Melissa Mouthaan
OECD
Håkon Kavli
Ministry of Education and Research, Norway
Elisabeth Buk-Berge
Ministry of Education and Research, Norway
Kari-Elisabeth Vambeseth Skogen
Ministry of Education and Research, Norway
Who Really Cares about Using Education Research in Policy and Practice?
Developing a Culture of Research Engagement
Educational Research and Innovation
7. Research use in education policy making in Norway: A case study
Abstract
This chapter examines the use of research in governing and developing the education sector in Norway. It maps the landscape of education research stakeholders and strategies in the policy arena and provides an overview of the status quo of education research in Norway. It presents an analysis of policy makers’ use of education research and perceptions of the strengths and gaps in using knowledge and evidence in education policy making in Norway. The chapter details the main processes and structures that Norway has put in place to facilitate the use of education research within the public sector and explores the public sector PhD programme as a particular example of a promising practice. It concludes with some key takeaways.
Introduction
The two OECD/CERI learning seminars hosted by the Netherlands and Flanders in 2022 were attended by delegations from peer countries, including Norway, who discussed practices, processes and structures to promote and facilitate evidence use in their systems. Following the two evidence use journeys in Chapters 4 and 5, this chapter is another type of output that emerged from the learning seminars, namely, a case study of research use in education policy, and policy for education research in Norway. It contextualises survey data collected from Norway in the OECD Strengthening the Impact of Education Research policy survey (see Chapter 1) as well as drawing on OECD follow-up communications in 2022 with officials in the Ministry of Education and Research. It features key processes and structures that promote a culture of research engagement at the system level in Norway.
A system overview of Norwegian education governance
Features of the Norwegian education system
A decentralised system
The governance and funding of Norway’s education system reflect a long-established tradition of decentralisation. Municipalities have a high level of autonomy in implementing policy reforms and the day-to-day operation of schools. The Ministry of Education and Research steers national policy on education and supervises local governance. It also has direct responsibility for public higher education institutions, which receive public funds but operate with relative autonomy within a regulatory framework. In Norway, schools’ autonomy over resource allocation (such as hiring and dismissing teachers) is around the OECD average, while autonomy over curriculum and assessment is below average (OECD, 2020[1]). The Directorate for Education and Training and the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills also play a major role in Norwegian education governance. The Directorate for Education and Training is responsible for inspecting kindergartens and schools and ensures that Norwegian education policy is implemented. The Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, established in July 2021, is the executive agency for the Ministry of Education and Research, and is responsible for the national skills policy.
High public spending on education and education R&D
Norway’s overall education expenditure is among the highest in the OECD, with 4.6% of gross domestic product spent on education in 2018 (OECD, 2022[2]). Total spending on education research more than doubled in the period 2007-19, at NOK 2.49 billion (Norwegian kroner) in 2021 (Statistics Norway, 2023[3]), with more than half of education research carried out by state universities (Statistics Norway, 2023[3]).
Recent challenges and improvements
The OECD (2020[1]) analysed the Norwegian educational context in 2014 and subsequently in 2020, assessing its strengths and challenges. It called for greater alignment of different levels of governance and resources to ensure effective policy implementation across Norway’s decentralised education system. It has recommended developing clear implementation strategies that engage different stakeholders, reinforcing the role of key actors at different levels, and developing a culture of evidence in which data are used strategically. Norway has developed a competence development model for schools and has subsequently worked on an implementation strategy with the OECD. The OECD review recommended a clear data framework to follow up on progress in implementation and suggested the Directorate for Education and Training could play a leading role in exploiting data to depict the nuanced landscape of education in Norway and thereby help school owners (OECD, 2019, p. 16[4]).
While a high level of decentralisation has its advantages, Norway has also encountered challenges in aligning local and national goals and ensuring the consistent implementation of policy reforms. The OECD also previously identified a need to expand data collection and exchange in areas such as evaluating lifelong learning programmes (OECD, 2020[1]).
Actors in education research and knowledge mobilisation
Figure 7.1 depicts the landscape of education research stakeholders in Norway, both within the ministry and beyond. It also shows the ministry’s currently active strategies for education research, of which two – its Strategy for Educational Research and the PhD in the Public Sector Programme (OFFPHD), are examined in more detail in this case study (see Figure 7.1).
