Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA): Open Access Journals
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“When You Feel Like There is No Trust in the Profession”—Midwives and Obstetricians Facing Complicated Cases
No full textThis study examines how two collaborating professions, midwifery and obstetrics, are influenced by women requesting caesarean sections. The empirical material consists of semi-structured interviews with Swedish midwives (n=6) and obstetricians (n=6). Analysed through Tilly’s terms, the categorical pair and triad, midwife and obstetrician function as complementary categories in a triad with the women they encounter. Midwifery is a profession with connotations of closeness, understanding, and a unique connection to birth. It is challenged when women reject support or the idea of vaginal birth as empowering. Obstetrics, as a profession, relates to medical expertise, distance, and overview. It is challenged when their knowledge and authority are rejected. Both professions rely on each other’s complementary roles for support. The midwife draws on the obstetrician’s authority, while the obstetrician draws on the midwife’s empathic knowledge of the woman. When strongly challenged, they uphold their defined positions by questioning the woman’s judgement and rationality
Gruppestørrelse og lærertetthet i grunnskolefaget kunst og håndverk: Departementets anbefalinger og reguleringer i årene 1939–2020
No full textIn the curriculum from 1939, there was for the first time recommendations on group size and teacher density in the primary school subjects woodworking and handicrafts. Such recommendations have long since been removed from the curriculum. The regulations that exist today are found in the Education Act and the Education Regulations and apply to all teaching. This article analyses the Ministry\u27s recommendations and regulations for group size and teacher density for what is currently the subject of arts and crafts in the period 1939-2020. Curricula, circulars, school laws and regulations are included in the analysis, which is divided into four periods; 1) 1939-1965: National detailed control, 2) 1966-1985: Framework hours and increased local flexibility, 3) 1986-2002: Decentralization and silence, and 4) 2003-2020: Discretionary regulation and increased teacher density. The article discusses what the provisions have led to in practice, as well as possible challenges with the current legal regulation of group size.I Normalplanen av 1939 stod det for første gang en anbefaling om gruppestørrelse og lærertetthet i de norske grunnskolefagene sløyd og håndarbeid. Slike anbefalinger er for lengst tatt ut av læreplanen. De reguleringene som finnes i dag, står i opplæringsloven og opplæringsforskriften og gjelder all undervisning. I denne artikkelen analyseres departementets anbefalinger og reguleringer til gruppestørrelse og lærertetthet til det som i dag er faget kunst og håndverk i perioden 1939–2020. Metoden som benyttes er praksisorientert dokumentanalyse, avgrenset til analysegrepene dokumentsaker og dokumentverktøy. Analysen bygger på læreplaner, rundskriv, lover og forskrifter, og er inndelt i fire perioder: 1) 1939–1965: Nasjonal detaljstyring, 2) 1966–1985: Rammetimetall og økt lokal fleksibilitet, 3) 1986–2002: Desentralisering og stillhet, og 4) 2003–2020: Skjønnsbasert regulering og norm for lærertetthet. Resultatet viser en utvikling fra nasjonale, tallfestede reguleringer i bestemte fag til generelle og skjønnsbaserte reguleringer som gjelder all undervisning. I diskusjonen ses det nærmere på hva saken har ført og kan ha ført til i praksis, blant annet hvordan anbefalinger og reguleringer har fungert som standard for spesialrommenes størrelse. Det diskuteres hvordan dagens skjønnsbaserte regulering gir stor frihet, noe som kan skape betydelige lokale forskjeller.
