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This paper reports on a revision of the assessment model from the first mathematics course for pre-service teachers (PSTs) aiming for grades 5-10, at a Norwegian university. The weight of the final written exam was reduced and a new, mastery-based testing model, with weekly small tests, was introduced. Results from this study show that the PSTs were positive about the new assessment form, which contributed to a feeling of mastering the subject, although they also expressed some inconveniences, such as the weekly testing could be perceived as stressful. Further, the continuous testing made the PSTs start studying from the start of the semester and not postponing it to the last weeks before the final exam. It is likely that this contributed to the improved result on the national exam at the end of the semester, which was significantly better than the results from the previous years.

The aim of this study was to explore Norwegian students' perceptions of learning climate established in physical education (PE) by newly educated teachers. The findings substantiate that the newly educated PE teachers created a favorable learning climate, and the motivational inventory confirms that the students perceived a predominance of mastery climate in the teaching. This may mean that the recent years' reforms in PE and PE teacher education, with an increased focus on a mastery-oriented learning climate, have affected students' experience of the subject. However, there is still a need for stronger efforts related to facilitation of the learning climate.

This study investigates the levels of and associations among academic stress, perceived motivational climate and emotional problems in students at Norwegian upper secondary schools. A structural equation model with a sample of 1379 students (M[subscript age] 16.5 years old) tested the associations between perceived mastery and performance climates and emotional problems via associations with academic stress. Levels of academic stress and emotional problems were found to be higher among female participants than male participants. Performance climate was related to higher academic stress; it was also related to more emotional problems through its association with academic stress. Mastery climate was associated with lower academic stress, and both directly and indirectly (via academic stress) related to less emotional problems. There was a strong link between academic stress and emotional problems, and this was significantly stronger among female participants. Practical implications are suggested.

Recently, learning management systems have been introduced in the Norwegian school system, including vocational schools. Some vocational teachers have been sceptical about using learning management systems in vocational education and training. This study examined if the vocational teachers' use of a learning management system facilitated the students' opportunities to prepare for the tasks that will be part of their future as an apprentice. The research question was How does the introduction of learning management systems in vocational education and training affect learning? In vocational education and training, the transfer of tacit knowledge from master to apprentice has traditionally played an important role in the teaching. This transference of knowledge takes place in a face-to-face setting and in an interaction between master and apprentice which is based on acting, showing, explaining, and commenting. Documentation requirements through learning management systems appear to strengthen the vocational students' understanding of work tasks they will encounter as apprentices in the workplace. Learning management systems allows for the transference of tacit knowledge, and the documentation also appear to strengthen the communication between students and teacher.

We explored a theoretical model of relations between students' perceptions of emotional support, numeracy, and assessment for learning and their perceptions of relevance of schoolwork, motivation, persistence, and mastery experiences. We also investigated possible differences between students in lower- and upper secondary school. Participants were 44,702 students in 8th to 13th grade in Norway. The data was analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. The results revealed moderate to strong correlations between the three aspects of the learning environment. In general, they related positively to the outcome variables. However, the relations were almost entirely mediated through relevance and motivation. The present study adds to our understanding of how to work with the learning environment.

Two major concerns in mathematics teacher education are the role of subject matter knowledge and the development of self-efficacy in pre-service teachers. This article brings these issues together in an exploration of the interaction between pre-service teachers' perceptions of their subject matter knowledge and their accounts of university and placement experiences as potential sources of self-efficacy. Reporting on a group of ten pre-service teachers in Norway, we explore variations in the ways in which they perceived the role of subject knowledge in relation to experience, particularly "mastery experiences", over a period of nearly two years. We suggest that recognition of the role of "understanding why" in mathematics is crucial in the experience of mastery, and that there is a need to focus more on the role of subject matter knowledge in all sources of self-efficacy in teaching mathematics.

This study explores relations between students' perceptions of the classroom goal structures, their personal goal orientations, mathematics anxiety, and help-seeking behavior in mathematics classes. The respondents were 309 Norwegian middle school students. The data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). The analyses revealed that a mastery goal orientation was associated with lower levels of anxiety and more use of help-seeking behavior whereas performance-avoidance orientation predicted higher levels of anxiety and less use of help-seeking behavior. We found no direct relation between goal structure and mathematics anxiety or help-seeking behavior. However, the perceived goal structure was indirectly related to these variables, mediated through personal goal orientation.

