Norwegian Winter and Janteloven - the Law of Jante (Update #6)

For folks new to this blog, each post typically has three sections: a personal update, a view from 30,000 feet of things I’ve learned in my research, and Nordic Nibbles: stories and tidbits about Norwegian culture.

Personal Update

To quote the 21st Century Canadian philosopher Justin Bieber, “Is it too late now to say sorry?” After a brief hiatus, the blog is back friends. 

As I write this, it’s just after lunch and I’m sitting in my office, looking out the window at the university plaza that was once a slippery sheet of ice, but is now covered in melting piles of snow and scattered gravel paths where we once carefully traversed. I’m drinking a Pepsi Max, Norway’s favorite soda and poor substitute for my once-rampant Diet Coke addiction. My officemates have their headphones on and a cup of coffee in hand, an open window is letting in the crisp March air, and we’ve reached that rare time in a shared workspace where we’re in a quietly productive groove. No one dares to disturb the peace. 

Last fall, we Americans received numerous warnings from locals about the challenges of winter in Scandinavia: months of darkness and cold. Certainly this describes the seasonal conditions, with less than 6 hours of daylight here in the southern part of the country and record low temperatures in Oslo below -30°C. But as a Texan who needed a break from sunburns and sweating, I loved this winter. 

Here’s why:

A proper introduction to German Christmas Markets with my Holm cousins living in Europe

Spending the Christmas holiday with my extended family in Immenstaad am Bodensee.

Traveling to Copenhagen and Stockholm over New Year’s with my friends from the US - Courtney and Louisa!

Julebord (Christmas Table) with dear friends, most of whom are recent transplants to Oslo too. Pinnekjøtt (lamb ribs) is now a Christmas favorite.

Performing with the University of Oslo Symphony Orchestra at our Advent Concert.

Practicing with the SISCO Research Group for our performance at the workplace Julebord. Spoiler: we brought the house down with a Weird Al Yankovic-style “Research Paradise.”

In the next post, I’ll share about my visits to teacher education programs around the country, presenting my research at the Fulbright Norway seminar, and what my plans are for next year.

Research Update

During these past few months, I immersed myself in the second phase of my research which involved interviewing stakeholders in the Norwegian teacher education system. These stakeholders are grouped into four categories: policy officials, teacher educators, scholars in teacher education, and school administrators. Getting folks to agree to participate in interviews has at times been challenging, especially without established relationships. But my advisor has been fantastic at employing the “Hey, have you met Ted?” strategy, and being a Fulbrighter has opened a surprising number of doors. 

For example, I crashed a national teaching conference I wasn’t registered for. Someone came up and noticed my lanyard, asked if I was a current Fulbrighter. After a few exchanges I learned that she was not only the President of the US-Norway Fulbright Association Board, she was a retired professor who formerly worked in the very institute I now work at. She then kindly sat next to me for the duration of the conference, translating what the speakers were saying and writing nearly 10 pages of notes providing additional context. Truly a gift. 

Queen Doris Jorde!

When I initially developed my project proposal, I had intended to use the interviews to develop policy recommendations for state leaders back in Texas. Since then, my project has since expanded to include co-authoring a qualitative analysis of these interviews for submission to a journal with my advisor. Previous analyses have found that Norwegian policymakers and teacher educators have different beliefs about what motivates people to become teachers, which may negatively affect recruitment to the teaching profession (Nesje, Brandmo, & Berger, 2017), and have also examined the discourse between education policymakers and the teachers’ union in Norway (Mausethagen & Granlund, 2012). 

These analyses happened prior to reform implementation, and no such analysis has yet compared the perspectives of teacher education stakeholders amidst the current reforms. Our research question asks how do different stakeholders perceive the policy reforms to primary and lower secondary teacher education in Norway when it comes to recruitment, retention, and preparation of new teachers? Essentially, we’re asking leaders if they think the reforms are working, and what what improvements remain. I am excited to write a publication that feels like a substantial contribution to the conversation about education policy in Norway, and to hopefully give back meaningfully to the community here who have been so generous to me.  

I’ve completed 70% of my interviews by this point, and recently began the thematic analysis process. This type of analysis requires combing through the interviews and creating codes to describe potential themes between the interviews, which can later be analyzed to develop conclusions. While I have only just begun this process, I’ve already uncovered a number of prominent themes:

  • Recruitment: Recruitment numbers for teacher education dropped precipitously these past two years across the country. Though teacher education is now a 5-year integrated master’s degree, most leaders believe that the duration and rigor of teacher training aren’t deterring recruitment. Instead, it’s the working conditions of in-service teachers in classrooms that seems to be the primary factor for why students are less interested in pursuing teaching as a profession.

  • Retention: Policymakers and teacher educators agree that retention within the program remains strong. These two groups also say that student’s who leave the program don’t do so because of the new requirements (like a master’s thesis), but instead leave the program after conducting classroom observations of teachers and realizing the intense demands of being a teacher. There also seems to be disagreement however about efforts to retain new teachers as they matriculate from the university to the classroom. The Ministry of Education stated in the strategy document outlining the reforms that improvements would be made to the induction process, such as addressing mentorship of new teachers. Most stakeholders interviewed seem to be unaware of any initiatives or policy changes made by the Ministry in this area.  

  • Preparation: There is significant debate between scholars, teachers, and teacher candidates as to whether a master’s thesis is relevant and necessary for primary and lower secondary teachers. Policy officials and teacher educators however are vehement defenders of the master’s thesis, citing the improved mindsets, values, and skills learned through the process. This friction aligns with a finding from an OECD learning visit to Norway during the first year of the reform implementation, where they identified a “lack of communication, understanding, and coherence of the reforms.” Interestingly, programs who were early adopters of the master’s thesis requirement say that these debates are no longer an issue in their community, perhaps indicating that it simply takes time for a reform to be understood and accepted widely.


