Building performance optimization through sensitivity Analysis, and economic insights using AI

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary (CLASS‐S) is a widely used observation instrument. However, it is important to gain knowledge whether the instrument is applicable in its specific context. This study investigates the applicability of the CLASS‐S in Norwegian upper secondary schools. The sample included 95 upper secondary school teachers and their classes from two counties and 12 different schools, including both academic and vocational track classrooms (1342 students). During one school year, the teachers video‐recorded their teaching seven times; these videos were scored by certified raters of the CLASS‐S. Given the nested data, two‐level models were tested. Results supported the original three‐factor structure of the CLASS‐S (emotional support, classroom organisation, and instructional support) when the instructional learning formats dimension was modelled exclusively at the between‐level. Reliability tests revealed good overall item, scale, and interrater reliability values. Some evidence was found between emotional support, classroom organisation, and instructional support, and study track and teacher characteristics. The current study supports the applicability of the CLASS‐S in upper secondary schools in Norway.

In this chapter, we explore a whole-school alignment model (WSAM) as a tool for facilitating a team of teachers in developing their sustainable entrepreneurship programme at a vocational upper secondary school in Norway. Its aim was to attune key actors (teacher team, students and leadership) and align key operational processes (yearly lesson plans, aims and assessment goals). The WSAM facilitation processes enabled the teacher team to coherently align their own innovation process within the whole-school context. A collaborative culture of inquiry was built, taking ownership of their own process and recreating their school’s identity. The central role of liminal spaces in sustainable entrepreneurship education was revealed, also clear limits of the linear, instrumental approaches to institutional coherence on sustainability. Consequently, a redesigned WSAM is proposed, where the liminal space of collaborative inquiry processes forms a navigation centre, attuning tensions and aligning the structures, programme designs, spaces and pedagogies, cultivating transformative coherency.

Vi deler mange læreres frykt for at det praktisk skapende arbeidet kan bli nedprioritert i faget Kunst og håndverk i grunnskolen eller Formgivingsfag i den videregående skole i Norge. Læreplanene legger imidlertid opp til praktisk skapende arbeid – så frykten må komme fra andre kilder enn læreplanene. Noen har hevdet at økt forskning innen formgiving, kunst og håndverk bidrar til teoretisering av praksis. Det mener vi er en myte. I de senere årene har både masteroppgaver og doktor­avhandlinger innen vårt fagfelt hatt motsatt virkning – de har bidratt til å forbedre praksis.

This article examines how immigrant youths from non-western countries experience everyday life in an upper secondary school in Norway. The youngsters have key information about how they personally experience school. Etienne Wenger’s (1998) theory about communities of practice has been applied in interpreting the students’ perceptions of acting as participants in different communities in school. A community of practice is characterized by common engagement, common tasks and a shared repertoire for all the members. The findings indicate different levels of inclusion experienced by students during upper secondary school. Norwegian steering documents argue in favour of a school system with equal rights and equal opportunities to education for everyone. In practice, the equality principle, which means that all are treated the same way, seems to prevent immigrant students’ rights from receiving equal opportunities to education.

School satisfaction is a key indicator of education quality in addition to academic achievement and student’s coping efficacy, as well as an important factor to prevent school dropout. The primary aim of this study was to investigate how high-school students’ school identification and self-efficacy were associated with school satisfaction. The study included controls for gender, education programme and parental education level. A self-report questionnaire was administered to high-school students at three upper secondary schools in Norway. The sample included 794 first year students. No respondents refrained from participating in the study. Most of the students in the study were satisfied with school. The current study underscores the importance of school identification. School identification was found to be more important for the students’ school satisfaction than self-efficacy. Moreover, according to the results, teachers’ social identity leadership appears to play an important role in students’ school satisfaction. The findings imply that the teachers’ social identity leadership is imperative in classroom management.

ABSTRACTPrevious research shows that students have a widespread understanding about the purpose of physical education (PE), including learning about movement, health and also PE as a break from other school subjects. The present study aims at examining more closely the break perspective in light of interview data from 26 students, whose statements in interviews that focused on PE in upper secondary school in Norway, reveal that the view of PE as a break from other school lessons is also a valid understanding among students when they are approaching the end of PE in their schooling. We have asked what kind of learning the students’ views on PE as a break from other school subject are, or may be, in light of the Norwegian curriculum in PE in upper secondary school and to changes in the 2012 curriculum, which aimed to reduce performance stress and too much hunt for good grades. We present two interpretations of the interview texts – PE as ‘the movement moment’ in everyday school life, and participating in fun activities together with good friends, and a third interpretation, which we describe as a relatively invisible view of knowledge goals among the students about training and lifestyle and critical awareness about sport cultures in the society. We argue that a view of PE as ‘a movement moment’ in everyday school life contributes to modifying the view on PE as a break from other school subjects and to seeing it as a relevant learning perspective. On the other hand, a modified break perspective should be merged with knowledge and critical lenses on training, health, lifestyle and sport cultures in society, so that the students’ views on the purpose of PE all in all contain important knowledge and reflections they should have, according to the Norwegian curriculum in PE.

This longitudinal, quantitative survey examined factors predicting 1077 Norwegian adolescents` emotional problems during Upper Secondary School (grades I–III, approximately 16–19 years old) considering the following research question: “To what extent do students in Upper Secondary School experience emotional problems, and how are these problems predicted by gender, academic/social self-concept, coping beliefs, appearance pressure and school stress?”. The mentioned variables were scrutinized through analysis of frequencies, zero order correlations and structural equation modeling. Results verified previous findings that there was an increase in emotional problems for adolescents, especially among girls. Furthermore, the study results indicate that coping beliefs is a crucial factor when it comes to the perception of pressure and stress, and the subsequent development of emotional health problems.

