Schools in the media

Framing national standardized testing in the Norwegian press, 2004-2018

Bibliographic Data

ID2937510
AuthorsMarjolein K Camphuijsen (0000-0002-7824-7674, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, corresponding author), Antonina Levatino (0000-0001-7245-3592, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona)
Year2022
Volume43
Issue4
Pages601-616
Publication date2022-07-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596306.2021.1882390
OpenAlexW3130663805
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited39

In the education sector, media outlets have been increasingly active in reporting on standardized testing. The purpose of this paper is to identify the most recurrent discursive frames used by the Norwegian regional and local press when informing their readers about national standardized testing, and to explore whether differences over time and across geographical localities exist in the pervasiveness of frames. Our analysis is guided by framing theory, and builds on a corpus of 3,046 articles that focus on national testing, published by 155 Norwegian regional and local newspapers between 2004 and 2018. The analysis identifies four different discursive frames within Norwegian press coverage, namely the frame of ‘performance’, ‘transparency and empowerment’, ‘misinterpretation and misuse’, and ‘criticism’. The four frames convey highly distinct causal and normative beliefs and realities about national standardized testing. While the dominance of the frames varies over time and across Norwegian counties, the frame of ‘performance’ is increasingly pervasive, something that potentially contributes to naturalize performative-oriented reporting and competition in education. The study highlights the importance of systematic media analyses to identify circulating principle beliefs on education, and of not limiting research to national newspapers in order to grasp geographical variation in media coverage

Content analysis · Frame analysis · Geography · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Media studies · News media · Newspaper · Normative · Norwegian · Political science · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Standardized test · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Law · Psychology · Social Media and Politics

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access