Nordic Nibbles: Janteloven (The Law of Jante)

As an American, there are many times where I feel out of place, loud, and clumsy here, despite my best efforts. There are unwritten rules that govern much of Norwegian society, leading to what I perceive as a more cohesive society than in the USA, but these unwritten rules can take a while to pick up on. Take riding on public transit for example: even if there’s an open seat next to someone, you shouldn’t sit there unless the standing area has gotten too crowded. 


During my first few weeks here, a helpful colleague informed me that it would be important for me to learn about Janteloven, a humorous set of 10 “laws” written by author Aksel Sandemose that are considered universal across not just Norway, but the whole Nordic region:

  1. You shall not think you are anything special.

  2. You shall not think you are as good as us.

  3. You shall not think you are smarter than us.

  4. You shall not convince yourself that you are better than us.

  5. You shall not think you know more than us.

  6. You shall not think you are more important than us.

  7. You shall not think you are good for anything.

  8. You shall not laugh at us.

  9. You shall not think anyone cares about you.

  10. You shall not think you can teach us anything.

Though the laws are written in jest, they reflect important factors of Nordic culture. Firstly, there’s a particular emphasis placed on the collective us over the individual you, reflecting how the society is placed ahead of the individual. Individuals then must downplay their needs and achievements. It creates a sense of social stigmatization of people who break the rules, but also promotes equality and egalitarianism across society. Though it was written as satire, to many in Norway it feels as significant as the 10 Commandments. Some Norwegians bristle against the law though, saying that it prevents greatness – one town even created a grave and “buried” Janteloven, saying that it is officially dead. 

Janteloven in many ways explains why the Nordic countries are well-regarded globally for their strong societies: gender equality, universal healthcare, strong social welfare, high educational outcomes, and some of the happiest countries in the world. It also leads to some interesting cultural differences. For example, most people are on a first name basis, even students and teachers. While in the US you would often see academic achievement ceremonies or “stars of the week” bulletin boards, this is not a common practice in Norwegian schools. When getting on public transportation, there is no turnstile to go through – it is just expected that you’ve paid for a ticket, and it is rare to have an inspector ask to see yours. 

There are a few hilarious pop culture examples that I think beautifully illustrate this concept:

Alexander Skarsgård hilariously explains Jantelagen (the Swedish version) to Stephen Colbert and an American audience.  

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen did this commercial for Carlsberg, a popular beer across Scandinavia. Hilarious ending.

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Viola, Higher Education, & Norsk (Update #5)

For folks new to this blog, each post typically has three sections: a personal update, a view from 30,000 feet of things I’ve learned in my research, and Nordic Nibbles: stories and tidbits about Norwegian culture.

Orkestere (Orchestra)

When interviewing for this grant, I asked the Norwegian interview committee ‘’How do you see Americans successfully get engaged in the community?’’ One of the leaders responded, ‘’well, sometimes they just get engaged!’’ After a brief pause, she pointed to her ring finger, and we fell into a fit of giggles. 

While I curiously have not been proposed to yet, I’ve found my own answer to this question: playing viola in orchestra. 

Little Geoffrey began playing viola at age 11 after hearing a high schooler play the ‘’Pink Panther’’ theme on viola, followed by me racing home and explaining to my parents that I could get a college scholarship. Clearly I was a very popular and cool 6th grader. Flash forward 24 years later and I’m now playing in the Oslo Kammerorkester (Oslo Chamber Orchestra) and the Universitetets Symfoniorkester, Oslo (University of Oslo Symphony Orchestra). Both groups provide a much-needed artistic outlet, and a unique opportunity to make friends in Norway. 

The Oslo Kammerorkester is a small string orchestra that plays a variety of creative performances with many different collaborators. For example, our first concert of the season was in a gallery within the National Museum as part of the Oslo Culture Night, a city-wide evening of cultural events. We featured the principal flutist of the Oslo Philharmonic as well as a talented young conductor from the Norwegian Academy of Music. 

Oslo Kammerorkester rehearsing before our performance at the National Museum. Peep me by the blue screen. Photo Credit: OKO

Preparing for our fall concert in Majorstuen kirke with piano soloist and conductor Nina Haug.

Universitetets Symfoniorkester, Oslo is the official student orchestra of the University of Oslo, though this is quite a different arrangement than what we are used to in the US. Firstly, only a handful of musicians are current students. The rest of us are employees of the university, alumni, or just community members looking for a fantastic group to play with. In addition to our own concert cycle, we also perform at official university functions. 

There are two parts of playing in this orchestra that are particularly delightful: first, we rehearse in the university’s Aula, a grand and historic building filled with murals painted by Edvard Munch (the artist who painted ‘’The Scream’’). The Aula is also where the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony was once held, before being moved to the Oslo City Hall. The other wonderful part about playing in this orchestra is that it is over 130 years old, and has many wonderful traditions, one being the Fall Gala. This is a celebration where we members dress in our finest attire, sing ridiculous orchestra-themed lyrics to familiar Norwegian folk tunes, and hold a riotous award ceremony filled with pomp and circumstance. 

Universitetets Aula

Here the orchestra is singing a song bemoaning key signatures to the same folk tune that my college in the US (St. Olaf College) sings our fight song “Um Yah Yah” to!

Higher Ed in Norway and the US

When folks I meet here find out I’m from the US, I’m almost always asked ‘’which state?’’ At this point I’ve just taken to saying I’m from Texas. This is often followed by a healthy pause and a knowing glance, perhaps while pondering if I’m one of those Texans. Norwegian awareness of the US isn’t limited to just the more recognizable places like Texas, NYC, or Hollywood – I find that I’m often able to talk about growing up in Oregon, going to college in Minnesota, and teaching in rural Mississippi without having to explain at least the basics about cultural differences. 

At first, this surprised me – why do Norwegians have such depth of understanding about states within the US when many Americans would be hard-pressed to name a state in any other country? 


While this awareness can certainly be attributed to the quality of Nordic education as well as the mass export of American media, some of this is also due to comparative politics. In many ways, the U.S. is less like an individual country and more like the European Union: a political and economic union of states in the same continent (well… mostly). In that way, states in the US function as their own countries, which allows for helpful comparisons for Americans to understand. For example:

  • Texas is slightly larger than France by land area. 