The current study aimed to examine the impact of social support, bullying and school-related stress on both positive and negative aspects of mental health in adolescence. In addition, the possible buffering effects of social support related to school performance was investigated. The analyses were based on a cross-sectional survey of 1814 students between 15 and 21 years old from five upper secondary schools in Norway. Multiple hierarchical linear regression models with robust standard errors were estimated, and potential confounders were controlled for. Social support from friends and family, bullying and school-related stress were significantly associated with both wellbeing and anxiety and depression symptoms, with small to moderate effect sizes. However, the associations with the two aspects of mental health varied. Being bullied was strongest associated with anxiety and depression symptoms. Stress of interaction with teachers was weakly associated with anxiety and depression symptoms and unrelated to wellbeing. The findings provide no solid support for the buffering effects of social support related to stress of school performance on wellbeing, nor anxiety and depression symptoms.

This article aims to explore the relevance and importance of school subjects in teachers’ grading practices, as teachers themselves see it. The study is based on material from 41 semi-structured interviews, with teachers of five subjects, at four lower and two upper secondary schools in Norway. The findings suggest that the school subject does matter when teachers assign final grades to their students. The study also indicates that different subjects involve different challenges or obstacles in fulfilling government recommendations and regulations for grading. A four-part model is developed that summarises the subject differences found in teachers’ approaches to grading, and which allows different subjects to be mapped relative to one another. These findings seem to support arguments that more recognition should be given to differences between school subjects, and the influence of contextual dimensions in grading practices. This is particularly relevant in implementing system-wide changes such as the creation of unitary systems for the measurement of student learning outcomes.

The variation in teachers' grading practices: causes and consequences

Education is described as a moral enterprise and many of the professional dilemmas teachers encounter have an ethical aspect. Research on ethical situations that novice teachers experience, however, seems to be limited, and we know little about how teacher education can prepare student-teachers for dealing with ethical issues. In this article a narrative approach is used to examine what kind of dilemmas with ethical aspects new teachers in upper secondary school in Norway may experience. The findings suggest that their dilemmas are related to the induction phase in teaching, and that the students are unprepared for dealing with these dilemmas. Based on what we learned from the new teachers, we suggest various implications for teacher education about how to prepare future teachers for handling the variety of professional dilemmas including ethical aspects they are likely to meet.

Background Sexual harassment is linked to a range of negative psychosocial factors such as depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-harm, low self-esteem, and substance-use. Preventing and reducing sexual harassment is therefore important in a public health perspective. There is a large variety in the reported prevalence of sexual harassment among adolescents, and knowledge about the development over time is limited. The aim of this study is to study time trends in sexual harassment between 2017 and 2021 among adolescents (aged 16-19) in Norway. Methods This study is based on cross-sectional data from the Ungdata Survey carried out in upper secondary schools in Norway from 2017 to 2021. Adolescents completing the survey these years were respectively; 2017: n = 43 163, 2018: n = 30 400, 2019: n = 54 981, 2020: n = 17 467, 2021: n = 56 544. Descriptive analysis and Chi-square test were used to study changes in sexual harassment exposure across years according to sex, age and sexual experience. Logistic regression was used to study possible changes in the association between sexual harassment and depressive symptoms. Results Preliminary results indicated a stable trend in exposure to all types of sexual harassment (touching, sexual name calling and negative sexual rumours). Approximately 31 % of the adolescents had experienced one or more of the types of sexual harassment (2017 30.7 % - 2021 30.5%). The time trend was stable according to sex, age, and sexual experience. Adolescents exposed to sexual harassment had higher odds for depressive symptoms than adolescents not exposed to sexual harassment (ranging from OR: 1.4, 95% CI:1.2-1.6 to OR:2.3, 95% Cl: 1.8-2.9), and this association was also stable over the years. Conclusions The prevalence of sexual harassment among adolescents is high and surprisingly stable between 2017 and 2021. More knowledge about time trends in sexual harassment is needed, and new public health strategies to prevent sexual harassment should be developed. Key messages • The prevalence of exposure to sexual harassment among adolescents seems to be stable over time. • Being aware the negative public health consequences of sexual harassment more effort needs to be made in developing effective prevention strategies.

Dual-objective building retrofit optimization under competing priorities using Artificial Neural Network

Buildings account for approximately 40% of the global energy consumption and 36% of total carbon dioxide emissions. At present many efforts are underway to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint of buildings by optimizing their performance. Building envelope elements have a major impact on the performance of buildings. However, the best combination of the building envelope elements for optimizing the performance of buildings is difficult to determine and is not known. Building performance analysis is mostly done through energy modelling by using a whole building simulation tool. However, this is a slow and a tedious process, and generally only a few cases are evaluated in a large range of possible scenarios. By combining a generic optimization scheme with energy modelling, the best combination of building envelope elements can be determined and, thereby, it is possible to optimize the performance of buildings successfully subject to predefined constraints. This paper describes how the performance of an office building located in the suburbs of Colombo, Sri Lanka is optimized in terms of building envelope elements through combined energy modelling and generic optimization. The optimized envelope design with its efficient utilization of daylight, not only reduces the annual energy consumption substantially, but also leads to better thermal comfort for the occupants.

Sustainable High-rises