ABSTRACT
There is a strong expectation from the Ministry of Education that all schools will follow stated guidelines in the national curriculum, and evaluate their work according to these criteria. These criteria include qualities of students’ learning outcomes, both academically and socially; teaching; teacher collaboration and organisation of the work in schools. This view of the Norwegian school system is confirmed by external international reviews, which also point out the strong link between curriculum policy at national level and views about what constitutes school effectiveness in the system (Chapman and Aspin, 1995).
