Studying Headteachers' Professional Lives: Getting the life history

In order to obtain a better understanding of how headteachers frame their professional lives, a comparative project was set up with a life history approach. A series of open-ended interviews were conducted where headteachers talked about themselves, their work, background, experiences and career. The article focuses on the modes of inquiry used in the study and explores alternative approaches to analysis, especially of content and form. Several methodological issues are discussed, for instance the production of data as an interactive and collaborative process of creating meaning, the central role of the research relations, dialogical analysis and how to move from separate individual stories to an analysis of headteachers' lives across different countries. As the analysis has unfolded, new questions have been posed about the comparative aspect of the project. At the beginning, cross-national similarities and differences were relatively straightforward and were found in the content of interviews. Since then, explorations of the form and structure of the stories have raised more complex juxtapositions. More recently, new questions have begun to emerge, such as about the nature and meanings of 'professional confidence' and its relationship to external accountability in national contexts.     

`Alternative' Universities Revisited: A Study of the Distinctiveness of Universities Established in the Spirit of 1968

In the late 60s and early 70s,several universities were set up in variousEuropean countries with the intention ofproviding an alternative to establishedinstitutions of higher education. The newuniversities were expected, amongst otherthings, to experiment with new forms ofleadership and management internally, giveteaching and learning higher priority, and tobe regional relevant institutions for the areain which they were located. The paper analysesto what extent three such universityestablishments: Aalborg University in Denmark,Maastricht University in the Netherlands andTromsø University in Norway have managed tomaintain and develop their alternative profileduring the last thirty years. The studysuggests that even though the universities insome areas have adapted to environmentalpressure, they have managed to keep theirprofile as innovative and alternative.     

Modernising education: New Public Management reform in the Norwegian education system

Since the end of the 1980s, the Norwegian education system has gone through major reform, influenced largely by new managerialist ideas. Strategies to renew the public sector were promoted as the new public management (NPM). This paper investigates the way ideas connected to NPM reforms have been introduced and interpreted in the Norwegian education sector. Based on our studies of selected policy documents from the last two decades, we have identified three areas of discursive struggle. The first one is linked to ideologies and the national history of schooling, the second to contested issues of teacher professionalism and the third is associated with strategies for modernising and improving education. A main argument is that NPM reforms changed direction and sped up when Norway was listed among the ‘lower-performing’ countries according to Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other international tests. Leadership and accountability became the dominant themes in Norwegian education.     

Action research with principals: gain,strain and dilemmas

The scientific status of action research is characterised by confusion and disagreement. This article discriminates between action research identified with professional work in schools and action research as a research strategy. Action research as professional work, does not have the same claim on documentation and publication, and can better be described as critical inquiries or action learning to separate this from a research strategy. This article discusses strengths and weaknesses of action research as a research strategy, and its potential of generating theory about educational leadership. First, the article focuses on how practitioners in collaboration with external researchers played a generative role in developing an analytical framework which gave a better understanding of educational leadership within a specific context. A dilemma language for educational leadership was constructed in order to capture important aspects of principals' work, and the analysis of experienced dilemmas highlighted a perspective of leadership as relational and dialectic. Secondly, the article gives an analysis of the researcher's dilemmas which emerged as significant through action research methodology. The dilemmas were related to goals of action research, to the role as an external facilitator and to publications of findings. It was impossible to escape from situations where different interests emerged and there always seemed to be a trade-off. The article underlines that an analysis of the role of self in social inquiry serves as a critical context in order to understand the research findings.     

The importance of geography and culture in mergers: A Norwegian institutional case study

Internationally the mainintention of merging higher educationinstitutions has often been that theestablishment of larger units should result inacademic and administrative economies of scale.This was also the case in the Norwegian StateCollege Reform. This article focuses on howgeographical distance, as well as culturaldifferences between sub-units at TelemarkCollege, influence the degree of attainment ofacademic and administrative goals. By usingnetwork theory and a cultural approach, we havestudied the merger processes as well as theoutcomes of the amalgamation. In theconclusion, lessons to be learned from thiscase study are highlighted.     

Elite athletes in aesthetic and Olympic weight-class sports and the challenge of body weight and body compositions

The use of dieting, rapid weight loss, and frequent weight fluctuation among athletes competing in weight-class and leanness sports have been considered a problem for years, but the extent of the problem and the health and performance consequences have yet to be fully examined. Most studies examining these issues have had weak methodology. However, results from this review indicate that a high proportion of athletes are using extreme weight-control methods and that the rules of some sports might be associated with the risk of continuous dieting, energy deficit, and/or use of extreme weight-loss methods that can be detrimental to health and performance. Thus, preventive strategies are justified for medical as well as performance reasons. The most urgent needs are: (1) to develop sport-specific educational programmes for athletic trainers, coaches, and athletes; (2) modifications to regulations; and (3) research related to minimum percentage body fat and judging patterns.     

Experiences of sexual harassment and abuse among Norwegian elite female athletes and nonathletes

This paper compares the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse among 660 Norwegian elite female athletes and an age-matched control sample of nonathletes. It also explores differences in the prevalence of harassment and abuse in sport and work or school settings and compares harassment and abuse perpetrated by male authority figures and peers in these different contexts. No differences were found between the athletes and controls in overall prevalence of sexual harassment or abuse. However, the athletes experienced significantly more harassment from male authority figures than did the controls. Based on these results, the article considers whether or not sport offers women any particular immunity from sexual harassment and abuse. The implications of the findings for structural and cultural change in sport are discussed.     

Does An Early Intervention Influence Behavioral Development Until Age 9 in Children Born Prematurely?

This study examined whether the Mother–Infant Transaction Program prevents behavioral problems among preterm children (birth weight < 2000 g) until age 9. The program was administered to 72 preterms, while 74 preterms and 75 full‐terms formed control groups (N = 221). Behavior was reported by parents (Child Behavior Checklist) and teachers (Teachers Report Form) and by all on selected Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) questions. Long‐term behavioral development appeared to be qualitatively unaffected by the intervention. At ages 7 and 9, fewer attention problems and better adaptation to school were reported from parents and teachers of the intervention group compared to preterm controls. At age 9, teachers reported fewer difficulties in the intervention group and better academic performance. In these areas they were reported as being at the statistically same level as term controls.