Berkeley Review of Education

This article investigates how Norwegian policy documents construct the term competence in relation to policy initiatives exerted by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Recent Norwegian policy documents partially redefined student and teacher competence so that the concepts became more individual and performance-oriented. This departed from previous policy documents. Thus, the author argues, the OECD not only governs through numbers and comparison, but also through what can be described as “governance through concepts.” Whereas evidence indicates that greater policy attention to outcomes and accountability, through policies directed at student and teacher competence, leads to increased student performance, researchers know less about whether such policies enhance opportunities for all studentsWeCD in the Field of Educations of education.ities for all students and whether there are reverse implications in terms of socia or whether there are reverse implications for social equality or the broader aims of education.