Enacting teacher evaluation in Norwegian compulsory education: teachers’ perceptions of possibilities and constraints

Abstract

Abstract This article reports from a case study investigating enactment of teacher evaluation (TE) policies in two lower secondary schools in a large Norwegian municipality. The aim of the study was to explore teachers’ perceptions of TE, and to unpack how new policy initiatives were shaped by translations, mediations, and negotiations in a national context characterised by relatively low-stakes accountability. The analysis was informed by municipal and local school documents, in situ observations, and semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven teachers, focusing on the interplay between material, interpretative, and discursive elements. Findings indicate that TE practices reflect traditional approaches to teachers’ professional development based on classroom observations (COs) and peer counselling, marked by symmetrical relationships, reflexive collaboration, and collective knowledge-sharing. However, a non-hierarchical collective-oriented culture seems to be disrupted by result management and standards that define ‘the good teacher’ or ‘the good lesson’ combined with individual COs. Teachers raise concerns that market discourses which treat pupils as ‘customers’ and teachers as ‘providers of results’ may encourage strategic behaviours to comply with expectations and preserve one’s good reputation. Implications for policy and practice are discussed with regard to how TE as a discursive strategy contributes to the ‘making’ of particular teacher subjectivities.