 0.8 % p.a. If instead natural gas completely replaces coal and lignite, the carbon emissions will be reduced by 1.9 % per year.

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Dieser Beitrag ist eine Kurzfassung der Studie „Wirtschaftsfaktor Erdgasbranche“, HWWI Policy Paper 1–3, Hamburg     

Effective high school teachers: A mixed investigation

The researchers conducted a sequential qualitative–quantitative mixed analysis of the characteristics of effective high school teachers as perceived by 615 college students, predominantly Hispanic, at two Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Qualitative analyses revealed the presence of 24 themes: Caring; Communication; Creative; Disciplinarian; Fairness; Flexible; Friendly; Fun; Knowledgeable; Listening; Manages Classroom; Uses Different Modalities; Involving; Motivating; Organized; Passion for Teaching; Patience; Builds Relationships; Shows others respect; Challenges; Service; Teaches Well; Good Personality; and Understanding. These themes were quantitized and statistically analyzed to determine whether differences were present as a function of gender, ethnicity, student status, and generational status. All possible subtests discriminant analyses revealed statistically significant differences in dominant themes in these areas. In addition to providing a model of mixed analysis, implications are discussed.