Figure 7.1. The education research landscape: Stakeholders and strategies
Note: R&I: research and innovation.
Source: Developed by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research for an OECD learning seminar held in the Netherlands on 2‑3 June 2022.
The landscape of actors in knowledge mobilisation
The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research’s response to the 2021 Strengthening the Impact of Education Research policy survey noted that some organisations were very active in facilitating the use of education research in policy making (outside of the ministry itself, these included brokerage agencies and government funding agencies; see Figure 7.2). Teacher unions and universities were also perceived as being active in this area. In contrast, academic associations, businesses and think tanks were not considered very active. Media organisations were not considered active at all.
The ministry has particularly strong relationships with some institutions when it comes to research use in policy making. However, it perceives some of these organisations as only moderately active despite their input being routinely sought. For example, the ministry solicits research-related inputs from public sector research organisations and education consulting firms quite frequently (every month or two) yet perceives these actors to be only moderately active in facilitating the use of research in policy.
Figure 7.2. Activeness of organisations and frequency of input
Notes: Data show the level of activeness of the given organisations in facilitating the use of education research in policy perceived by Norway on a 5-point Likert scale (from 1. “Not active at all” to 5. “Very active”) and the level of frequency/intensity that Norway’s Ministry of Education solicits the given organisations to facilitate the use of research in policy on a 6-point Likert scale (from 1. “Never” to 6. “Very frequently”). Norway did not indicate how frequently/intensively the Ministry of Education and Research solicits input from government funding agencies to facilitate the use of research in policy.
Organisations are ranked in descending order of their activeness in facilitating research use in policy making reported by systems.
Source: OECD Strengthening the Impact of Education Research policy survey.
Key knowledge brokerage organisations
Knowledge brokerage agency
The Knowledge Centre for Education was established by the Ministry of Education and Research in 2013. Between 2013 and 2019, it was hosted as a unit within the Research Council of Norway (RCN). It is now a research centre within the Faculty of Education and Arts at the University of Stavanger. It receives funding directly from the ministry.
The centre produces research syntheses for the entire education sector – from early childhood through to higher education – for practitioners, researchers and policy makers; disseminates research syntheses in ways that enable engagement and understanding; and increases knowledge about systematic syntheses of research – their relevance, their use, and how to do systematic research reviews and syntheses. Under the ministry’s most recent Strategy for Educational Research, a key task is strengthening the centre to support the further development of its role as a knowledge broker.
Government funding agencies
The Directorates for Education and Training and for Higher Education and Skills commission research on education and engage in knowledge brokerage. These government agencies have responsibility for ensuring that relevant research is made easily accessible to the ministry and policy makers and that research is communicated in a way that facilitates understanding.
In 2022, the Directorate for Education and Training commissioned research for approximately NOK 81 million and the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills for approximately NOK 30 million. In reporting results from research projects to the ministry, the directorates summarise reports and articles and provide an assessment of the quality of specific studies and of the policy implications of research findings.
In 2022, the RCN issued calls for research and funded ongoing research projects in education, spending approximately NOK 400 million. RCN also collaborates with The Knowledge Centre for Education on the Programme for Research and Innovation in the Educational Sector (FINNUT) Web-database. The database gives access to all scientific publications funded by the FINNUT programme (see section below in this chapter) including peer-reviewed articles, books, book chapters and reports (EPPI-Centre, 2023[5]).
Teacher union
The largest teacher union in Norway, Utdanningsforbundet, hosts a digital research portal which aims to provide easy access for teachers and other employees to research that is relevant to their profession (Utdanningsforbundet, 2023[6]). The portal hosts 3 000 freely accessible and searchable articles on education research. While the union’s main target group is practitioners, the research presented is also intended to inform policy – especially school owners at the municipality level.
The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities
The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) is the organisation for all local governments in Norway (Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, 2023[7]). All municipalities and county councils (school owners) are members. A large part of KS’ development work is organised as networks and meeting places where members with similar challenges share their experiences and knowledge, including those specific to education. KS is the secretariat for various clusters for political and administrative leaders, also within education.