  • If California were a country, its GDP would be the 5th largest in the world, which in Europe would place it between Germany and the UK.

  • Norway’s population (5.4 million)  is comparable to a mid-sized US state like Colorado or Minnesota (both about 5.7 million). Norway has 70,000 teachers, Minnesota has 72,000, and Colorado has 55,000.

These kinds of comparisons are relevant for my research as I plan to bring policy recommendations back to the US, especially when thinking about preparing for counterarguments about feasibility. For example, whenever we in the US hear about the Finnish education system, Norwegian parental leave policies, or Iceland's gender pay equity practices, there’s a common refrain we resort to: the Nordic countries are small, and ethnically and culturally homogenous, while the US is too large and diverse for any Nordic-inspired systems to be successful. Though I find this sentiment is too fatalistic, that’s why part of my strategy is to propose policy recommendations that can be implemented on a state level.  

Comparing Norway to a state like Colorado or Minnesota works when thinking about the scale and composition of postsecondary education. Norway has 36 universities and university colleges, and Colorado has 25 four-year colleges and universities.  The similarities continue when addressing indigenous education at the college level. In the US, we have what are called Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), schools which have a collective mission to serve indigenous students pursuing post-secondary education. Similar to other Minority Serving Institutions, they are incubators of teacher talent, preparing educators for teaching in an indigenous context while preserving indigenous cultures and languages. 

Norway has its own indigenous history and population, notably the Sámi people whose primary lands are found in northern Norway. Three higher education institutions in Norway are tasked with preserving and teaching the Sámi language, in addition to offering Sámi teacher education programs: the University of Tromsø: The Arctic University of Norway, Nord University, and the Sámi University of Applied Sciences. Similarly, Minnesota has three tribal colleges: Leech Lake Tribal College, Red Lake Nation College, and White Earth Tribal & Community College. Taking similarities like these into account, the scale and composition of Norway compared to a US state allows for policy recommendations to have many direct parallels. 

There are key distinctions I’ve already encountered between Norway and the United States, the most obvious one being collaboration vs. independence. Collaboration is deeply ingrained into the Norwegian system, whereas independence is of greater value in the US, so much so that school districts in Texas are called ‘’Independent School Districts.’’ To illustrate just how collaborative the Norwegian system is, I mapped out all of the stakeholder organizations involved in reforming teacher education. If you’re not an education policy wonk, don’t worry about looking too closely. 

Policy nerds can look more closely here.

Just to illustrate how important the role of collaboration is, when I first had a colleague look over an early draft of map above, the first thing he noticed was that some of the unions were not included despite participating in the reform efforts. His point was that each group plays an important role, one that policymakers must be keenly aware of.

In the center of the diagram is an organization called Universitets og Høgskolerådet - UHR (University and College Council), a state-sponsored organization composed of leaders from all universities and the Ministry of Education, with the purpose of promoting the interests of universities and colleges, and coordinating efforts to turn policy into practice. 

My advisor at the University of Oslo is a member of the committee addressing teacher education, which hosted a conference in September to discuss the national framework plans for teacher education, the very reforms I’m researching. This was a quarterly convening of all stakeholders in teacher education (college deans, professors, union leaders, etc.) to share opportunities and challenges, and break out into smaller working groups to address more nuanced issues for specific degree programs. 

UHR Rammeplanseminaret (Framework Plan Seminar) meeting in September 2023

What struck me as particularly poignant was the way that the conversations were led. For example, a valued approach here is to elevate ‘’district perspectives,’’ ensuring that rural voices are not discounted in favor of larger metropolitan areas like Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim. The conference began with representatives from four universities sharing their perspectives, with three of the four programs from more rural regions and only one from Oslo. Furthermore, even though the Ministry of Education directly funds the work of UHR, they are officially designated as an ‘’observer,’’ holding no voting power within UHR and instead occupying a listening role.

Throughout the proceedings, my mind was filled with possibilities of what a transferrable practice like this might look like in the US:

  • What common understanding about ‘’a rising tide lifts all boats’’ must be shared by colleges and universities to have productive gatherings?

  • What actions would policymakers and government officials have to make in order to build trust with institutions of higher education?

  • Are the roots of rugged individualism and competition too intertwined into American culture to allow for this level of successful collaboration? 

During the conference, I hurriedly texted a colleague back in the US: ‘’Can you imagine Texas convening leaders from all educator-preparation programs to collaboratively create and improve teacher prep policy with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Texas Education Agency? Absolutely wild.’’ Admittedly, the word ‘’absolutely’’ was an expletive. 

As I finally feel like I’m making progress in my research, I’m inspired by the possibility of what lessons a state like Texas could learn and implement from Norway.

Nordic Nibbles: Norsk

Despite having only 5 million speakers, my perception is that the Norwegian language has as much or more regional dialectical diversity than English in the United States. Close to 100% of Norwegian citizens speak Norwegian, but there are also thousands who speak the languages of northern indigenous communities: Sámi and Kven. There are two written forms of Norwegian: Bokmål (‘Book Language’) and Nynorsk (‘New Norwegian’), with Bokmål used by 90% of the country, and Nynorsk more commonly used in the western region. Students learn both written forms in school. 

When it comes to spoken Norwegian however, there are nearly 400 different dialects. There are certain regional commonalities, but some Norwegians tell me can usually pinpoint not only the region but even the exact city or village that someone is from by their dialect. This would be like an Oregonian identifying that someone was actually from Lincoln City and not Pacific City, both small beach towns along the Pacific Coast, simply by their speech. I’ve come to learn that geography and climate likely played a significant role in the regional evolution of linguistic differences. For example, rugged mountain ranges and frigid fjords made travel between villages quite difficult before roads and ferries were commonplace, and much of Norway. Some villages were only accessible by boat up until the 1990s. 


Language enthusiasts might be interested in this article from Språkrådet, the Norwegian Language Council, about the written and spoken forms of Norwegian.

