Equal Educational Opportunities: Legal Regulation and Professional Discretion in Schools

• In Event: 16.060 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 16.060-3 - Current Issues in International Educational Policy and Politics

Abstract

This paper explores how schools understand and encounter legal issues. Our particular interests are related to sections of the Norwegian Educational Act that are central in securing equal education opportunities for individual students during primary and secondary education. The paper addresses to what extent regulations and legal standards give room for discretionary decision-making by principals and teachers. Furthermore, it examines how discretionary power of the profession is justified in the light of different regimes of accountability. The main conclusion underlines that teachers and principals have enough autonomy to decide and act according to their own judgment. However, the discretionary power might give the profession too many opportunities for action and hence weakens students’ legal rights.

Authors

• Berit Karseth, University of Oslo

• Jorunn Moller, University of Oslo