The high value accorded to the research-based development of education in higher education communities means that researchers in the field have an important role in determining the foci of such efforts. However, it is important to ask whether higher education research is providing answers that satisfy practical educational needs. In this study,…

In 2003, the Norwegian higher educational system was reformed. The reform, known as the 2003 Quality Reform, introduced changes in the teaching model and student assessment. The authors wished to study how these changes affected male and female students. Therefore, they addressed student learning outcomes, measured through examination results,…

This paper is a retrospective descriptive content analysis of all identified school documents for 90 ninth-grade students with a history of truancy, collected from two Swedish compulsory schools. The study investigates individual, school, and psychosocial factors in the documents and three analyses are presented: (1) a general analysis of the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Finnish high school students' and teachers' perceptions of the effects of short-term Nordic study abroad programs in which they had participated. The data presented were based on a "mixed-methods strategy." The data set consisted of responses from 158 students and 92 teachers to a…

Although teaching is frequently cited as a stressful profession, limited recent Norwegian data is available. This study addressed the extent to which organizational climate and individual and organizational well-being outcomes vary between schools in rural, urban, and city locations. Participants were predominantly female (68%), aged 45+ years…

Socioeconomic status (SES) is often used as control variable when relations between academic outcomes and students' migrational background are investigated. When measuring SES, indicators used must have the same meaning across groups. This study aims to examine the measurement invariance of SES, using data from TIMSS, 2003. The study shows…

Results are reported from a study in which teachers' views of highly achieving ninth grade classes in Norway (KappAbel national competition winners) were compared with teachers' views of average achievement classes with regard to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and pedagogical practices. The main purpose of the study…

The study's aim was to investigate how school start time affects sleepiness and functioning in Norwegian 10th grade students (N = 106). The intervention school started at 0930 hours on Mondays and 0830 hours the rest of the week. A control school started at 0830 hours all schooldays. The students were assessed on a reaction time test as well as…

Students' experiences and perceptions of good teaching and understanding in literature and physics during one school year were investigated through in-depth interviews with students in eight Greek high school classes in the first, second and third grade. The pedagogical quality of in-depth teaching and understanding of subject matter, as described…

During the Bologna process, from 2003 to 2006, degree programmes, including teacher education curricula, were developed in line with the two-tier system--the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and modularization. The purpose of the present study is to contribute to the development of teacher education profiling measures by…

This study compared the subjective and school-related happiness of 75 11- to 16-year-old special education students to 77 age- and gender-matched mainstream students using two quantitative measures. Additionally, the respondents chose from a list of 12 putative happy makers what they felt increased their happiness. Ten special education students…

The Matthew effect is often used as a metaphor to describe a widening gap between good and poor readers over time. In this study we examined the development of individual differences in reading and cognitive functioning in children with reading difficulties and normal readers from Grades 1 to 3. Matthew effects were observed for individual…

In the present study of Norwegian adolescents aged 12-15 years, adolescents with reading difficulties (RD) were compared with adolescents without RD on emotional and behavioral problems. Of this group, 191 (7.8%) adolescents reported having RD at T[subscript 1]. At both time points, when compared with the non-RD group, those in the RD group had…

The purpose of this study was to examine conceptual change among future elementary school teachers while studying a scientific text concerning photosynthesis. Students' learning goals in relation to their learning outcomes were also examined. The participants were future elementary school teachers. The design consisted of pre- and post-tests. The…

Taking a bird's-eye-view of the philosophical discourses that metaphorize creativity as "expression," "production," and "reconstruction," this article depicts their vital characteristics and distinct ways of portraying the relationships between creativity, educative experiences, and the epistemic cultures now occurring within and beyond the…