Learning Norwegian

Last week I was finally able to start my Norskkurs (Norwegian language course). I enrolled in a private language school in the center of town, with a small group of fellow expats from Algeria, France, Germany, Greece, and Hungary. Our course is approximately 90% in Norwegian, with occasional explanations in English for particularly complicated explanations. 

Every Norwegian I’ve met so far is quite adept in English, due in part to English being taught from an early age in school. English is also the lingua franca in education research, and so most of my colleagues here at the university not only speak English but also publish in English. Admittedly, I allowed this English cushion to create a big disincentive for me to learn the language in my first few months. The high level of English fluency here actually makes Norway one of the rare Fulbright destinations where grantees can be selected without having proficiency in the country’s official language. 

At the same time, the pressure to learn Norwegian grows daily. While there are a handful of international researchers that are part of my research group here at the university, I learned last month that the meetings are largely held in English solely for my benefit, a realization that left me feeling both embarrassed and immensely thankful. Both of my orchestra’s hold rehearsals in Norwegian, and in one of them I’m the section leader, which means that when I can’t use my limited Norwegian and musical context clues, I need my stand partner to translate for me. I find myself most days toggling between gratitude and frustration, the former for the willingness of friends and colleagues to provide language accommodations to me, and the latter for feeling like I’m missing out on so much. 

Missteps in my research also provide a reminder that proficiency in Norwegian would be beneficial. For example, though Google’s translation tools are incredibly powerful, they often lead to incomplete, and sometimes hilariously incorrect, translations. Earlier this year I was reading an article about increasing levels of violence against teachers from students, and Google translated a sentence to: ‘’In Bergen alone, 1,596 punches and/or kicks were reported last year and 52 cases where employees were/or attempted to be scalped last year.’’ Upon reading this sentence, I leapt from my desk and ran to my officemate in disbelief, desperately seeking an explanation. He laughed and explained that the confusion stemmed from a mistranslation of the word skallet. Directly translated skallet means ‘’bald,’’ but the meaning changes depending on context. Google thought this meant ‘’scalped,’’ but the correct translation should have been ‘’headbutted.’’

To be clear, acts of aggression against teachers are not the norm here, but there are some concerning data indicating a recent uptick in such actions. In the next post I’ll dig into how a new education policy may be a leading factor for this change, how this policy is influencing teacher retention and recruitment, and how policymakers are seeking to address this problem. Oh, and fun Christmas season things here just to balance that out. :-) 

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Fjords, Disaster Movies, and Allemannsretten (Update #4)

For me, there’s nothing better than a disaster movie from the 1990s and early 2000s. Jurassic Park, Twister, The Day After Tomorrow, Dante’s Peak... I love these films so much, I may have gone on a trip to western Norway because of one. 

Disaster movies are satisfying to watch because there’s a specific formula they must follow, one that we’re all intimately familiar with: 

  • An early warning of the destruction to come. 

  • A brilliant scientist with relationship problems, usually because they are more committed to science. 

  • No one heeds the scientist’s warning. 

  • BOOM. All hell breaks loose, and iconic landmarks are destroyed. 

  • The scientist fights like hell to save the people in their life.

    • If they live, this is in spite of CPR performed incorrectly. 

    • If they die, this is to sacrifice themself to save others, often as part of a redemption arc. 

  • The scientist’s relationship problems are resolved thanks to trauma bonding. We are a family again. We will rebuild. 

In preparing to come to here, I did a deep dive into Norwegian movies and television and came across the disaster film The Wave (Bølgen). Based on an actual tsunami in 1905 caused by a cliffside collapsing into the fjord and destroying the village of Geiranger, the film follows geologist Kristian Eikjord in a modern day reoccurrence of that earlier disaster. Not only does The Wave execute the disaster movie formula perfectly (even the New York Times agrees with me), it also inspired me to take my own trip to the Geirangerfjord.

Image Source: IMDB

If you watch the film, the first half of legitimizes my decision: panoramic views of the Geirangerfjord’s rugged beauty, waterfalls cascading hundreds of meters from the mountains above, idyllic farms perched precariously on cliffsides, and Norway’s iconic fjord ferries carrying cars and passengers from village to village. The fjord is so picturesque, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Last month I embarked on a four-day trip to Vestlandet (the West Coast) of Norway to see the Geirangerfjord for myself. Below are a sample of photos I took during this trip. 

Day 1: Ålesund, Romedalen, and Sæbø

Ålesund waterfront. Most of Ålesund burned in a fire in the early 1900s. When the town was rebuilt, the architects designed much of the city in an art deco style.

Oluf Holm, part of the Fisheries Museum in Ålesund.

Ålesund as viewed from the Aksla viewpoint, reached by climbing a rocky staircase through the trees.

The west coast of Norway is largely composed of fjords, peninsulas, mountains, and islands. Though there are many extensive tunnels that allow drivers to travel under the fjords or through the mountains, there is also a vast system of ferries that help to make travel more efficient. The whole system is quite reminiscent of the ferry system in the Puget Sound in Washington.

Hytter (cabins) tucked back at the end of the Romedalen valley.

Many of the cabins in this region have sod roofs, which used to be the most common roof in the region. They help to keep the cabin waterproof, can bear the weight of snow, and insulate the cabin against the cold climate.

Quick detour to the village of Sæbø to take some pictures for my grandmother. Her mother’s last name was Saeboe, and I suspect some of our ancestors once lived here. This is the view from Sæbø down the Hjørundfjord.

Cabins along the water in Sæbø.

Day 2: Olden, Snøhetta Reindeer Viewpoint, Romsdalen, and Trollstigen

This little guy climbed through the window into my cabin during the rain. I may be more of a dog person, but this little dude was too cute.

Olden Kyrkje

Alpine lakes above the treeline. The fall colors at these higher elevations were electrifying.

Nord-Sel Kyrkje

The hike to the Snøhetta Reindeer Viewpoint. Nearly blown over by the wind a few times.

Special stop to an iconic project by one of my brother’s favorite architecture firms, Snøhetta. From this building, you can view herds of reindeer and muskoxen roaming the valley floor.

