From science to politics: commissioned reports and their political translation into White Papers

ABSTRACT

The study presents a bibliometric network analysis of the two most recent schools reforms in Norway. Two research questions have been pursued: First, do the government-appointed expert commission use (in Green Papers) the same type of knowledge as ‘evidence’ for their reviews and recommendations as the Ministry of Education and Research (as reflected in the White Papers)? How has the use of ‘evidence’ changed over the two reform periods? Second, which body of knowledge amassed by the expert commission has the Ministry of Education and Science actually used for policy formulation? The network analysis shows (i) distinct changes in reference patterns over the two reform periods (e.g., average number of references more than doubled and references to international texts increased significantly), and (ii) an unexpectedly low usage of the ‘evidence’ presented by the expert commissions. The Ministry of Education and Research only draws on 9.5 percent of the references presented by the expert commissions. Strikingly, almost all of the adopted references are from a commissioned report that locally adapted and translated OECD’s Definitions and Selections of Competencies project. The authors suggest ‘studying up’ and paying more attention to how scientific ‘evidence’ is actually used, translated, and edited at the political level.

KEYWORDS:

• Comparative
• politics
• Norway
• social network analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

2006 Reform

• 2 White Papers (WPs)

  • WP 58: St.meld. nr. 30 (2003-2004): Kultur for læring [Culture for learning]

  • WP 2140: St.meld. nr. 16 (2006-2007):…og ingen sto igjen. Tidlig innsats for livslang læring [...No one left behind. Early intervention for lifelong learning]

• 5 Green Papers (GPs)

  • GP 36: NOU 1999: 33 Nyttige lærepenger — om utdanningsfinansieringen gjennom Lånekassen [Useful study funding—Study funding through the state educational loan fund]

  • GP 57: NOU 2003: 16 I første rekke — Forsterket kvalitet i en grunnopplæring for alle [In the first row— Increased quality within a basic education system for everyone]

  • GP 59: NOU 2002: 10 Førsteklasses fra første klasse — Forslag til rammeverk for et nasjonalt kvalitetsvurderingssystem av norsk grunnopplæring [First class from first grade. Proposition for a framework for a national quality assessment system]

  • GP 2646: NOU 1992: 17 Rammeplan for barnehagen [Guidelines for kindergarten]

  • GP 5596: NOU 2004: 5 Arbeidslivslovutvalget — Et arbeidsliv for trygghet, inkludering og vekst [The commission for employment regulations. A work life for security, inclusion and growth]

2020 Reform

• 2 White Papers (WPs)

  • WP 40: Stortingsmelding 21 (2016-2017): Lærelyst - tidlig innsats og kvalitet i skolen [Eager to learn. About early intervention and quality in schools]

  • WP 56: Meld. St. 28 (2015–2016) Fag - Fordypning - Forståelse - En fornyelse av Kunnskapsløftet [Subjects – In-depth learning – Understanding. Renewal of the Norwegian Knowledge Promotion Reform]

• 12 Green papers (GPs)

  • GP 41: NOU 2011:14 Bedre integrering – Mål, strategier, tiltak [Better integration – Goals, strategies and measures]

  • GP 42: NOU 2012:1 Til barnas beste. Ny lovgivning for barnehagene [For the best of the children. New legal regulation of the kindergarten].

  • GP 50: NOU 2016:14 Mer å hente - Bedre læring for elever med stort læringspotensiale [More to gain – Better learning for students with higher learning potential]

  • GP 51: NOU 2015: 8. Fremtidens skole: fornyelse av fag og kompetanser [The school of the future. Renewal of subjects and competences]

  • GP 53: NOU 2010:7 Mangfold og mestring. Flerspråklige barn, unge og voksne i opplæringssystemet [Diversity and mastering. Multilingual children, young people and adults in the education system]

  • GP 54: NOU 2009:18 Rett til læring [students’ rights to learning]

  • GP 55: NOU 2007: 6. Formål for framtida: formål for barnehagen og opplæringen [Objects clause for kindergarten and primary and secondary education]

  • GP 57: NOU 2003: 16. I første rekke: forsterket kvalitet i en grunnopplæring for alle. [In the first row—Increased quality within a basic education system for everyone]

  • GP 60: NOU 2014: 7. Elevenes læring i fremtidens skole: et kunnskapsgrunnlag [Pupils’ learning in the school of the future. A knowledge base].

