Lemmens The Virtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education Bernd Wächter (ed.) Aca papers on International Cooperation in Education The V irtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education

Productive learning cultures
Introduction and background
“Productive Learning Cultures” is a research cooperation project involving six
universities in the Southern African region and the University of Bergen, Nor-
way. The project originated in 1997 at the University of Bergen, with Profes-
sor Otto Fuglestad as project leader and Associate Professor Sølvi Lillejord
as project coordinator. Since 1998, the University of Bergen has been sup-
porting the project financially through the Meltzer Foundation.
The main partners in the project are the University of Bergen in Norway and
the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Other partners are the University of
Zululand in South Africa, Universidade Pedagógica in Mozambique, Univer-
sity of Zimbabwe, University of Botswana and University of Namibia. The par-
ticipating researchers focus on topics such as curriculum development, edu-
cational leadership, classroom research, philosophy of education etc.
During the 1990s, fundamental changes rapidly influenced the development
of education policy. Researchers have been referring to the ideological
changes that took place as a global phenomenon, “a global circulation of
ideas” (Ball 1995, Popkewitz 1996, Barber 1997). Some of these ideas could,
according to Ball, be related to concepts such as market forces, incentives
and autonomy, steering from a distance, quality control and authority. The
user’s right to question and influence the services they are being offered is
also a central theme at this global arena.
Both Norway and the Southern African countries are thus in the midst of
thorough education reform processes, which question established views on
teaching and learning. New curricula are introduced at all levels and it is
emphasised that teaching should be perceived as a collective responsibility,
not merely as an individual skill. Learning is considered a constructive activi-
ty based on reasoning, reflection and action, and teachers are supposed to
act as facilitators and to use teamwork to consolidate this new approach
(Lillejord 1999).
The reform documents in each of the countries involved in the project focus
on the development of new perspectives on teaching and learning. There is a
wish to design new “roles” for learners, teachers and school leaders, a
strengthened focus on management and leadership issues, a quest for more
user participation and school self evaluation (the school as a learning organi-
sation). All these changes challenge and inspire the educational researchers
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