Scope for using education research: What is the status quo?
Norway reported in the policy survey that around 90% of education research undertaken in the country is publicly funded (Rørstad et al., 2021, p. 103[8]). Norway has made clearly targeted investments in research and innovation in the educational sector over the years and has undertaken strategic planning to increase and improve the production of educational research.
A 2018 evaluation of the state of education research found positive developments and areas for improvement (Research Council of Norway, 2018[9]). These are summarised in Table 7.1.
Table 7.1. Evaluating the status of education research in Norway
Source: Adapted from Research Council of Norway (2018[9]), Evaluation of Norwegian Education Research, www.forskningsradet.no/om-forskningsradet/publikasjoner/2018/evaluation-of-norwegian-education-research.
Strengths and gaps in knowledge mobilisation
Survey data show that the Ministry of Education and Research perceives the following strengths and areas for improvement for using research in policy making.
Resources and infrastructure are generally a strength in the system. There are adequate human resources (individuals/organisations) as well as financial resources to effectively integrate education research into the policy process. There is adequate soft infrastructure (e.g. networks, databases, journal subscriptions, collaborative forums) to support the use of research. However, it was felt that policy makers generally do not have sufficient time to access and use education research.
The competences of policy makers that have specific research use roles are strong. They have appropriate knowledge and skills to understand and interpret education research; evaluate the quality of education research; and find and access research relevant to their needs. This group of policy makers also has access to extensive learning opportunities specifically tailored to developing (or maintaining) research knowledge and skills, including in-house courses arranged by the ministry and training delivered by external providers; and opportunities for secondments to national and international institutions. In addition, the ministry considers that the vast majority of policy makers in Norway have the skills and knowledge to communicate research for decision making and formulate research needs effectively.
The survey shows that the Ministry of Education and Research is quite satisfied with the extent to which policy makers use research in policy processes, and the ways in which policy makers use and access research. Overall, Norway has taken steps to ensure research evidence is systematically used in education policy. Overall, the ministry considers the following factors to be the top three barriers to increasing and improving the use of education research in policy making in Norway:
1. lack of time to access and engage with research;
2. lack of appropriate mechanisms or processes;
3. low accessibility of research (research evidence is often not in formats that facilitate its use in policy making).
These barriers are not unique to Norway: the survey data show that these are among the most common barriers to increasing the use of education research in policy in the surveyed systems.
Processes to increase the use of education research
Several promising processes are in place in Norway to facilitate the use of education research in policy. According to the policy survey data and OECD communications with officials at the Ministry of Education, Norway systematically:
identifies policy makers’ needs in terms of research knowledge
identifies research gaps that are relevant to policy
commissions research to address policy needs
provides targeted funding for research on specific topics (issuing calls for research).
Norway has also established the following processes:
programmes and projects that encourage interactions among actors (for example, a partnership or network) to facilitate the use of education research in policy making
legislation, laws or guidelines to promote the use of education research in education policy
a system-wide strategy for facilitating the use of education research in policy
regular and system-wide activities to monitor and evaluate the impact of education research in policy
regular and system-wide activities to build capacity and develop skills among policy makers to use education research
tools, toolkits and online platforms for policy makers that synthesise and disseminate education research findings and are user-friendly.
Sectoral approach to using evidence
Specific to the Norwegian context is the “sector principle” for research. Following this principle, each government ministry is responsible for research undertaken within its area of jurisdiction. The Ministry of Education and Research is thus responsible for research on, and for, the education sector. This principle requires individual ministries to maintain an overview of the sector’s knowledge needs and communicate these needs to research institutions. It also ensures that ministries systematically consider research as a tool for achieving policy goals.
The policy survey data suggest a high level of trust in research among policy makers and a high level of trust between policy makers and researchers.
In practice, the approach taken by government ministries varies. Norwegian ministries have organised themselves very differently in how they make use of research and knowledge, and there is no common organisation or structure in place across ministries to draw on evidence for policy making.
The Strategy for Educational Research
The Ministry of Education and Research has had a Strategy for Educational Research since 2008. The strategy aims to facilitate reliable and relevant education research that reflects current issues of interest and to provide a solid knowledge base to inform policy and practice in the longer run. The current strategy, which is the third, covers 2020-24 and builds on the two preceding strategies (see Box 7.1). The strategy for educational research was externally evaluated in 2018.