  • GP 91: NOU 2015: 13. Digital sårbarhet – sikkert samfunn — Beskytte enkeltmennesker og samfunn i en digitalisert verden [Digital vulnerabilities in society]

  • GP 92: NOU 2015: 2. Å høre til: virkemidler for et trygt psykososialt skolemiljø [About belonging and a safe psycho-social school environment].

  • GP 93: NOU 1999: 18. Organisering av oppdragsvirksomhet: en vurdering av rammene for oppdragsvirksomhet ved institusjoner innenfor høgre utdanning [The structure of assignment activities: An evaluation of the conditions for assignment activities within higher education].

Notes

1. The research group consists of Kirsten Sivesind (leader of the project), Berit Karseth, Diana Tiplic, and Bernadette Hörmann from the University of Oslo and Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Oren Pizmony-Levy, and Chanwoong Baek from Teachers College, Columbia University. Gita Steiner-Khamsi also serves as UTNAM Visiting Professor or R2 Professor at the University of Oslo. This study is part of the research project ‘Policy Knowledge and Lesson Drawing in Nordic School Reform in an Era of International Comparison,’ funded by the Norwegian Research Council, project number 283467.

2. The White Papers are written in Norwegian. The original Norwegian title is ‘…og ingen sto igjen. Tidlig innsats for livslang læring’ (Report No. 16 to the Norwegian Parliament, 2006/07).

3. In Norwegian: ‘Kultur for læring’ (Report No. 30 to the Norwegian Parliament, 2003/04).

4. English translation of the full title: Subjects – In-depth learning – Understanding. Renewal of the Norwegian Knowledge Promotion Reform. In Norwegian ‘Fag – Fordypning – Forståelse. En fornyelse av Kunnskapsløftet’ (Report No. 28 to the Norwegian Parliament, 2015/16).

5. English translation of the full title: Eager to learn. About early intervention and quality in schools. In Norwegian: ‘Lærelyst – tidlig innsats og kvalitet i skolen’ (Report No. 21 to the Norwegian Parliament, 2016/17).

6. In general, the place of publication determined whether a text was categorized as national, regional, or international. For example, we considered national OECD reports as international publications if they were published outside Norway. In addition, we developed a protocol for special cases. Among other agreements, we determined that a translated publication, such as the work of Hattie (2009), is considered an international text even if the book was published in Norway.

7. There is a large proportion of missing data and unclassified members (‘others’) in the study of Christensen and Hesstved (2018), in particular for the NOUs of the Ministry of Education and Research. Nevertheless, the proportion of government officials, academics, and interest groups – listed here in the order of frequency – still holds even though the exact proportions may need to be the subject of further analysis.

8. The figures are not directly comparable, because we counted the references per document, whereas Christensen and Holst (2017) computed the frequency of referenced texts by 100 pages.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Norges Forskningsråd [283467].

Notes on contributors

Gita Steiner-Khamsi

Gita Steiner-Khamsi, PhD, Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York (fall semesters) & Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (spring semesters) and Director of NORRAG. She also serves as a part-time Visiting Professor at the University of Oslo, funded by the UTNAM Mobility Grant. A past president of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), she edits or co-edits three book series (E. Elgar, Routledge, Teachers College Press), has published twelve books and numerous other texts related to comparative policy studies in education.

Berit Karseth

Berit Karseth, PhD, Professor, Department of Education, University Oslo.  Her main research is in the fields of education policy, reforms, and curriculum studies both in higher education as well as primary and secondary education. The most recent publications include Legal Regulation and Professional Discretion in Schools (Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 2018, co-author with J. Møller), Pre-vocational education in the curriculum: the case of Norwegian lower secondary education (Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2018, co-author with M. Luimes).

Chanwoong Baek

Chanwoong Baek, Ph.D. candidate in Comparative and International Education at Teachers College, Columbia University with a concentration in sociology. His research interests include the sociology of knowledge, comparative policy studies, globalization, and social networks. He investigates the way that social actors’ perceptions and relationships shape education policy and practice and how such policy and practice are transferred across geographical and institutional boundaries.