Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education

Abstract Measures of interdisciplinarity are often used to analyse research bibliometrically, yet little is known about whether these indicators capture how researchers themselves perceive interdisciplinarity. Against this background, the objective of this paper is to compare bibliometrically constructed indexes of interdisciplinarity with authors’ self-assessments of the interdisciplinarity of their own papers, thereby providing knowledge into how well these indicators correspond with researchers’ own perceptions. The bibliometric interdisciplinarity measures analyzed include the Shannon entropy, 2 D S , and DIV* indicators. The data analyzed in the study are derived from two separate questionnaire surveys, in which authors were asked about specific articles they had published. In total, the dataset consisted of more than 3300 articles, spanning all fields from the Humanities and Social sciences to the Natural sciences and Engineering. At the level of individual publications, bibliometric indicators often do not correspond with authors’ own assessments of interdisciplinarity. Although all analysed interdisciplinarity indicators show a statistically significant association with author assessments, the relationships are weak: correlation coefficient (Spearman’s rho) for the three bibliometric interdisciplinarity measures ranged from 0.130 to 0.175, highlighting the need for caution when relying solely on such measures for assessing research.

Thirty years ago, Norway implemented a comprehensive reform of upper secondary education that prioritised access to vocational education and training (VET) for younger students. As a result, the proportion of ‘adult’ VET students aged 25 and older declined. In recent years, growing emphasis on lifelong learning and the upskilling of adults without upper secondary qualifications have led to new reforms. In this chapter, we address the significant changes in educational policy for adult VET students in Norway over the past three decades, focusing on the last 10 years. Using the concept of transition systems, we discuss the measures introduced. The results indicate that the proportion of adults participating in VET has increased slightly over the last 6 years, and that the proportion of immigrants has doubled to 50% over the past 10 years. In addition, new pathways that use the workplace as a learning arena more extensively, secure adults the opportunity to access a VET qualification in a more targeted and flexible way.

The Nordic countries were early adopters of digital technologies in education. Thus, implementations of 1:1 digital device coverage in schools have been widely studied in this context. However, the studies tend to apply cross-sectional data and focus primarily on short-term effects. There is also a lack of studies which follow the same sample of schools over several years combining the perspectives of both students, teachers, school leaders, and school districts. The purpose of the paper is to examine how a school district in Norway supported professional development with 1:1 digital device coverage, the roles of school leaders in the implementation, and teachers’ perceptions of pedagogical change. The study uses longitudinal mixed-methods data over six years, from 2017 to 2023, including surveys (n = 448, n = 110), interviews (n = 58), and observations of meetings (n = 76). Key findings reveal a shift from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to a model tailored to individual schools’ needs. Over time, school leaders became facilitators of pedagogical change, enhancing teachers’ digital competence. Teachers increasingly recognised the pedagogical possibilities and constraints of 1:1 digital device coverage. Insights provide a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and impacts of 1:1 digital device coverage on stakeholders, including teachers, school leaders, and school owners, and how their competencies develop and interconnect over time.

This study aims to provide insight into apprentices’ perceptions of ethical challenges in ambulance work, their experiences with ethics training, and how ethical competence can be strengthened throughout the educational pathway. Ambulance workers must be capable of providing emergency medical treatment, transporting patients, communicating clearly, acting with empathy, managing stress, and making ethically sound decisions under challenging conditions and time pressure. Professional ethical competence is crucial for handling ethically challenging situations. The data material was generated through interviews with ten apprentices during the period 2021–2023. The study reveals that apprentices experience highly demanding emergency situations where ethics and communication play a central role. Despite their young age, they consider themselves capable of handling the tasks and challenges they face. They possess valuable competencies that must be made visible, acknowledged, recognised, and utilised. Ethical competence develops when they communicate in demanding situations, engage in authentic scenarios followed by reflection, and are challenged to act and make decisions in demanding training situations. The study provides insight into the apprentices’ perspectives – knowledge that can support vocational teachers and instructors in facilitating the development of professional ethical competence in ambulance care.