This longitudinal study examines connections between 110 teachers' perceived professional competence acquired during professional preparation and later perceptions as schoolteachers in Norway. The results indicate that theoretical understanding plays an important role in schoolteachers' professional competence development and that prospective and practising schoolteachers do not tend to perceive themselves as either good theorists or good practitioners. Furthermore, the results contradict research arguing that the teacher education programme has limited effect. Instead, the results indicate that the level of perceived competence acquired during professional preparation in the general teacher training programme is of major importance for perceived mastery of teaching as a schoolteacher. In addition, the results also underscore the importance of experiencing continuing mastery of teaching requirements for supporting perceptions of teaching specific self-efficacy over time. This finding again supports previous research that has emphasised the importance of supporting teaching specific self-efficacy during both the period of teacher education of prospective teachers and the induction period of newly qualified teachers.

The purpose of this study was to test possible interactions between mastery and performance goal structures in mathematics classrooms when predicting students' goal orientations. More specifically, we tested if the degree of performance goal structure moderated the associations between mastery goal structure and students' goal orientations. Participants were 1628 5th to 10th grade students from eight elementary and middle schools from one large city in Norway. The data were analyzed by means of regression analysis. The results showed that the association between a mastery goal structure in the mathematics classrooms and students' personal goal orientations were significantly moderated by the degree of performance goal structure. This was true for all dimensions of goal orientation tested in this study.

Since 2006, the ability to use information and communication technology (ICT) has been included as a key competence in the curriculum in Norway, and specific competence aims are developed for most grades. The aim of this study was to identify students' ability to use ICT according to the competence aims, and to examine factors that can predict students' digital competence. A sample of 1793 students and 125 school leaders from 125 schools was used. The findings show variation in digital competence both between students and between schools. Results from a multilevel analysis showed that higher levels of mastery orientation and self-efficacy (i.e., motivation) and the students' family background (i.e., language integration and the number of books at home) were predictors of students' levels of digital competence. Additionally, when school leaders reported higher levels of culture for professional development among the teachers at school, increased levels of digital competence were found among students. Challenges for schools and teachers to support students' motivation and to emphasize digital inclusion still prevail.

The purpose of this study was to examine factors predicting lower secondary school students' digital competence and to explore differences between students when it comes to digital competence. Results from a digital competence test and survey in lower secondary school will be presented. It is important to learn more about and investigate what characterizes students' digital competence. A sample of 852 ninth-grade Norwegian students from 38 schools participated in the study. The students answered a 26 item multiple-choice digital competence test and a self-report questionnaire about family background, motivation, and previous grades. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of the hypothesised relationship between family background, mastery orientation, previous achievements, and digital competence. The results indicate variation in digital competence among the ninth-graders. Further, analyses showed that students' conditions at home, i.e., language integration and cultural capital, together with mastery orientation and academic achievements predict students digital competence. This study indicates that that there is evidence of digital diversity between lower secondary students. It does not seem like the development of digital competence among the students happens automatically. Students' family background and school performance are the most important factors. Therefore, as this study shows, it is necessary to further investigate how schools can identify students' level of competence and to develop plans and actions for how schools can help to try to equalize differences.

A self-determination theory perspective on motivation assumes that basic need support is a prerequisite for motivation, achievement, and well-being in several domains of life. In the present cross-sectional study, a representative sample of 2.594 Norwegian students in their final year of lower secondary education and their first year of upper secondary education responded to a survey measuring the students' perceptions of their teachers' autonomy support, the students' personal achievement goals, perceived school performance, and life satisfaction. The purpose was to investigate the structural relation between these variables, as well as grade level and gender differences. The results showed that all achievement goals (mastery, performance approach and performance avoidance) were positively predicted by autonomy support. Perceived school performance and life satisfaction were predicted by autonomy support and achievement goals, but there were some grade and gender specific relations. Furthermore, students in their first year of upper secondary education had a higher mean level of all motivational variables. Finally, mastery goals were more important for girls than boys, whereas performance goals were more important for boys than girls. In conclusion, both academic achievement (perceived school performance) and life satisfaction may be considered as important indicators of adjustment to life, and they are related to the students' perception of teachers' autonomy support as well as the students' own motivation for learning. However, the mean level of these variables is partly accounted for by grade level and gender.

This study investigates the relationship between perceived motivational climates and self-reported emotional and behavioural problems (EBP: symptoms of depression, lack of on-task-orientation and disruptive behaviour), among 1171 Norwegian 8th grade secondary school students from 65 school classes. Statistical analyses showed significant associations between scores for motivational climates and EBP. Generally, perceptions of a mastery climate were associated with less reported EBP, whereas, on the other hand, perceptions of a performance climate were associated with more reported EBP. However, associations were relatively moderate and primarily identified at the individual level. The highest amount of variance was accounted for in scores for on-task-orientation, and for this variable a significant class-level association with scores for mastery climate was also computed. (Contains 3 tables and 1 note.)

