The decentralized Scandinavian school structure with the municipal school committee as a central ... more The decentralized Scandinavian school structure with the municipal school committee as a central factor between the municipal council and other school interests gives the school board a central rol ...
A national survey was conducted to determine the presence of barriers to placing preschool childr... more A national survey was conducted to determine the presence of barriers to placing preschool children with disabilities in normalized education environments. The survey inquired about education policy as well as attitudes, curricula, and methods. Surveys were sent to 278 educators, administrators, and parents, with a 53 percent response rate. Respondents ranked eight areas as possible disincentives to placing children with disabilities in normalized settings, with the following results: personnel training and standards was highest as a disincentive, with values and attitudes and fiscal/contracting policies also ranking high. Responses on this issue varied considerably by subgroup. For example, all parents and all directors of Head Start Technical Assistance programs felt that attitudes were a barrier, but over half the child care directors, Head Start directors, and state directors of special education felt that attitudes were not a barrier. Attitudes were categorized as follows: turf issues; teacher preparedness; awareness; the feeling that either the nondisabled or disabled child will receive a lower quality education ("someone will lose"); and the issue of communication, collaboration, and respect. Strategies for solving these barrier problems are presented. An appendix lists seven organizational resources for information on early childhood policies and programs. (Contains 14 references.) (JDD)
The core assumption in this chapter is that political actors and civil servants on the municipal ... more The core assumption in this chapter is that political actors and civil servants on the municipal level share in the common societal responsibility for the education and upbringing of the next generation. Using a filter of five core public-governance logics in the analysis of our data – the marketplace logic, the managerial, the public, the professional and the ethical –we find both similarities and differences between politicians and civil servants. We analyse how politicians and administrators are positioned in the system and how they develop their commitment to, and their competencies to take part in furthering, both a democratic education and an efficient and effective governance system, in the context of municipalities that face continued restructuring. We present similarities and differences between countries in the project, so some overlapping from the country reports will occur in this chapter.
It is widely acknowledged that context matters, that it affects leadership practices. A large bod... more It is widely acknowledged that context matters, that it affects leadership practices. A large body of descriptive studies documents common elements in the work of school superintendents. What is less well known is how superintendents’ leadership may be expressed very differently given the varying contexts in which they work. The purpose of this cross-national study was to identify the specific variations in context which influence superintendents’ leadership, and to examine how superintendents respond to these variations in context. Structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 superintendents- six from across Sweden and six from Wisconsin, in the United States. The findings illustrate that the work of superintendents is paradoxically similar but different. Superintendents described common primary work priorities, challenges and contextual variations which influenced their practice. Yet, differences in district size, organizational culture, community characteristics, and ge...
How School Principals Sustain Success over Time, 2011
The rich data provided in this project has enabled us to provide a unique international perspecti... more The rich data provided in this project has enabled us to provide a unique international perspective on how successful leaders sustain their success. Our case stories encompass education in six countries and stretch over a period of 5 years. They give us new and challenging knowledge, not only about the values, qualities, skills and knowledge which successful principals hold and apply in order to achieve and sustain success, but, importantly, how they influence teachers’ teaching and in student learning and achievement. The analyses and arguments in the case stories and their further development through six thematic chapters have enabled us to view sustainability from diverse perspectives. One chapter takes a communicative perspective on leadership, sustaining success through sense-making communication in the everyday practice. Another chapter takes as its point of departure a psychological perspective on school leaders’ resilience as a precondition for sustaining success in leadership. A third chapter on sustaining improvement and leadership in challenging schools takes a systemic perspective on schools. And the fourth chapter analysed two different forms of preparation for leadership. The last chapter analysed cases from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and USA (New York) in changing policy regimes for leadership and finds that the directions towards increases in contractual accountability are broadly the same.
The school law has strengthened the rights for the pupils and parents not only through the possib... more The school law has strengthened the rights for the pupils and parents not only through the possibility to choose the school but also to test decisions taken by the law in court. The state inspection has a great number of possibilities to act against schools that don’t fulfill the law.
Transnational Influences on Values and Practices in Nordic Educational Leadership, 2013
From the 1930s to 1980s, Swedish education was generally governed much in the same way as the res... more From the 1930s to 1980s, Swedish education was generally governed much in the same way as the rest of the social democratic welfare state. Policy was to be formulated at the national level through negotiation between leading politicians and representatives of major organised interests, implemented by neutral, rule-following civil servants and carried out by local authorities and professionals in the municipalities. In stark contrast, the past few decades have seen Sweden gain a reputation for having one of the most decentralised educational systems in the world, as decision-making powers previously held by the national parliament have been generously transferred to local authorities, quasi-markets, school leaders and other actors. At the same time, however, the state has not so much vanished as it has taken up a new set of core activities: centralised quality control through statutory regulations, oversight and sanctions. In this chapter, we document these changes and consider how the dual focus on centralisation and decentralisation has impacted on Swedish education. First, we provide an overview of the formal governing structure at the local level, focusing on how authority previously held by the state has been delegated to municipalities and independent schools. Second, we examine some of the new steering mechanisms enacted at the national level to control the performance of local actors. Third, we consider the role of educational leadership in the current system. This chapter concludes by assessing the implications of the reforms for the distribution of power between the state, the municipalities and the schools.
