Defining and Digitalising Risk: How School Administrators Use Performance Data to Retain Students in Norwegian Upper Secondary Education

• In Event: From Risk to Retention: Insights on Dropout Prevention and Digitalisation

Abstract

Objectives
This paper examines how digitalisation is reshaping administrative and pedagogical work in Norwegian upper secondary education. Specifically, it investigates how district administrators and school leaders conceptualise and act upon student ‘risk’ through the use of a mandatory digital platform designed to monitor student performance data. The study also explores how digitalisation facilitates new forms of knowledge sharing across administrative levels and school contexts, and how these developments transform routines, redistribute responsibilities, and influence professional autonomy. Through this, the paper aims to provide insight into how digital systems are embedded in efforts to retain students in the school system and prevent dropout.
Theoretical perspectives
The analysis draws on institutional work to understand the connection between actors and established structures and routines across levels and institutions (Lawrence et al., 2006). A particular focus is directed towards ‘successful’ knowledge sharing (Røvik, 2023; 2016), which in our context is about the conditions for translating and transferring well-functioning routines across administrative levels and institutions. We complement this with perspectives that address the role of technology in practice by understanding responsibility, autonomy, and agency as outcomes of how practices unfold, how technologies are involved in these processes, and how professions and technologies interact—particularly in work aimed at accommodating students’ needs and keeping them engaged in the education system (Fenwick, 2014; Fenwick & Edwards, 2016)
Methods
This analysis is grounded in a qualitative research design aimed at exploring how digital administrative platforms are interpreted and used in practice. We purposefully selected one county with significant experience in digitalisation to gain in-depth insights into established routines and practices.
The study followed a multi-method approach, combining document analysis, observational fieldwork, and semi-structured interviews to trace how digital systems are embedded in everyday professional interactions. Emphasis was placed on capturing situated knowledge, observing collaborative arenas, and understanding how roles, responsibilities, and practices evolve in response to technological implementation.

Data sources
Data sources include key documents (e.g. strategy plans, reports), data based on interviews with administrators and staff (in total 10) having key functions following up upper secondary schools in one county. Moreover, data from observations of relevant meetings at district level and meetings between district administrators and schools (in total 55 hours) are analysed. The data were gathered over three school years (2021-24).

Results
Findings show that digital platforms create extra work and are not time-saving—for example, for school leaders who must ensure that teachers input accurate data. Identifying students at risk is operationalized through digital systems, which contributes to increased categorization of students and alters teachers’ professional discretion.

Scholarly/scientific significance
This paper contributes knowledge on how digitalisation is transforming pedagogical practice, quality assurance, and risk management—prompting new preventive approaches to supporting students at risk, redefining the roles of teachers and school leaders, and requiring a critical examination of these transformations.

Authors

• Guri Skedsmo, University of Oslo

• Ida Cheyenne Martinez Lunde, University of Oslo

• Sølvi Mausethagen, Oslo Metropolitan University