He Leaves Wisconsin to Winter in…Norway
February 12, 2013
In the early 1900s his grandparents left Norway to the live in the U.S. More than a century later, Paul Bredeson is back in Norway for a year of sharing about the education systems in both countries.
Bredeson is a 2012-13 Roving Scholar for Norway’s upper secondary schools (videregåendeskolen) and lower secondary schools (ungdomsskolen). He is Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the UW-Madison.
The Fulbright Roving Scholar Grant is administered by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. Bredeson’s stint began in mid-August 2012 and will be completed mid-June 2013.
As a Roving Scholar, Bredeson is based in Oslo but visits and lectures for students and teachers in upper secondary schools throughout Norway.
The focus of his project is to help Norwegian high school students and staff gain a better understanding of American culture through the lens of education reform, especially high school reform initiatives in the United States.
Given that educational policies, practices, and performance standards are part of the contested landscape in American society, he says, education reform is a lens for viewing the larger American society, its hopes and challenges.
His personal interest in this opportunity grows from a mix of professional work with colleagues at Umea University in Sweden over the past 18 years and from his family background. "I believe the Fulbright offers my wife and me the opportunity to reconnect to the country and culture my family left over 100 years ago, he says."
Bredeson’s scholarship over the past three decades connects leadership development, capacity building, and learning. In particular, he examines the role of school leaders in creating a structure for professional development that builds collective capacity to enhance student learning and equity in schools.
Roving Scholars address a broad variety of topics and teaching strategies. Bredeson’s workshops for upper secondary (Videregående) students address topics including the history of American education reform; American politics and the Presidential election; the design of high school curricula and learning spaces; the history of Norwegian immigration to Wisconsin; what American high school students say about their experiences, and the increasing costs of public education.
Bredeson’s workshops for teachers and teachers-in-training address topics including what can be learned about American society and culture by examining U.S. high schools; how teaching, curriculum, structure, and organization might be redesigned to make room for innovations; design principles for expanding learning opportunities for professional educators in schools; and distributed leadership and learning.
The Roving Scholars Program is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.
