The battle for whole-child approaches: Examining the motivations, strategies and successes of a parents’ resistance movement against a performance regime in a local Norwegian school system

Authors

  • Guri Skedsmo University of Oslo; Schwyz University of Teacher Education
  • Marjolein K. Camphuijsen Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.30.6452

Keywords:

social movements, parents, standardized testing, management by objectives and results, educational governance, Norway

Abstract

In different parts of the world, social movements led by parents, educators, and professional organizations have emerged that resist educational standardisation and use of (high stakes) standardised tests, and that push for educational change. With the aim of extending empirical coverage of protest movements in non-English speaking countries, this study examines a Norwegian parental movement called Foreldreopprør i Osloskolen (FiO) (in English: Parental Uprising in the Oslo School). We draw on exploratory research based on in-depth interviews with initiators and members of FiO (n=8), as well as documentary and press analysis and an examination of social media sites. The analysis sheds light on the emergence and nature of the movement, parents’ main motivations and discourses, as well as the movements’ collective action strategies and main successes. The findings highlight how rather than opting-out their children from standardised tests, some Norwegian parents chose to opt-out their children from public schools, while continuing their fight for whole-child approaches in public education.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Guri Skedsmo, University of Oslo; Schwyz University of Teacher Education

Prof. Guri Skedsmo is head of Institute for Research on Professions and Professional Learning (IPP), Schwyz University of Teacher Education in Switzerland and associate professor at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo in Norway. Her main research interests are in the areas of educational governance and leadership, school development and change as well as professional development of school leaders.

Marjolein K. Camphuijsen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Marjolein Camphuijsen holds a PhD in sociology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She currently works as an assistant professor at the Department of Educational and Family Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research focus is on the political sociology of education, global education policy, policy enactment, and the effects of public policy on social and educational inequalities.

Downloads

Published

2022-09-06

How to Cite

Skedsmo, G., & Camphuijsen, M. K. (2022). The battle for whole-child approaches: Examining the motivations, strategies and successes of a parents’ resistance movement against a performance regime in a local Norwegian school system. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 30, (136). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.30.6452

Issue

Section

Testing Opt-out Movements