Er pedagogisk skjønn under press?

The article examines the teacher’s pedagogical discretion regarding initial education in a Norwegian school context. Through a literature review, we explore what central documents and research say about teachers’ pedagogical discretion. The discussion section discusses findings from the literature review with the anthology’s concept of interaction and the PRESSDIM model. Our findings indicate that we know a lot about the needs of the youngest children in school. At the same time, teachers experience significant pressure related to the complex demands and expectations to meet students’ needs. This can impact the effective exercise of pedagogical discretion and be problematic for the holistic view of initial education. Limited pedagogical discretion can affect the facilitation of interaction between teacher and student. Reduced learning pressure for the youngest children in school and a focus on pedagogical discretion in the professional community will be crucial for further development of effective exercise of pedagogical discretion.