This article presents a qualitative study concerning student teachers' understanding of differentiation for high-achieving secondary school students. Predominantly using focus group interviews of Norwegian student teachers (N = 322), this study identified their understanding of the use and value of differentiation, drawing from their teaching practice and experience. This study supports the notion that student teachers lack confidence in enacting differentiation, despite being aware of its importance, when working with these students. We contend that teacher education needs to pay more attention to helping student teachers effectively differentiate to meet the needs of high-achieving students with higher learning potential.

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Studies have shown that school leaders are important in work with largescale policy reforms in schools. However, the issue of how school leaders and teachers discuss and enact policy is understudied. This article explores the discursive processes in school leaders' and teachers' policy enactment as they construct responses to policy. The data consists of video recordings and observation of leadership meetings and teacherteam meetings. A critical discourse analytical approach combined with perspectives of policy enactment as a process of interpretation serve as analytical concepts. The findings indicate the school leaders act more as narrators and enthusiasts, while the deputy managers and teacher-team leaders are more messengers and enforcers. The teachers mostly keep the discursive role as critics and preventers of 'overburdening.' A main argument is that the policy expectation of using national test results as a tool to develop school quality and student learning seems to be lost in translation.

Tilpasset opplæring er et sentralt prinsipp i norsk skole og innebærer at alle elever har krav på differensiert undervisning. Samtidig er differensiering utfordrende å ivareta både for erfarne og mindre erfarne lærere. I denne artikkelen argumenterer vi for at det er viktig at lærerutdannere gir studentene både undervisning og veiledet trening om differensiering. I studien har vi bedt lærerstudenter ta utgangspunkt i elever de har hatt i sin 12-ukers praksis i ungdomsskolen eller videregående skole, og som de har opplevd som høytpresterende med stort læringspotensial. De reflekterer over spørsmål knyttet til kjennetegn ved disse elevene, samt deres mestring og behov. Studien bruker intervjudata fra 322 lærerstudenter ved Universitetet i Oslo i perioden 2013-2015. Vi diskuterer hvordan kunnskap om lærerstudenters refleksjoner om differensiering for disse elevene kan bidra til å styrke fremtidens lærerutdanning.Nøkkelord: differensiering, lærerutdanning, lærerstudenter, tilpasset opplæring, læreres profesjonsfaglig kompetanse Abstract Adapted teaching is a key principle in Norwegian school. This indicates that all students have the right to differentiation, which creates a complexity that is challenging for experienced and novice teachers alike. In this article we argue the importance of including differentiation as a topic as well as guided training in practising differentiation at campus. In this study we asked student teachers to reflect on the students in the classes they had taught for 12 weeks at the practice schools, and to characterise high potential students. The student teachers were asked to reflect on these students’ characteristics, mastery, and needs. The study includes data from interviews among 322 student teachers at the University of Oslo in 2013-2015. We discuss how knowledge about student teachers’ reflections about differentiation for high potential students, might enhance future teacher education.Key words: differentiation, teacher education, student teachers, adapted teaching, teacher professional development

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine teachers’ reported experiences, practices, and attitudes on the use of national test results in a low-stakes accountability context. Whether the stakes are high or low, teachers and school leaders have different experiences, knowledge, and beliefs concerning how to use national test results to benefit individual student learning. This paper addresses how teachers experience school leadership and policy requirements for using national test results in local schools. Design/methodology/approach This paper is part of a larger study conducted in a Norwegian educational context investigating school leaders’ and teachers’ enactments of policy demands via the use of national test results data. The sub-study reported in this paper is based on survey data from all lower secondary teachers (n=176) in one Norwegian municipality. Micro-policy perspectives and the concept of crafting policy coherence served as analytical tools. Findings Diversity between the schools was found in how teachers perceive the principals’ role. Practices and attitudes appeared restrained, somewhat conformed by, but still indifferent to the policy intention. However, there was a close relationship between the principals’ facilitation of national tests and the teachers’ practices of utilizing the results. Originality/value This study clarified how micro-policy works in local schools in a low-stakes context. A prominent difference was found between the policy intentions and local schools’ practice of using national test results.