Keywords: gruppestørrelse, lærertetthet, grunnskole, praksisorientert dokumentanalyse, skolehistorie, skolestyring
Becoming Scholars with Data: Exploring Imaginative Methodological Practices
No full textOur intention in this inquiry was to imaginatively engage with data to see what may be made possible. Informed by the ontological turn (Zembylas, 2017) and a call for creative engagement with data (Wolgemuth et al., 2025), we leveraged cognitive tools (Egan, 1997, 2005), to playfully engage with interview transcripts. Despite approaching the inquiry from a relational, more-than-human ontology, we found ourselves continually constrained by humanist understandings. Our inquiry highlights how implicit and deeply-entrenched our assumptions about research are; we illuminate these assumptions by exploring iterative problematics that arose in our playful engagement. Our engagement in this inquiry allowed the data to work on us, as we worked on the data, producing us differently as researchers and as scholars. Our experience with imaginative methodology opened up possibility and proliferated the ‘what if?’ required to move beyond dominant ways of knowing. However, our experience demonstrates the tensions we continue to navigate as becoming-researchers.
Thinking and painting with movement : Postqualitative inquiries into literature’s thing-power in teacher education
No full textThis inquiry embraces thinking with theory and painting with movement to attune to the materiality and thing-power of literature and what it can set in motion for student teachers. Seven academics at the intersection of early childhood education, teacher education, and post-qualitative inquiry engaged with an arts-based practice of digital painting and collaging to become sensitive to the minor and major forces of literature’s thing-power in student teachers’ learning diaries and reading practices. This study demonstrates a new approach to inquiring into literature’s vital materialism and contributes novel configurations of literature as an agentic and lively force in higher education
Yrkesfaglærerutdanning: Læring i hjertet av arbeidslivet
No full textThis study examines how relocating a one-year full-time practical pedagogical education programme (PPU-Y) for vocational student teachers to a local upper secondary school impacts students’ readiness for the teaching profession. A development project was initiated to move campus-based theoretical teaching to an upper secondary school, with the aim to reduce this gap and offering more authentic, experience-based learning. Using a qualitative pilot design, data were collected through focus group interviews with seven student teachers. The findings suggest that early presence in the practice field reduced practicum shock, supported the students\u27 professional development, and deepened their understanding of teachers’ daily work. The school functioned as a boundary object, fostering integration between theory and practice, with teacher educators acting as boundary workers. Moreover, the school setting created a ‘third space’ that enabled informal learning and professional socialisation, allowing student teachers to connect theoretical knowledge with everyday teaching practices. This study concludes that such an organisational approach may enhance the relevance and coherence of vocational teacher education by bridging institutional and practical learning contexts.Denne studien undersøker hvordan flytting av et ettårig fulltids praktisk-pedagogisk utdanningsprogram for yrkesfag (PPU-Y) til en lokal videregående skole påvirker studentenes forberedelser til læreryrket. Studien adresserer kritikken av det vedvarende gapet mellom teori og praksis i lærerutdanningen. Et utviklingsprosjekt ble igangsatt for å flytte teoretisk undervisning fra campus til en videregående skole, med mål om å redusere dette gapet og tilby mer autentisk, erfaringsbasert læring. Ved bruk av et kvalitativt pilotdesign ble data samlet inn gjennom fokusgruppeintervjuer med syv lærerstudenter. Funnene tyder på at tidlig tilstedeværelse i praksisfeltet reduserte praksissjokk, støttet profesjonell utvikling, og utdypet forståelsen av læreres daglige arbeid. Skolen fungerte som et grensobjekt som fremmet integrasjonen mellom teori og praksis, med lærerutdannere som grensearbeidere. I tillegg skapte skolemiljøet et ‘tredje rom’ som muliggjorde uformell læring og profesjonell sosialisering, og ga lærerstudenter muligheten til å koble teoretisk kunnskap med daglig undervisningspraksis. Studien konkluderer med at en slik organisatorisk tilnærming kan øke relevansen og sammenhengen i yrkesfaglærerutdanningen, ved å bygge bro mellom institusjonelle og praktiske læringskontekster
A Comparative Look at Advanced and Enhanced Clinical Radiography Practices in the UK and Denmark: - a discussion paper
No full textRadiography practice has evolved significantly in both the United Kingdom (UK) and Denmark during the last decade, driven by the need for greater clinical skills and improved patient care. Technological progress has resulted from both innovations in imaging modalities and the expansion of radiographers’ responsibilities such as the MRI with more advanced fields, going from film to digital imaging and the latest artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.
