6. From Segregation to Integration and the Role of Testing in a Norwegian Educational Psychology Office, 1953–1980

This chapter deals with disruption and continuity in the approach towards the use of IQ tests and other assessment tools in the Norwegian Educational Psychological Counseling Services (EPS) from the early 1950s until 1980. The analysis is based on the scrutiny of yearly reports from the municipal EPS office in Norway’s second largest city, Bergen. These reports are regarded as forms of social action contributing to shaping that reality. The chapter investigate how testing, individually and in groups, was described and legitimized throughout the period. Can tensions or ruptures be traced regarding the ways forms of testing are mentioned, weighted and linked to other activities in the service? Educational psychology sought hold of IQ testing as a contribution to handle risks related to population degeneration and optimizing of the school system during a period with strong emphasis upon measurement. Services and expertise aimed at classifying children not suitable for ordinary education, like the EPS, has been regarded a decisive element to fulfil the Norwegian 1950s education reforms. This analysis focus upon the role of testing as part of EPS activities during a period of changing educational ambitions towards a principle of inclusion. Thus, the role of EPS also developed. How do the reports reflect educational reforms and a changing role of the EPS service?