International Journal of Educational Management, 2014
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the superintendent position, its relation to th... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the superintendent position, its relation to the local political system and the function as superior of principals in the school district in order to illuminate important district-level conditions for student learning. Influences from historical legacies and policy cultures are investigated by means of cross-country case analyses. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on data from national surveys of superintendent leadership in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. Findings – A key point is the observation of a mix-mode system of hard and soft governance. Municipalities, schools, teachers and pupils are – in different degrees across the Nordic countries – subjected to external evaluation and assessment by central control agencies, where the streams of reports, assessments and performance data are assembled. However, shifts in the governance systems are only modestly reflected in the self-reports on the superintendents’ ro...
Transnational Influences on Values and Practices in Nordic Educational Leadership, 2013
ABSTRACT With the starting point in the ‘International Successful School Principal Project’ that ... more ABSTRACT With the starting point in the ‘International Successful School Principal Project’ that looked into how success had been sustained over a 5-year period, we found that the governing structures of schools, the definitions of quality, the methods to measure quality and the criteria of success had changed to a certain degree. On the basis of a set of accountability categories (marketplace, managerial, public, professional and ethical categories), we analyse the cases from Denmark, Norway and Sweden and compare them with cases from UK, US and other Anglo-American educational systems. In this analysis we look for similarities and differences between school leadership in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We find strong indication of a Nordic idea of democracy and democratic schooling. We see an ongoing struggle between local and national governance with more weight on local (municipality and schools) than on state governance. When we compare this Nordic image with analyses of the Anglo-American cases, we see that in high-stakes educational systems, school principals tend to use more direct power/influences, while the Nordic make more use of negotiations and reciprocal influences.
The presentation was focused on the activities done so far within the PROFLEC project (Profession... more The presentation was focused on the activities done so far within the PROFLEC project (Professional Learning through Feedback and Reflection).
The decentralized Scandinavian school structure with the municipal school committee as a central ... more The decentralized Scandinavian school structure with the municipal school committee as a central factor between the municipal council and other school interests gives the school board a central rol ...
A national survey was conducted to determine the presence of barriers to placing preschool childr... more A national survey was conducted to determine the presence of barriers to placing preschool children with disabilities in normalized education environments. The survey inquired about education policy as well as attitudes, curricula, and methods. Surveys were sent to 278 educators, administrators, and parents, with a 53 percent response rate. Respondents ranked eight areas as possible disincentives to placing children with disabilities in normalized settings, with the following results: personnel training and standards was highest as a disincentive, with values and attitudes and fiscal/contracting policies also ranking high. Responses on this issue varied considerably by subgroup. For example, all parents and all directors of Head Start Technical Assistance programs felt that attitudes were a barrier, but over half the child care directors, Head Start directors, and state directors of special education felt that attitudes were not a barrier. Attitudes were categorized as follows: turf issues; teacher preparedness; awareness; the feeling that either the nondisabled or disabled child will receive a lower quality education ("someone will lose"); and the issue of communication, collaboration, and respect. Strategies for solving these barrier problems are presented. An appendix lists seven organizational resources for information on early childhood policies and programs. (Contains 14 references.) (JDD)
The core assumption in this chapter is that political actors and civil servants on the municipal ... more The core assumption in this chapter is that political actors and civil servants on the municipal level share in the common societal responsibility for the education and upbringing of the next generation. Using a filter of five core public-governance logics in the analysis of our data – the marketplace logic, the managerial, the public, the professional and the ethical –we find both similarities and differences between politicians and civil servants. We analyse how politicians and administrators are positioned in the system and how they develop their commitment to, and their competencies to take part in furthering, both a democratic education and an efficient and effective governance system, in the context of municipalities that face continued restructuring. We present similarities and differences between countries in the project, so some overlapping from the country reports will occur in this chapter.
It is widely acknowledged that context matters, that it affects leadership practices. A large bod... more It is widely acknowledged that context matters, that it affects leadership practices. A large body of descriptive studies documents common elements in the work of school superintendents. What is less well known is how superintendents’ leadership may be expressed very differently given the varying contexts in which they work. The purpose of this cross-national study was to identify the specific variations in context which influence superintendents’ leadership, and to examine how superintendents respond to these variations in context. Structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 superintendents- six from across Sweden and six from Wisconsin, in the United States. The findings illustrate that the work of superintendents is paradoxically similar but different. Superintendents described common primary work priorities, challenges and contextual variations which influenced their practice. Yet, differences in district size, organizational culture, community characteristics, and ge...
