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Professional Actors’ Work to Retain Students in Secondary Education (ProAct)

ProAct aims to explore how school leaders and teachers in upper secondary education work together with lower secondary schools, school authorities, actors from other public services to retain students in secondary education.

Group of people sitting in a circle (Photo: Colourbox illustration).

The ProAct project aims to demonstrate promising practices where school leaders collaborate with school authorities, Pedagogical-Psychological Services, Children Care Services and other public services to retain students in upper secondary education (Photo: Colourbox illustration).

About the project

For many years, Norway has maintained a goal to create a school environment for all students which is referred to as a “school for all”. Still, Norway has experienced a high number of students dropping out of upper secondary education. Almost all 16-year-olds start upper secondary education, but about one-third of them do not complete within the period of five years of legal right to access upper secondary education. The ProAct-project will investigate how teachers, school leaders work together with local and state authorities as well as other public services to increase student retention.

Objectives

The research project Professional Actors’ Work to Retain Students in Secondary Education (ProAct) aims to demonstrate promising practices where school leaders collaborate with school authorities, Pedagogical-Psychological Services, Children Care Services and other public services to retain students in upper secondary education.

By comparing schools with low and high drop-out rates regarding the degree and ways of which these professional actors collaborate, the ProAct project aims to find ways to target possible problems at an earlier stage when interventions can have a larger and more sustainable impact.

Background

PROACT (2020-2024) includes scholars from not only the Department of Teacher Education and School Research at University of Oslo, but also a range of external partners. The project is multidisciplinary and draws on theoretical perspectives and positioned within social science, political science, education and law. New-institutional theories constitute an overall theoretical framework in the project. Both qualitative and quantitative data are included in the study. The project has a mixed-methods design.

Financing

The Research Council of Norway: FINNUT – Programme for Research and Innovation in the Educational Sector

Scientific board

Master students associated with the project

Ingunn Kjellerød Karlsen,
Master Programme in Educational Leadership, UiO
Carina Hertze Bratli,
Master Programme in Educational Leadership, UiO
Aase Nordtorp Houge,
Master Programme in Educational Leadership, UiO

Verger, Antoni & Skedsmo, Guri (2021). Enacting accountability in education: exploring new policy contexts and theoretical elaborations. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability. ISSN 1874-8597. 33(3), p. 391–401. doi: 10.1007/s11092-021-09371-x.
Altrichter, Herbert; Herzog-Punzenberger, Barbara; Fulterer, S; Brown, Martin; Burns, Denise & Nortvedt, Guri A. [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2021). Leistungsbeurteilung und kulturelle Vielfalt: Herausforderungen und Bewertungspraktiken in Schulen der Sekundarstufe I in Österreich, Irland, Norwegen und der Türkei. Erziehung & Unterricht. ISSN 0014-0325. 171(3-4), p. 251–261.
Skedsmo, Guri; Rönnberg, Linda & Ydesen, Christian (2020). National testing and accountability in the Scandinavian welfare states: Education policy translations in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. In Grek, Sotiria; Maroy, Christian & Verger, Antoni (Ed.), World Yearbook of Education 2021 Accountability and Datafication in the Governance of Education. Taylor & Francis Group. ISSN 978-0-367-85650-2. p. 91–107. Show summary
This chapter explores how global education policy and accountability trends are variously translated and adapted in three Scandinavian countries, focusing in particular on the links between national standardized testing and accountability. Norway, Denmark and Sweden are used as empirical cases to reflect on the importance of national trajectories and translations of global ideas and policy. While reference is often made to the ‘universal Scandinavian welfare states’ or the ‘Nordic model’ of education (Antikainen, 2010; Blossing et al., 2014; Telhaug et al., 2006), there are also many differences between the Nordic countries, as for instance in their diverging responses to neoliberal policy developments (Dovemark et al., 2018; Lundahl, 2016; Wiborg, 2013). Our analysis investigates how national testing as an instrument of accountability is linked to translations and enactments in decentralized school systems – including re-centralization processes – under the auspices of a universal welfare state. In particular, we examine how global policy is translated and adapted to serve different purposes and functions within these distinct national contexts.

View all works in Cristin

Mausethagen, Sølvi & Skedsmo, Guri (2023). Previous research on strategies to retain students in secondary education .
Skedsmo, Guri & Mausethagen, Sølvi (2023). Models and strategies used by county authorities to increase the student rate of “completed” and “passed”.
Hall, Jeffrey Brooks & Novak, Judit (2022). Current Policy Expectations on Norwegian School Leaders: State policy on the professional work of retaining students in secondary education.
Skedsmo, Guri (2021). Accountable for Improving Education for All? Tensions in Local Practices of Data Use in Norwegian Municipalities and Schools.
Skedsmo, Guri; Rönnberg, Linda & Ydesen, Christian (2021). National Testing and Accountability in the Scandinavian Welfare States: Education Policy Translations in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. .
Hall, Jeffrey Brooks & Novak, Judit (2021). Current Policy Expectations on Norwegian School Leaders: State policy and the professional work of retaining students in secondary education.
Skedsmo, Guri & Gunnulfsen, Ann Elisabeth (2020). School leadership in Norway: Key characteristics and current challenges.
Skedsmo, Guri (2020). Professional Actors' Work on Retaining Students in Secondary Education.
Bratli, Carina A. Hertze; Houge, Aase Nordtorp; Karlsen, Ingunn Kjellerød & Skedsmo, Guri (2021). Vi gir dem ikke opp. En casestudie av organisering og lederstrategier i frafallsarbeidet i to videregående skoler. Universitetet i Oslo.