The present research tested the longitudinal relations over a school-year between motivational climates, achievement goals, and five physical education outcomes, namely intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, positive attitude, exertion, and attendance in physical education. The results showed that students' mastery goals measured early in the school-year (Time 1) predicted all five physical education outcomes one year later (Time 2), controlling for physical education outcomes at Time 1. Two structural equation change models of climates and goals were also tested: (1) change in mastery climate predicted positively change in mastery goals, which positively predicted physical education outcomes after one year; and (2) distinct performance climate sub-factors, namely changes in normative praise and negative emotional tune, predicted positive changes in performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals, respectively. In turn, change in performance-approach goals predicted positively, and change in performance-avoidance goals predicted negatively, the PE outcomes after one year. (Contains 5 tables, 2 figures, and 1 footnote.)

This study examined the relationship of motivational climate and differential achievement goals to meta-cognitive self-regulation, regulation of effort, help-seeking and self-handicapping in physical education (PE). The sample consisted of 273 pupils (boys n = 125; girls n = 148) attending 10th grade PE classes in Norway. Both motivational climates and achievement goals revealed expected patterns of relations to self-regulation indices. Direct climate influences as well as goal mediated influences were observed as illustrated by a direct positive influence of a mastery climate on meta-cognitive strategy use and effort regulation and by a positive performance climate effect on self-handicapping, mediated by a performance-avoid goal. A performance-avoid goal also moderated the influence of a mastery climate on effort regulation. Results lend support to the trichotomous achievement goal perspective by showing a) differential self-regulation influences of performance-approach and performance-avoid goals and b) proximal goal influences to be mediators in relations between distal climate influences and pupils' self-regulation. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)

In recent years, exclusion rates in PISA have risen in many countries, including a sharper-than-average rise in Norway. This article focuses on Norway's experience with exclusion rates in PISA, including an analysis tracking this increase between 2000 and 2018. Through interviews with key stakeholders, this article explores several ideas that might explain why Norway's exclusion rates have risen so dramatically. Key findings revealed that Norway's exclusion rates may be high because there is a distinction between using the terms 'exemption' and 'exclusion' in Norway, so exempting students is interpreted to be much softer and kinder in Norway. Interviews also revealed a high degree of school leader subjectivity in determining student participation, and that many Norwegian school leaders made decisions to promote student feelings of mastery and minimize feelings of defeat. Interviews revealed that many Norwegian school leaders see excluding students as positive and beneficial, and are not concerned with its effects on test representativeness and validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION. This article presents a study concerning Norwegian trainee teachers' understanding of their oral and written competencies in higher education. The study focused on first year Education students as they prepared to become school or kindergarten teachers. The study aimed to explore student teachers' perceptions of their own performance in meeting the oral and written objectives of the academy. METHOD. The study sample included part-time and full-time students in the degree of education pursuing to teach in kindergartens and full-time master's students pursuing to be primary and secondary school teachers. RESULTS. The findings in this analysis of student teachers' experience concerning oral and written competencies, as expressed in sixty-seven narratives, indicated that they experienced high degrees of mastery for oral competency but lower levels for written competency. Furthermore, students struggled with what they described as hidden or unclear expectations related to academic text production. DISCUSSION. Based on four specific findings, the authors proposed further investigation of students' experiences in mastering language competencies. These findings on Norway will have parallels to other professional education programs elsewhere in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasound has become a core skill in many specialties. We evaluated the learning and assessment of ultrasound skills in Obstetrics-Gynaecology in a series of eight studies. In the clinical setting, we found that trainees as well as experienced clinicians struggle with technical aspects of performance such as image optimization. We examined how to improve these aspects of performance in the simulated setting by determining mastery learning levels and exploring learning curves for novices. We then examined how to improve the efficiency of training as well as transfer of learning through the use of dyad practice as compared with single practice. We found that the use of simulation-based training focusing on technical aspects of performance in addition to clinical training led to sustained improvements in performance after two months of clinical training in all aspects of performance. In addition, we found an interaction effect between initial simulation-based training and subsequent clinical training on trainees' need for supervision. These findings suggest that simulation-based training can work as preparation for future learning rather than merely as added learning. Finally, we found that the use of simulation-based initial training led to a large decrease in patients' discomfort, improvements in their perceived safety and confidence in their ultrasound operator. However, simulation-based training comes at a cost and in the final study we developed a model for conducting cost-effectiveness studies and provided data from an example study on how to link training costs with quality of care.