School Leaders' and Teachers' Work With National Test Results: Lost in Translation?

• In Event: 34.065 - Leaders and Change in Policy and Practice

Abstract

This article explores how school leaders and teachers in two Norwegian lower secondary schools interpret and translate new policy expectations emphasizing national test results in reading and numeracy. The aim is to understand how these expectations are translated and negotiated between school leaders and teachers in local schools. The data consists of video recordings and observation of leadership and teacher meetings. In combination with a critical discourse analytical approach, perspectives of policy enactment as a process of interpretation serve as analytical concepts. The findings indicate the school leaders act more as narrators and enthusiasts, while the deputy managers and teacher-team leaders are more messengers and enforcers. The teachers mostly keep the discursive role as critics and preventers of ‘overburdening.’

Author

• Ann Elisabeth Gunnulfsen, University of Oslo