Compared to the two previous strategies, the current strategy emphasises dissemination and mediation of research findings: there is a sub-section on dissemination and user participation, with the stated aim also of strengthening the Knowledge Centre for Education to improve dissemination. It builds on the evidence production-to-use model (as defined in the strategy document) that draws conceptually on the work of Gough et al. (2011[10]).
The strategy defines the core purposes of the main funding channels for education research, which complement the basic grants to education research institutions. The strategy sets an agenda for research and lays out research gaps, pointing out topics where there is a clear need to grow the research base for evidence-informed policy making and practice (Box 7.1).
Box 7.1. The development and content of the 2020-24 Strategy for Educational Research
The current strategy is in place for four years (2020-24) and is due for renewal in 2025. In the process of renewing the strategy, the Ministry of Education and Research defines key questions and invites written inputs to these questions. It also organises meetings with stakeholders to encourage dialogue. These various inputs are then used as a basis to produce a draft strategy which is shared internally within the ministry for feedback. Underlying agencies such as the Directorate for Education and Training and the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, and the RCN, will also be providing input and feedback during this process.
How was the strategy developed?
The ministry defined a number of key questions in the preparation of the latest Strategy for Educational Research document that were based on the findings of the 2018 Research Council of Norway’s evaluation report, the two preceding strategies, and general insights from staff at the ministry. Key questions included: How can we stimulate research collaboration; across disciplines, and internationally? Is there a need to strengthen educational research in certain areas? If so, which ones, and how? These questions were posed to researchers, collaborators at the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Directorate of Education and Training, teacher education institutions, the Norwegian Teacher Union, and other stakeholders in the education research environment. After obtaining inputs to these questions, the ministry organised meetings and seminars with individual groups of stakeholders to promote the work being undertaken on the strategy, encourage dialogue around the key questions, and understand the needs of each stakeholder group. In these meetings, stakeholders were invited to give a presentation to the ministry. After each meeting, a written summary was produced. Ultimately, the priority areas were defined using input from stakeholders and from within the ministry.
The ministry plans to repeat this process starting in 2023 for the next education research strategy.
What are the current strategy’s aims?
Raise the quality and increase the scope of research in selected areas.
Promote user participation and practice-oriented issues in education research.
Stimulate method and theory development in education research.
Facilitate the availability and sharing of research data.
Facilitate more reviews/summaries of research.
Further develop research competence in teacher education.
What focus areas does it define?
Research areas defined include:
integration (throughout the entire education system and adult learning)
teacher education, including kindergarten education
co-operation between educational research and teacher education (and how such co-operation takes place)
the implications of digitalisation with regard to teaching and pupil learning
statistics on adults and their education at primary and secondary school level
data collection on higher vocational education, and in particular pedagogy and online teaching
special needs pedagogy and inclusion, and research on learning difficulties
quality in higher education, such as transitions to higher education and school dropouts.
Sources: Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research (2020[11]), Research, mediation and use: Strategy for educational research 2020‑2024, www.regjeringen.no; communications with officials at the Ministry of Education and Research (July-October 2022).
Structures that foster evidence use in policy
Within the Norwegian public sector infrastructure, we draw special attention to four structures that promote the use of research evidence in educational policy.
Section for Policy Analysis (ARK) within the Ministry of Education and Research
ARK’s aim is to ensure that policy development and administration are based on relevant and reliable knowledge. The section employs researchers, statisticians and PhD candidates that are especially equipped to understand and interpret education research, evaluate the quality of education research, and find and access research that is relevant for policy making in the ministry.
ARK provides analytical support for policy making, reports on and follows up on international research, and facilitates strategic discussions in the field of education research. It also aims to strengthen the profile of Norwegian education research and foster a long-term perspective, i.e. through setting initiatives in the ministry’s Strategy for Educational Research, and following up on these.
