0000000001233085
AUTHOR
Jorunn H. Midtsundstad
Teachers’ responsibility and expectations: Dependent on the school organisation?
This article presents findings from a qualitative case study focusing on teachers’ communication concerning expectations and responsibilities in different schools. The study indicates the following: (1) the connection between structural expectations and responsibility is important, (2) different expectation structures provide different opportunities for collective responsibility, and (3) expectations from others and towards others in a learning community can limit or expand opportunities to learn from each other. These findings enable a discussion on how teachers’ responsibility depends on schools’ expectations and also raise questions about teachers’ expectations towards themselves and th…
Reflections on Relevance and Quality in School-In
Teaching in the age of accountability: restrained by school culture?
AbstractIn this paper, we explore how ‘teaching communication’ in the classroom is connected to school culture. In the age of accountability, the outcome focus force to the forefront, a ‘blame game’ which either blames students’ achievements on the teachers and teacher education, or the students and their socio-economic background. We argue that to succeed with teaching and learning is dependent on the school culture more than the single teacher or the students’ backgrounds. School culture is understood as attitudes, communication, student focus and engagement. Teaching communication in this paper is studied as teachers’ and students’ talk about subject matter in whole-class teaching. We ex…
An Examination of the Role and Responsibilities of Kindergarten in Multidisciplinary Collaboration on Behalf of Children With Severe Disabilities
The purpose of this study was to examine the role and responsibilities of Norwegian kindergarten (i.e., preschool for ages 0–6 years) from the perspective of participants involved in multidisciplinary collaboration on behalf of children with severe disabilities and their families. The authors employed a multiple-case study approach comprising 26 interviews across six cases. Findings suggest that kindergarten is considered an important partner for families and a major contributor to the provision of services. Kindergartens were valued for their (1) close relationships and intimate knowledge of children as individuals, (2) the sense of security and relief of stress that they provided to paren…
The School Programme: A Key Link between Contextual Influence and School Development
ABSTRACTThis paper is designed to contribute to the discussion on how to conceptualise and study contextual influence in local school development. We propose a theoretical framework and an empirical illustration to supplement former research on rural school research. Focusing on what the school perceives as important in its community may explain why schools are different, based on the concept that the place where the school is located has its own expectation structures. This interaction between school and place creates the concept of the school programme, representing the role of teacher expectations within the school and the teachers’ encounter with the expectation structures of the specif…