Regulated Social Change: a Diffusion Study of the Norwegian Comprehensive School Re Form

Abstract

ties in recruitment to secondary schools and poor co-ordination between the different types of secondary education were recognized limitations of the existing school system. The Labor Party government, in keeping with their political program of social equality, was the initiator of the reform, while the conservatives favored a pluralistic school system voluntarily attended. The reform can also be seen as part of a general policy by the national government of rationalization to increase bureaucratization and centralization. The comprehensive schoolreform wasinitiated and directed by thecentral government, but implementation was left to the local authorities. Major features of the reform were the extension of compulsory schooling from seven to nine years and the change from a selective to a more comprehensive type of schooling.3