Box 7.2. Example activities organised by the Section for Policy Analysis
Meeting Ground R&D. Researchers and statisticians are periodically invited to present their research to ministry staff. The rule of thumb is that the topic/research must be of interest to at least two departments. Themes are often relevant for the ministry’s concrete policy areas but can also be selected for being novel or interesting research fields. Staff within the Section for Policy Analysis and across the departments in the ministry can suggest or request topics. Topics are also varied so that there is something relevant to each department over the course of the year.
“Research Says (…)” series. The Section for Policy Analysis organises the weekly production of a synthesised research brief on a recent study or research article. The synthesis is usually a one-page brief to ensure accessibility and is sent by email to the politicians and administrative leaders in the ministry. Each week a different staff member chooses the topic for this series and takes responsibility for producing the synthesis (the topic might be chosen from a newsletter, a recent publication or a news item from one of the 11 national research centres). It also goes on the ministry’s internal website for all staff to access. As with Meeting Ground R&D, topic selection varies to offer something relevant for each department of the ministry over time.
Source: Interview with an employee in the Section for Policy Analysis, Ministry of Education and Research, 29 July 2022.
Units for research and statistics in policy organisations
Units for research have been established at both the Directorate for Education and Training and the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (the latter established in July 2021).
The directorates are executive agencies for the Ministry of Education and Research in kindergarten and primary/secondary education, and higher education and skills, respectively. They advise the ministry and initiate research and evaluations to promote evidence-based policy development of the educational sector and ensure that children, students and apprentices receive the high-quality education they are entitled to. In collaboration with Statistics Norway, the directorates are responsible for all national statistics concerning kindergarten, primary and secondary education; higher education; and for the national skills policy.
The Programme for Research and Innovation in the Educational Sector
The Programme for Research and Innovation in the Educational Sector (FINNUT) is a programme based at the Research Council of Norway.
It is a key financial instrument for following up on the government’s current policy for research on the educational system. It is a large-scale, long-term programme that promotes innovation in the educational sector and fosters collaboration among key actors, such as the Knowledge Centre for Education and the Directorate for Education and Training. It also links with other programmes, such as the OFFPHD. The programme calls for research projects within four broadly defined areas (Research Council of Norway, 2017[12]):
1. learning processes, forms of assessment and learning outcomes;
2. professional practice and competence development;
3. governance, management, organisation and achievement of results;
4. education, society and working life.
The FINNUT programme explicitly focuses on communication and dissemination among actors in the field of education as one of its core tasks. Projects funded under FINNUT must have clearly defined plans for communication and dissemination where target groups include the research community, the public administration, practitioners and the general public.
Outside of government infrastructure, the Ministry of Education and Research has established 10 national centres through the Directorate for Education and Training (Box 7.3), whose mandate is to provide professional development; knowledge dissemination; and support for research-based practice in pre‑schools, schools and municipalities, thereby contributing to the implementation of the Norwegian education policy. The centres are embedded in the higher education system and offer digital resources and tools in their specific fields.
Box 7.3. Examples of national centres and education research centres established in universities
National centres
The Centre for Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences’ research focuses on understanding the characteristics of teaching that contribute to deep learning in science.
The Norwegian Reading Centre at the University of Stavanger, Faculty of Arts and Education, is a multi‑disciplinary centre whose research concerns language and literacy development and assessment in educational contexts from kindergartens to the workplace.
The Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioural Research in Education at the University of Stavanger produces research on learning environments in schools and on socio-emotional developmental challenges among children and youth.
Education research centres
The Centre for Educational Measurement at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Educational Sciences, advises the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training in its area of competence.
The Centre for the Science of Learning and Technology at the University of Bergen, Faculty of Psychology, is an R&D learning sciences unit focused on the use of data approaches in understanding education and lifelong learning. The ministry established this centre to support research in the emerging field of learning analytics.
The Centre for Research in Early Education and Care (FILIORUM) at the University of Stavanger and the Knowledge Centre for Systemic Research on Diversity and Sustainable Futures (KINDknow) at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences aim to expand research on early childhood education and care and foster methodological innovation in this field.
The Centre for Research on Special Needs Education and Inclusive Practice was established in 2021 at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, in collaboration with several other Norwegian universities. The centre’s goal is to strengthen special education research.