By comparing the frameworks, educational pathways, and professional roles associated with enhanced and advanced practice in radiography in these two countries, we provide an overview of options for radiographers to pursue career options. By examining the similarities and differences, we aim to provide insights into how each country approaches the development and implementation of advanced and enhanced radiographic practices
From Guardianship to Complicity: A Boundary Perspective on Professional Misconduct
No full textThis article explains professional misconduct through a boundary-centred ecological perspective. Although professions have historically justified their status and labour market privileges through social trusteeship and public service claims, numerous scandals—from Enron and Parmalat to the financial crisis and the opioid epidemic—reveal systematic failures of professional gatekeepers. I argue that these failures arise when boundaries within and around the system of professions are poorly designed or managed, particularly by being too weak, too strong, or too uncertain. These conditions generate mechanisms such as capture, conflicts of interest, collective myopia, double deontology, and regulatory arbitrage, leading to an increased likelihood of professional failure and misconduct. Contemporary trends such as globalisation, commercialisation, and technological change further destabilise traditional arrangements. The article concludes by advocating a configurational approach to boundary design to strengthen contemporary professional regulation
Framing Good Inclusion: School Awards and Leadership Expectations in Norway and Germany
No full textThis comparative study explores how the idea of good inclusion is framed in Norway and Germany, and how these framings shape expectations for school leaders. The analysis draws on two sources: the criteria of national school awards for inclusive education and the ways in which leadership magazines construct expectations for school leaders. Recognizing both the importance and ambiguity of inclusion—and the uncertainties it poses for educational leadership—the study uses qualitative content analysis to examine how inclusion is defined and communicated across contexts. Award websites and leadership magazine articles were analyzed through a structured process of paraphrasing to define inductive categories. The findings show that while national framings of inclusion differ, emphasizing diagnostic and structural aspects in Germany and well-being and equity in Norway, expectations for school leaders converge. In both contexts, leadership magazines highlight the importance of systematic school development, stakeholder collaboration, and personal traits such as courage and empathy. This suggests that inclusion is increasingly embedded in general leadership ideals, positioning it as a core element of what defines a good school. This study contributes to comparative and international education research by illuminating how national framings of inclusion shape leadership expectations across contexts, offering insights into the interplay between Nordic and non-Nordic perspectives
Styring og ledelse i handlingsrommet mellom tillit og kontroll
No full textNordic trust reforms are aimed at strengthening co-determination and professional autonomy in public sector organizations. The values are already present, but the use of trust is challenging when existing management systems are based on control. At the same time, this article argues that the balance between trust and control creates a room for manoeuvre for trust-based interaction. The results are based on a study of municipal manager’ experiences with leadership between trust and control and reveal that municipal managers exercise trust by using several trust-based leadership styles in the balance between having control and trust. They are also concerned with shielding employees so that they can carry out practice-based work. The article shows how such a trust-based management style requires institutional trust, rooted in trust-based management systems in the organization and its environment.Nordiske tillitsreformer er rettet mot å styrke medbestemmelse og faglig frihet i offentlige virksomheter. Verdiene er allerede til stede, men utøvelse av tillit er vanskelig når eksisterende styringssystemer er forankret i kontroll. Samtidig hevder denne artikkelen at balansen mellom tillit og kontroll nettopp skaper et handlingsrom for tillitsbasert handling. Resultatene er basert på en studie av kommunale direktørers erfaringer med ledelse mellom tillit og kontroll, og avdekker at kommunale ledere utøver tillit i praksis ved bruk av en rekke tillitsbaserte ledelsesstiler i balansen mellom å ha kontroll og ha tillit til. De er også opptatt av å skjerme ansatte slik at de kan drive kollegialt fornyelses- og omstillingsarbeid. Artikkelen viser hvordan en slik tillitsbasert ledelsesstil fordrer institusjonell tillit, forankret i tillitsbaserte styringssystemer i virksomheten og dens omgivelser