Waterfalls in the Romsdalen valley.

Trollstigen, a road with 11 hairpin turns climbing out of the valley floor and over the mountain pass. So jealous of the cyclists I saw climbing up the road — the descent must have been incredible.

Touristing.

Waterfall holding onto the last glimmer of sunlight before the sun dipped behind the valley wall.

Day 3: Norddal, Geiranger, and Dalsnibba

The valley above Norddal has a network of cabins you can rent and is quite secluded. I stayed in one the night before, and had the whole valley to myself… well, except for the sheep.

And here she is — Geirangerfjord! Glimpsing these cliffsides in person and witnessing their sheer size, I now understand how the tsunami in 1905 was so destructive.

From the village of Geiranger, I took a boat tour down the fjord. Rounding the first bend, you begin to see the mighty Sju Systrene (Seven Sisters Waterfall).

The Seven Sisters are a series of (you guessed it) seven waterfalls, each falling about 450 meters from the lakes and snowmelt above.

On the opposite side of the fjord is Friaren (The Suitor). As the legend goes, the seven sisters dance beautifully down the mountain, while the suitor tries to flirt and court the sisters from across the water. Though he once tried to propose to the seven sisters, he never succeeded.

From the boat, hikers have the option to disembark and climb up to the Skågefla farm perched on a cliffside 250 meters above the water. This was the perfect place to stop, have a lunch, and read about how the original owner made it so that you could only reach the farm by ladder. When it was time for the tax collector to come, the farmer would just pull up the ladders so he wouldn’t have to pay his taxes.

View of the Geirangerfjord from Skågefla, with the Seven Sisters seen off to the right.

I met a couple from Germany at Skågefla, and we took photos for each other. While I was happy to take some really cute couply photos for them, when it was my turn for a pic all I could think of was ‘‘what if the cliff collapsed and the tidal wave started right now. This is my disaster movie moment. YES.’’

This may surprise some of you - this is not a photo of me. It’s actually a troll, and they’re not real.

Day 4: åNDALSNES

Seaside home in Åndalsnes.

The view of Åndalsnes from the Skylift gondola.

View of the valley from atop the mountain above Åndalsnes. This valley leads to the Trollstigen road pictured earlier.

Nordic Nuggets

Perhaps one of the greatest moments of cultural dissonance I’ve experienced thus far happened due to conflicting understandings of property and ownership. Norway has a policy of Allemannsretten: the right to travel and stay in nature. This means that anyone, citizen or not, can hike, camp, swim, and forage anywhere in nature, even when that land is privately owned.

Norwegians love the outdoors, making Allemannsretten a deeply-held cultural value, though similar policies exists in other European nations. In many ways, the love for the outdoors amidst a rainy and cold climate is akin to that of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Unlike the US however, Norwegians seem to understand that this right comes with a sense of duty and responsibility. This means leaving no trace when hiking, and ensuring that when you camp to keep a healthy distance from where residents live. 

During my trip to Vestlandet, I stayed in some of Norway’s iconic hytter (cabins). Many of these cabins were nestled back in a mountain valley, and often required driving through family farms filled with sheep and goats. These roads resemble a private driveway and are behind a closed gate.

Friendly lil goat buddy who wouldn’t get off the road. Wanted a glamor shot apparently.

As an American, the first few times I had to cross through these farms felt deeply disconcerting. It’s not uncommon in the US to see signs saying ‘’Trespassers will be shot,’’ and many state laws even defend the right of property owners to do just that. 

Image Source: Putnam County, TN

In the next post, I’ll share about language, higher education, and the two orchestras I joined. If you’d like to receive email updates when I publish, feel free to drop your email below.

Oktoberfest, Research, and Youth Elections (Update #3)

Fall is officially here in Oslo, and that means it’s time to share pictures of autumn in Oslo to make the pumpkin-spice-latte-drinking, Taylor-Swift-Folklore-Album-obsessed, Halloween-cheugy-crowd jealous. See below.

With the crisp autumn air and steadily decreasing amount of daylight, I’ve adopted some of the hygge (cozy) approach that Americans admire so much about the Scandinavia: wrapping myself in heavy blankets to watch The West Wing for the umpteenth time, enjoying gatherings at the dinner table with a few new friends and too many bottles of wine, and sitting down in a coffee shop to read a good book. Most recently Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time - who knew spider feminism would be so compelling?

I’ve also come to understand the Norwegian phrase, ‘’Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlig klær!’’ which translates to ‘’There is no bad weather, only bad clothes!’’ Waterproof jackets, multiple layers, and wool are daily essentials for a blissful hiking trip or evening out on the town with friends.  

The street I live on in the St. Hanshaugen neighborhood.

Fun with Fulbrighters at Oktoberfest Oslo!

Hiking with friends near Sognsvann

Graveyard near my apartment.

The fall colors are quite stunning here.

The changing weather comes at a convenient time as I’m beginning to feel settled here in my home for the year, and while making progress on my research feels ever more urgent.


Digging into the research

I mentioned in my first post about why I’m in Norway for my research, but there’s a bit more to why being here right now is important. I explained how the country introduced sweeping reforms to teacher education that stand in stark contrast to the educator-preparation landscape in my home state of Texas, and a key assumption of my research is that there will be policy recommendations I can bring back to the states. But what exactly did Norway do? What were their goals? Why is now the right time to be here, and why couldn’t I do this from an office in the US? And how do I plan to gather the information to evaluate the impact of these policies? 

Norway introduced these reforms in 2017 with three primary goals: 

  1. Improve the quality of teacher preparation

  2. Elevate the professional status of teaching, and 

  3. Make teacher education more attractive and improve retention.

To accomplish these goals, these policy reforms included a number of specific actions that took place in the Norwegian government, universities, and public schools. Some of the biggest changes included raising entry criteria for admission to teacher education programs, redesigning coursework to have a more rigorous foundation in theory and practice, and requiring students to complete a five-year integrated master’s degree program for most teaching positions. These changes made Norway’s teacher education program one of the most rigorous and longest pathways to becoming a teacher in the world. They’re also influenced by a historical and political context marked by international rankings and increasingly neoliberal reforms. 