Source: OECD email communications with an official in the Section for Policy Analysis, Ministry of Education and Research, August 2022.
The ministry also provides direct funding to education research centres (see Box 7.3) in Norwegian universities. These aim to further education research in specific fields. In some cases, centres function both as a national centre and as an education research centre more generally (e.g. the Norwegian Reading Centre).
A lens on learning: The Norwegian Public Sector PhD programme
The Norwegian Public Sector PhD programme (OFFPHD) was established to expand research activities in public sector bodies, increase researcher recruitment within the public sector, and promote greater collaboration between academia and the public sector. The programme enables a PhD to be undertaken in a university by a candidate working in a public sector body.
The scheme was inspired by the Industrial PhD-scheme established (first piloted) in 2008. This scheme was a huge success in industry (Schlegel and Keitsch, 2016[13]), and the Ministry of Education and Research followed up by establishing a public sector PhD scheme in 2014 to create a more research‑informed public sector; develop employees’ capacity in accessing, absorbing and using research in their work; and build bridges between academia and the public sector.
Methodologies and ways of working
The scheme includes a funding grant from the RCN, while the public sector body (e.g. ministry) also funds about half of the project. It is a “first-come, first-served” model for those grant applications that meet the requirements in the call, rather than being a competitive scheme. The OFFPHD is designed for those already employed within the public sector: Candidates first need approval to develop a project proposal and for partial funding in the public sector body where they work. They then submit their application to the RCN for a grant and to a doctoral programme at a degree-conferring institution. The outcomes of the three applications are interdependent (Table 7.2).
Table 7.2. Roles of partners in the PhD in the Public Sector Programme
Source: Research Council of Norway (2023[14]), “Public Sector PhD Project”, www.forskningsradet.no/en/call-for-proposals.
Evaluation and assessment of activities
Drawing on the evaluation of the industrial PhD scheme, the RCN has formulated the following criteria for success and has shared these with public sector bodies looking to apply for the grant:
Ensure that the PhD project is strongly anchored in the public sector body’s work and the organisation has strong internal communication.
Facilitate close and good collaboration between the public sector body, the candidate and the degree-conferring institution through regular meetings.
Ensure that the candidate is part of both the academic and the public sector environment.
Box 7.4 gives an example of a public sector PhD project being undertaken in the Ministry of Education and Research.
Box 7.4. Example of a public sector PhD project: The impact of research on policy
“The impact of research on policy” PhD project – conducted by a candidate working at the Section for Policy Analysis (Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research) and affiliated with the Oslo Institute for Research on the Impact of Science (University of Oslo) investigates how government officials access, assess and use research in their work. The candidate worked in the ministry’s research department for three years before starting the scheme. At the time of writing, the work consists of:
A literature review on factors that influence the use of research in policy making.
A survey sent out to employees in the majority of Norwegian ministries and six underlying agencies, for which data collection was directly facilitated by the candidate’s affiliation and network as a ministry employee. The emerging analysis explores the critical role of government officials in bridging science and policy. It examines the 10% of government officials most active in: gathering external scientific knowledge; and communicating this knowledge internally, identifying groups of active research users with different roles and knowledge use patterns that together complement each other and “span the boundaries” between science and policy.
A qualitative study based on interviews with government officials primarily in the Ministry of Education and Research. The study examines how government officials act in boundary spanning roles. Entering the organisation and studying it from the inside allows to better understand the use of research in policy. The research benefits from close access to the individuals and teams that use research, and from insight into the context in which they work. The candidate’s dual role as a researcher and ministry employee made this approach possible.
Source: Interview with an employee in the Section for Policy Analysis, Ministry of Education and Research, 29 July 2022.
Which factors make this a promising practice?
The OFFPHD programme is designed to provide each of the three participating partners in the scheme with benefits.
The public sector body receives financial support for a doctoral project that can go into depth on an issue relevant to the organisation. It furthermore gains research competence within the organisation through the candidate’s doctoral training, resulting in a more research-informed civil service.
The degree-conferring institution gains insight into relevant issues in the public sector and can establish or develop collaboration with public sector bodies relevant to its own research programme.
The candidate earns a PhD and obtains research training and research-specific competences. The candidate can delve deeply into relevant research questions in their field within the public sector.
