In this article, a study of combined discursive emphasis on the concepts "culture for learning" and "learning outcomes" in recent education policy messages is presented. These concepts have been individually examined but seldom as parallel or converging policy messages. Inspired by discursive institutionalism, we address the policy framing of a 14-year period of intense education reform with Norway as an example. Findings indicate that the key concept of the reform culture-for-learning policy idea functioned as a buzzword for a shorter time, gaining public acceptance of the new reform, while the more concrete learningoutcomes policy idea rooted. Both ideas were presented as solutions to perceived problems in schools due to unsatisfactory PISA results and the emerging globalization of educational policies. This study highlights the roles of concepts and ideas in educational governance and how these roles can be factors in reform success or failure. It is beneficial if the new policy is in a chain of equivalence with other concepts.
In this chapter, the policy–practice nexus is empirically studied by examining an example of student group work trajectory in the context of Norwegian classrooms. Research and policy highlight the importance of developing student collaboration skills in the school setting. At the same time, contemporary education is marked by a focus on the individual learner and the measurement of the learning outcomes of individual students. This chapter explores this apparent dilemma by contrasting the political and pedagogical ambitions related to desired outcomes of student group work with empirical actualisation of authentic student group work. A conceptual framework informed by discursive institutionalism and the theory of cooperation and competition provides a multilayered lens for exploring the policy–practice nexus and scrutinising how policy intent might turn out in practice. As such, the study can serve as an example of how policy ideas, the school as an institution and the agency of teachers and students interact in the complex field of educational practice.
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