For my research, I ask the question ‘’What implications do Norway’s recent policy reforms to teacher education have on the retention, attrition, and preparation of new teachers?’’ Part of why this is such an opportune time to be physically present in Norway is that the reforms were instituted in 2017, which means that the first cohort of teachers graduating from the new five-year integrated master’s programs just completed their first year in the classroom. I’ll spend the month of January interviewing teacher candidates, new and veteran teachers, administrators, teacher educators, researchers, and policymakers, and then conduct a qualitative analysis to identify potential policy recommendations.

For this year, I’m working with Dr. Inga Staal Jenset in the Institutt for lærerutdanning og skoleforskning (Institute for Teacher Education and School Research) at the University of Oslo (UiO). While most of the researchers here are focused on schools and teachers, Inga’s research is unique in that she examines teacher education itself, investigating how certain practices might lead to better-prepared teachers. She’s also a gracious and patient advisor, and I’m so fortunate to learn from her expertise and wisdom. 

As part of my stay here, the department extended an invitation for me to join the SISCO research group, which much to my dismay is not named after the American musician who sang a popular early 2000s song about undergarments, but instead is an acronym for Studies of Instruction across Subjects and Competences. I apologize to all the millennials and Gen-Xers reading this who now have that song stuck in your head. SISCO is composed of faculty and PhD students working on a number of fascinating projects, many of which utilize years of video data they’ve collected from hundreds of classrooms around Norway. Every two weeks, we gather together and a member of the group presents their current project while it is still in progress. The team then interrogates the research by tearing apart assumptions, pushing back on claims, and posing questions the presenter may not have considered. While all of this might sound antagonistic, the whole affair is quite collegial and built on shared trust, and the team is working diligently to build an international reputation for research of the highest quality. I learn so much from these discussions, and have so far successfully resisted the ‘‘maybe I should do a PhD’’ train of thought.

SISCO research group meeting.

I’m still in Phase I of my research, spending most of my days in the office reading any book, article, or government document I can find that explores teacher education in Norway. 

View from my office across the main square at UiO.

The office I share with two other PhD students at the Institute.

Norse nibbles

Last month was election season in Norway, and I was most struck by the practice of Skuleval. Skuleval is the national system of school elections held by the Norwegian Ministry of Education since 1989, but has its roots in Norway since the end of WWII. 

During Skuleval, almost 400 high schools across the country participate in a mock election (about 70% of the total number of high schools). In the weeks leading up to the election, students engage in political discussions, learn about democracy, and gain knowledge about political trends. The results of this election are then shared on the news, and give important insight about the views of future voters. In the US, it is a common practice for individual high schools and sometimes middle schools to host their own mock elections in presidential years, but the level of national coordination in Norway puts the US to shame.

Source: https://sikt.no/skolevalg

This year, the center-right Høyre party and the right-wing populist party Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party) gained significant ground, up 20% from the last election. The gains in right-wing votes mirror those of adult voters as nationalism and populism are gaining ground in the West. 


While Norwegian politics certainly differ from those in the US in many foundational ways, but here are a few important insights:

  • The colors are opposite: Left-leaning parties are red, and right-leaning parties are blue

  • Major Parties: there are two major parties, Arbeiderpartiet (Labour Party) and Høyre (Conservative Party). Together however, these parties occupy less than 50% of the vote, so they have less power than Democrats and Republicans in the US. 

  • Other Parties: The parliamentary system leads to more types of political parties, with a few interesting idiosyncrasies: 

    • There is a party called ‘’Venstre’’ that literally translates to ‘’left,’’ but they’re really a center-right party in Norway.

    • Some of the parties form to address a singular issue, such as the Pasientfokus (Patient Focus) party. 

  • Youth Parties: Most political parties have a youth party as well, who play a major role in putting on the Skuleval.


When talking about youth parties and youth political engagement in Norway, you shouldn’t ignore the terrorist attack on Utøya island in 2011. On July 22nd, a right-wing white nationalist disguised as a police officer targeted a summer camp of children from the Arbeidernes ungdomfylking (Youth Labour Party), killing 69 and injuring 66, most of whom were children. One survey found that 1 in 4 Norwegians knew someone affected by the attacks. If you are ever in Oslo, I encourage you to visit the July 22nd Center, a museum dedicated to telling the story of the survivors and educating visitors about the origins of this horrific attack. 

July 22 Center in Oslo, where they have a gallery of all the front page stories from newspapers around Norway and Europe.

The timeline of events on July 22nd. The museum also has a number of other powerful galleries, sobering video interviews with survivors, and expert educators who facilitated a great session for our group from UiO.

Many of the children killed that day would now be leaders in the Labour Party, which just lost significant ground to the more right-wing parties. I wonder how things would be different in Norway if their voices were still here. 

Fulbright Orientation (Update #2)

For the 2023-2024 academic year, the US-Norway Fulbright Foundation accepted its largest cohort since 1954: 39 American grantees to Norway, and 28 Norwegian grantees to the US. This year’s grantees are conducting research on maternal mortality, supporting Ukrainian refugees, underwater autonomous vehicles, climate change in the arctic, and many other endeavors. 

Orientation & legacy

The US-Norway Fulbright Foundation pulled out the red carpet for us by hosting orientation at Schafteløkken, one of Oslo’s largest timber buildings. Schafteløkken was built in 1807 first as a homesteading farm, and is a classic example of the Empirestil (empire style) of architecture that originated in the Napoleonic era of France and gained popularity during the early 1800s in Scandinavia. Despite being located in the cosmopolitan city of Oslo, this introduction to the country gave us a taste of the agrarian heritage that still defines much of Norway. As my middle school students would often say, ‘’vibes.’’