The collaborative nature of the topic selection within the scheme allows policy-relevant issues to be the focus of the research. The scheme forges active links between stakeholders: in this case, between the public sector institution, the academic institution and the candidate.
What could be further developed?
While the evaluation of the OFFPHD scheme is ongoing, an initial evaluation of part of the scheme that includes only teachers and feedback from OFFPHD candidates provides some early insights into a few challenges. These suggest that all actors are satisfied with the scheme and that projects are generally of high quality.
They also report:
The application process and approval of applicants based on a first-come, first-served model can be unfair and does not necessarily ensure professional quality.
The PhD projects formed as part of this scheme stand out as less theoretical and more practical than ordinary PhD projects, and candidates sometimes struggle with the theoretical aspect of the PhD work.
While actors agree that candidates should not simply return to their original positions and responsibilities, career prospects in terms of new positions and responsibilities for candidates after the PhD are unclear. While participating in the scheme, candidates also report that the time spent working on the PhD, and key research and soft skills that are developed as part of it (e.g. working independently on a large-scale project), are not taken into account in career development discussions and annual salary negotiations. This can act as a disincentive to participate in the scheme.
Conclusions
Norway has taken significant steps to devise and implement promising processes to facilitate the use of education research in policy. This case study showed how a systems approach to integrating research evidence into education policy making can be put in place. A few key messages emerge.
Regular reflection on education research and its use at the system level supports a systems approach
The processes and structures Norway has put in place at the system level to stimulate education research and its use also allow for considered and regular reflection among stakeholders. In particular, this is reflected in the development of each new strategy for educational research, which involves evaluating the previous strategy and dialogue with stakeholders. Through its systematic evaluation and updating, it is demonstrated that evidence is generated and used at the system level as well. This type of role modelling can support research use at all levels.
This type of systematic reflection, as encompassed in the process of the education research strategy, also serves to create continuity in efforts to generate relevant education research and reinforce its use. The resulting strategy is an important reference point for all stakeholders, including local municipalities and schools, and signals a consensus on priority areas. Similarly, the strategy helps to establish and clarify expectations among stakeholders.
Opportunities for reflection and input into policy decision making form part of a systems approach to education research production and its use. Ensuring these opportunities are part of stable processes and structures within the ministry is also part of a systems approach. Overall, it ensures stakeholders also have a stake in determining important questions around education research by virtue of being involved in high‑level processes, including in shaping its potential relevance, and are thus more likely to use education research.
An education research strategy should incorporate a research generation and research engagement strategy
The Norway Strategy for Educational Research reflects two key elements. First, it sets out an approach to stimulate education research that is relevant to the ministry and other stakeholders. Second, it includes a clear research engagement strategy with concrete ideas of how to mobilise resulting evidence and knowledge. The latter has not always been a strong focal point of past strategies, whereas the current strategy focuses more clearly on disseminating and mediating research findings through clearly defined processes, such as by strengthening the role of key actors in the system.
Academic-policy engagement schemes need to be strongly embedded in both communities
This case study illustrated how Norway has made progress in building capacity and developing skills among policy makers to access and use education research systematically and well through tangible programmes. The ministry has strong relationships with some institutions regarding research use in education policy, including universities. The OFFPHD programme is an example of a promising practice in this domain that also emphasises deeper collaboration between the academic and public sector communities. To maximise the potential of such schemes, these must be strongly embedded in both communities. The OFFPHD project is defined and structured to ensure the candidate’s integration in both communities. Similar schemes could be envisaged for linking the research and practice communities.
Next steps
Going forward, the government of Norway has introduced a new instrument for research and innovation policy in its long-term planning. It has launched an initiative that will promote the inclusion of young people in education, employment and society using a cross-sector approach where research-based knowledge is a prerequisite. The backdrop for this initiative is that traditional research policy instruments do not provide sufficient direction and momentum to solve policy problems in time.
The initiative is currently in a design phase, during which a core aim is to ensure that policy actors, relevant research communities and research users are properly involved in its further development. User participation will be particularly vital for ensuring that the initiative has the support of actors that will ultimately use the produced knowledge (Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, 2022[15]).
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