How School Principals Sustain Success over Time, 2011
The rich data provided in this project has enabled us to provide a unique international perspecti... more The rich data provided in this project has enabled us to provide a unique international perspective on how successful leaders sustain their success. Our case stories encompass education in six countries and stretch over a period of 5 years. They give us new and challenging knowledge, not only about the values, qualities, skills and knowledge which successful principals hold and apply in order to achieve and sustain success, but, importantly, how they influence teachers’ teaching and in student learning and achievement. The analyses and arguments in the case stories and their further development through six thematic chapters have enabled us to view sustainability from diverse perspectives. One chapter takes a communicative perspective on leadership, sustaining success through sense-making communication in the everyday practice. Another chapter takes as its point of departure a psychological perspective on school leaders’ resilience as a precondition for sustaining success in leadership. A third chapter on sustaining improvement and leadership in challenging schools takes a systemic perspective on schools. And the fourth chapter analysed two different forms of preparation for leadership. The last chapter analysed cases from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and USA (New York) in changing policy regimes for leadership and finds that the directions towards increases in contractual accountability are broadly the same.
The school law has strengthened the rights for the pupils and parents not only through the possib... more The school law has strengthened the rights for the pupils and parents not only through the possibility to choose the school but also to test decisions taken by the law in court. The state inspection has a great number of possibilities to act against schools that don’t fulfill the law.
Transnational Influences on Values and Practices in Nordic Educational Leadership, 2013
From the 1930s to 1980s, Swedish education was generally governed much in the same way as the res... more From the 1930s to 1980s, Swedish education was generally governed much in the same way as the rest of the social democratic welfare state. Policy was to be formulated at the national level through negotiation between leading politicians and representatives of major organised interests, implemented by neutral, rule-following civil servants and carried out by local authorities and professionals in the municipalities. In stark contrast, the past few decades have seen Sweden gain a reputation for having one of the most decentralised educational systems in the world, as decision-making powers previously held by the national parliament have been generously transferred to local authorities, quasi-markets, school leaders and other actors. At the same time, however, the state has not so much vanished as it has taken up a new set of core activities: centralised quality control through statutory regulations, oversight and sanctions. In this chapter, we document these changes and consider how the dual focus on centralisation and decentralisation has impacted on Swedish education. First, we provide an overview of the formal governing structure at the local level, focusing on how authority previously held by the state has been delegated to municipalities and independent schools. Second, we examine some of the new steering mechanisms enacted at the national level to control the performance of local actors. Third, we consider the role of educational leadership in the current system. This chapter concludes by assessing the implications of the reforms for the distribution of power between the state, the municipalities and the schools.
International Journal of Educational Management, 2014
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the superintendent position, its relation to th... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the superintendent position, its relation to the local political system and the function as superior of principals in the school district in order to illuminate important district-level conditions for student learning. Influences from historical legacies and policy cultures are investigated by means of cross-country case analyses. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on data from national surveys of superintendent leadership in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. Findings – A key point is the observation of a mix-mode system of hard and soft governance. Municipalities, schools, teachers and pupils are – in different degrees across the Nordic countries – subjected to external evaluation and assessment by central control agencies, where the streams of reports, assessments and performance data are assembled. However, shifts in the governance systems are only modestly reflected in the self-reports on the superintendents’ ro...
Transnational Influences on Values and Practices in Nordic Educational Leadership, 2013
ABSTRACT With the starting point in the ‘International Successful School Principal Project’ that ... more ABSTRACT With the starting point in the ‘International Successful School Principal Project’ that looked into how success had been sustained over a 5-year period, we found that the governing structures of schools, the definitions of quality, the methods to measure quality and the criteria of success had changed to a certain degree. On the basis of a set of accountability categories (marketplace, managerial, public, professional and ethical categories), we analyse the cases from Denmark, Norway and Sweden and compare them with cases from UK, US and other Anglo-American educational systems. In this analysis we look for similarities and differences between school leadership in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We find strong indication of a Nordic idea of democracy and democratic schooling. We see an ongoing struggle between local and national governance with more weight on local (municipality and schools) than on state governance. When we compare this Nordic image with analyses of the Anglo-American cases, we see that in high-stakes educational systems, school principals tend to use more direct power/influences, while the Nordic make more use of negotiations and reciprocal influences.
The presentation was focused on the activities done so far within the PROFLEC project (Profession... more The presentation was focused on the activities done so far within the PROFLEC project (Professional Learning through Feedback and Reflection).
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Papers by Olof Johansson