Schafteløkken

Orientation sessions served as a crash course introduction to Norwegian culture, engaging with our host institutions, traditional foods, and an explanation of Senator J. William Fulbright’s controversial legacy. It’s safe to assume that most Fulbright grantees are unaware of much information about our program’s namesake. A stalwart opponent to McCarthyism and the Vietnam War, Senator Fulbright was also a staunch WWII-era Southern Democrat: he voted against the Civil Rights Act, opposed public school desegregation, and sought to preserve Jim Crow laws. 

Prior to his work in Congress, Senator Fulbright served as the president of the University of Arkansas, which now houses the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences as well as a statue in his likeness. Former and current Black students, faculty, and staff at the University of Arkansas beginning in 2020 created the hashtag #BlackatUARK on twitter ‘’to oppose dominant public memories of Fulbright and share their experiences of anti-Black racism on campus.’’

Hearing the Fulbright staff describe the organizing and activism at the University of Arkansas, I left wrestling with the ideas of legacy and accountability. What responsibility do we have to the actions of those who came before us? How does this responsibility change when we are participants in programs that bear their names? How can we move past acknowledgement into tangible change?

My thoughts turned to my graduate school. Founded by President Lyndon B. Johnson, public events and informational placards within the school look at his administration through rose-colored glasses, emphasizing LBJ’s ‘’Great Society’’ domestic programs and policies to address poverty, education, healthcare, and civil rights. At the same time, rarely are the consequences of his policies interrogated, or much less even acknowledged, by the school. Take for example the 1.3 million deaths during the Vietnam War, over a third of which were Vietnamese civilians. During my time at the LBJ School, I also saw how international students often knew much more about LBJ’s legacy than the American students.

Perhaps it was due to spending two days in a 200-year old building, but I left thinking about how to build something that lasts. There’s a famous adage attributed to Maya Angelou that feels particularly instructive: ‘’You did then what you knew how to do. Now that you know better, you do better.’’ We have an obligation to address hard truths about our past, and to move forward with that collective knowledge.

Reception at the Norwegian Nobel Institute

After orientation, we attended a reception at the Norwegian Nobel Institute with United States Ambassador to Norway Marc Nathanson, and Norway’s State Secretary for Research and Higher Education Oddmund Løkensgard Hoel. After hearing remarks from these leaders, each of us took a turn at the podium to share about our background and research. Naturally I had to throw my horns up. 

Introducing my research and bringing a little Texas to Norway

2023-2024 US Fulbright Grantees to Norway with US Ambassador to Norway Marc Nathanson and Norway’s State Secretary for Research and Higher Education Oddmund Løkensgard Hoel

The Nobel Institute lies across the street from the Royal Palace, and is where the Nobel Committee works from January to October to decide who should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Many Norwegians take national pride in being the sole country responsible for awarding the Peace Prize, a duty granted separate from all other Nobel prizes and possibly due to Norway’s reputation for peace efforts in the modern era. This year’s winner is Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist fighting against the oppression of women in Iran. 

Entering through the Institute’s ornately carved wooden doors, the interior is designed in a stately art nouveau style. Adorned with images of past Peace Prize recipients, there’s a sense of sacredness inside - not of a religious kind, but rather resonating with deep significance. 

This year’s cohort has already been a fantastic group of people to connect with, with many instances of remarking what a small world it is because of our shared backgrounds. For example, meeting my fellow Oles (people from St. Olaf College) Emily Johnson, who is researching nature-based preschools in Trondheim, as well as Pat and Scott Anfinson — Pat was on staff at St. Olaf when I was a student!

Norse Nibbles

At the end of each blog post, I’ll have a recurring series called ‘’Norse Nibbles,’’ sharing interesting stories and tidbits about Norwegian culture, though not always directly related to the topic of the post itself. 

For the first Norse Nibbles installment, let’s talk about everyone’s favorite topic: FOOD. While the food scene in Norway has undergone a massive transition in recent years, largely due to Norway’s burgeoning immigrant population, it’s no secret that the Norwegians aren’t particularly known for having the most delicious food in the world (if you’ve ever had Lutefisk, you know what I’m talking about). However, centuries of cultivating food in such a harsh climate have created a unique culinary style that is hearty, at times quirky, and not to be missed. 

The Fulbright Norway staff during orientation treated us to what we in the US would call a smörgåsbord, though that’s really a Swedish word, of traditional Norwegian foods.

My good friend Marit has also taken great pride in making traditional Norwegian meals for me and my roommate. One particular highlight was Fårikål, the national dish of Norway. It is made with mutton with bone, cabbage, whole black pepper, wheat flour, and served with potatoes. After eating this, I felt ready to go herd sheep for the day.

Fårikål

One hilarious food tradition in Norway is ‘’Taco Fredag’’ (Taco Friday). This is a direct equivalent of what we jokingly refer to as ‘’white people taco night’’ in the states: crispy taco shells, ground beef with a package of seasoning mix, Ortega sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, etc. But what makes Norway’s Taco Fredag truly special is that almost every grocery store has an entire aisle dedicated solely to this meal. Don’t worry, Norwegians know it’s silly. 

The next post will be about my research at the University of Oslo. To get an email update the next time I publish here, you can sign up below. :-)

Fjord to Blackboard: Investigating the Norwegian Teacher Training Experience (Update #1)

When I was a teacher in Texas, every morning on my commute to school I would pass by this billboard: 

Each time I saw this sign, my mind would cycle through a familiar wave of feelings: concerns about the impact of classrooms led by underprepared teachers… curiosity at how policymakers could be okay with this for teaching, but not for other professions… despair at how this message might further undermine waning public trust in education. 

What I didn’t realize at the time was that passing by this billboard would lead me on a journey halfway around the world to answer this question:

How should we train our teachers?

Welcome to “Fjord to Blackboard: Investigating the Norwegian Teacher Training Experience,” where I’ll be chronicling my experience as a Fulbright researcher during the 2023-2024 school year in Oslo, Norway, attempting to answer this question. 

A Proper introduction

If we haven’t met, hello - I’m Geoff. I’m a Texas-based educator working in public policy, and am passionate about public education. For the first 12 years of my career I taught science and sex education to middle schoolers, first in rural Mississippi and then in Austin, Texas.

