School banners and knowledge regimes in Norwegian education history

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of text and symbols of old and new school banners from all the primary and secondary schools in Trondheim, Norway. A school banner is a large piece of cloth attached and carried on a pole, recognized by the use of colours, symbols and different types of inscriptions. The first school banners were made around the 1890’s, and since then and up till today, the banners are most of all used in the parade at Constitution Day and at special celebrations and anniversaries for schools. There is little research done on school banners, and the aim of this paper is to elucidate the symbolism of the school banners in a historical perspective. What we have found so far is that school banners are product of their time; they mirror the historical period they were made in. Further the banners represent both the ideology of the hegemonic education policy at time and the hegemonic pedagogical philosophy. School banners also express the local identity and vision of the school, and the banners are mainly a product of a joint project at the school. We also find that school banners seem to be a unique material for further research.