Background and aim: Registered report (RR) is a research publishing format designed to prevent reporting bias and promote open science by conducting peer review of a research project prior to data collection. The process requires a detailed description of the method and study design, which receives peer review at a journal before data collection. If accepted, an in-principle acceptance is received, which means that the same journal commits to publishing a Stage 2 manuscript, including results, provided the authors follow the Stage 1 protocol. The Foundation Dam, a Norwegian health-research funder promoting open science, works actively to test initiatives encouraging scientific transparency and replicability. The foundation, therefore, implemented a two-year initiative during the 2024-2025 research grant calls with an incentive for applicants to publish their research as an RR. Since RR has only emerged over recent years, gaining more knowledge regarding the characteristics of research projects that choose this format is essential to improve current RR models. Moreover, previous research comparing peer reviews of RRs with standard publications (SA) has revealed that RRs are scored higher in research quality. Still, it is unclear whether this difference is observable at the grant application stage. This study aims to (1) compare the characteristics of projects opting for RR versus SA publication formats, and (2) assess whether grant applications planning to publish as an RR receive higher peer review scores for research quality than those pursuing SA. Method: The sample consists of all applicants for research grants at Foundation Dam, a health research funder in Norway, from 2023 to 2025 (N=1170). Experts in their fields evaluate all applications. Using a hierarchical multilevel linear regression model, the study will compare Excellence (quality of research methods and innovativeness of research) and Implementation (quality of the research group, project organization, and governance) assessment scores of RR applications with SA. The applications from the 2023 research call (SA n=350) will be compared with those from the 2024 and 2025 research calls (RR n=143, SA n=677) to assess the overall effect of implementing the RR initiative on assessment scores. Intraclass correlation coefficients will be calculated to evaluate how much of the assessment score variance is due to differences in scoring between reviewers. In addition, correlation analyses will be performed to explore the potential association between evaluation scores, the confidence level of reviewers, and the agreement level between reviewers. Descriptive characteristics of research method, study design, and health research classification system categories will be presented by application group (RR or SA) and research call (2023 or 2024/2025).

IntroductionSpatial ability is robustly correlated with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) achievement, but schools have generally not differentiated with regard to this ability. Moreover, the level of involvement, focus, and motivation that students exhibit in school activities, specifically their engagement, also plays a central role in overall achievement. Therefore, this study aims to develop a STEM scale to identify differentiation needs based on spatial ability and engagement. These differentiation needs may be addressed by instructional methods such as making activities, where students design and construct physical objects. Because these activities enhance engagement, can improve spatial ability, and allow students to use their spatial skills, this study also aims to discuss the implications of using making activities for differentiation.MethodsTo address these aims, 535 students from grades 5 to 10 (9–16 years) from two medium-sized suburban and semi-rural municipalities were randomly split into one exploratory and one confirmatory sample, where participants were students. An exploratory and confirmatory item response theory (IRT) approach was used for the data analysis. Correlations of the latent variable were sought for spatial ability and engagement.ResultsThe STEM scale demonstrated good psychometric properties, and the underlying factor of the scale correlated positively with engagement and spatial ability.DiscussionThus, the STEM scale can be useful for educational practice by identifying students needing differentiation concerning their spatial ability level, where their level of engagement is also considered. Making activities could potentially benefit some students more than others, depending on their STEM scale scores.

Early warning and monitoring systems are designed to reduce school dropout rates. However, despite teachers’ pivotal role in their implementation, knowledge about user experience and practical applications remains sparse. This study examines teachers’ experiences with such systems and implementation processes. Using survey and interview data from 42 schools in Norway, the results indicated that while the systems improved teachers’ access to student information, they did not impact the effectiveness of follow-up procedures. Moving forward, future research should concentrate on understanding implementation in diverse settings, and how to develop effective interventions to reduce school dropout rates.