During my time in the classroom I experienced firsthand how public policy could both create and dismantle barriers for learning. For example:

  • My first classroom in Mississippi was devoid of any books, science equipment, nor simply working air conditioning.

  • The current Texas state science standards (TEKS) largely ignore climate change, while extreme weather events affecting the state are increasing in both intensity and frequency. 

  • Texas’ Health and Safety standards require sex education teachers to not “promote homosexuality,” and instead tell our students a lie: that being Queer is a criminal offense. 

I could never make peace with the inequities of public education in the United States, and wanted to be a part of the work to build an education system rooted in justice, creating conditions that ensure all students and teachers can thrive. If you’re a fan of The West Wing, my beliefs about what needs to happen in education are perhaps best summed up by Sam Seaborn’s vision for public schools: 

“‘’Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teachers should be fierce; they should be making six figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to it citizens, just like national defense.’’”
— Sam Seaborn, The West Wing

With that in mind, I took a leap of faith: I stepped out of the classroom… for now. This past year, I completed a master’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs (hook ‘em), and started working for Deans for Impact. DFI is a nonprofit organization committed to the belief that every child deserves a well-prepared teacher. I was fortunate to work alongside my friend and now colleague Patrick Steck on the policy team at DFI (fun fact: before becoming colleagues, Patrick and I were teammates for the Austin T3 triathlon team). Through working at DFI, I learned how to combine my teaching experience and passion for public policy, advising federal and state-level policy efforts to increase access and affordability to high-quality, practice-based educator-preparation programs. 

Little did I know how impactful this work at Deans For Impact would be to my current research in Norway.

Why norway

The number one question I get both from folks in the US and here in Oslo is ‘’Why Norway?’’ While I’ve gotten explanation down to just a few talking points in under 30 seconds, the real answer takes some explaining. 

Remember that billboard – ‘’Want to teach? When can you start?’’ It’s an advertisement for a for-profit educator-preparation program that currently trains more than half of all new teachers in Texas, and operates in many other states as well. The program can be completed almost exclusively online over a six-week period, replacing valuable practice-based clinical experiences like student teaching with click-through powerpoints and videos. It is now in the process of losing its accreditation with the state after failing to meet the conditions of an improvement plan, and will no longer be able to prepare new teachers. 

While I have deep concerns about the impact of organizations like this who sacrifice quality in the name of expediency, the real culprit is public policy with few regulatory safeguards for teacher quality. I think about it like a game of chess: you can’t really reprimand a pawn on a chessboard for its limited moves, when the rules of the game made some pieces move that way. A recently published Texas House report identifies that one-in-three new teachers do not have a teaching certificate, and 41% leave the profession within five years. Furthermore, many school districts began this school year with hundreds of vacant positions, and 77% of Texas teachers are actively considering leaving the profession, an increase of 19 percentage-points since 2020. 

Norway faces similar concerns about their teaching supply. Data from the Norwegian Education Association shows that nearly 20% of teachers do not have formal training, and are hired to fill vacant positions in primarily rural and remote regions with shortages of qualified teachers. Additionally, 53% of active teachers are considering applying to another profession.

A shortage of qualified teachers is not the only concern about teaching shared by Texas and Norway: the two regions are also hoping to improve the professional status of teachers, as well as prepare a high-quality and modern teaching force. Despite these similar challenges, Texas and Norway are undertaking starkly different policy approaches to solve them.

  • State officials in Texas have steadily deregulated education by increasing the number of pathways into teaching while simultaneously resisting efforts to ‘’raise the bar’’ on the quality of teacher preparation. For example, some innovative programs have removed barriers into the profession (ex. Dallas College’s paid residency apprenticeship creates a pathway for paraprofessionals to become teachers), while the state’s top education official recently described Texas’ exam for teaching certification as “trash.”

  • Norway on the other hand introduced sweeping reforms in 2017, requiring new teachers to earn a five-year integrated Master’s degree, raised entry and exit criteria, and overhauled their course sequence to emphasize both the theoretical foundations of pedagogy as well as practice-based clinical experiences. 

While my research interests are certainly sufficient reason to be in Norway, there are also some personal motivations behind why I wanted to come here. I’m half Norwegian by heritage, and grew up making lefse with my mom and hearing stories about how my ancestors emigrated from Norway. I also attended St. Olaf College (Um Yah Yah) which was founded by Norwegian immigrants, and where I learned to play Norwegian folk music on the hardanger fiddle. While I’m here, I hope to connect with my extended family on this side of the pond, and to visit places where my ancestors once lived. 

Me at 19 years old (a literal baby) with my Hardanger fiddle teacher Andrea Een and our studio at St. Olaf College. Hardanger fiddles are a type of modified violin unique to Norway used to play folksongs by memory. If you want to hear what it sounds like, here’s a video of my friend Rachel Nesvig playing a song called Lofthusen.

Lefse I made for Christmas last year using a recipe from our Holm Familien Oppskrifter (Holm Family Recipes) book my mom and her sister made for me and my cousins. Lefse is a potato-based flatbread that is often topped with sweets like lingonberry jam or with brunost (Norway’s famous brown cheese).

Setting Intentions

Blogs are a fickle thing, which is why I’ve had some trepidation about keeping one. I’m worried that I’ll share an unvarnished view that reflects a limited mindset, that it will feel like a vanity project, or that it will face a similar fate as many blogs do and fizzle away. So instead, I’m setting intentions for what this blog is about:

  1. A chance to stay connected with friends, family, and colleagues in the U.S. 

  2. A place to track and reflect on my experiences during this incredible opportunity.

  3. To build a habit of writing.

  4. To discern what’s next. 

In the upcoming posts, I’ll share more about my research, interesting tidbits about Norwegian culture and customs, the Norwegian education system, adjusting to life overseas, and my photography (can’t have a blog with “Fjord” in the title without actually having a picture of a proper fjord).

While I’ll make sure to share on social media when I publish a blog post here, I’ll invite you to join me on this journey by subscribing below. Ha det bra!