Leading for higher grades—balancing school leadership on the fine line between accountability and professional autonomy

Ståhlkrantz, Katarina; Rapp, Stephan

doi:10.1080/13603124.2022.2098381

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In relation to finding wider managerial solutions in the venture for standards implementation, future research could also explore how these types of local improvement initiatives are facilitated, modified, and implemented across school units and managerial levels of municipalities-which might aid in further understanding how reform intentions (such as the certification reform) either enable or prevent local quality management towards equivalence. In addition to prior research on the influence of LEAs' in reform implementation and school development (Adolfsson & Alvunger, 2020;Liljenberg & Andersson, 2021;Ståhlkrantz & Rapp, 2022), the thesis' findings also underscore the importance of local municipal governance and…”

Section: Qualitative Equivalence Through Certification and Profession...mentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Besides the value of communication and resonance between LEAs' and principals in local school and quality development, prior research has also highlighted the importance of upper management in creating spaces for local maneuvering within school units' improvement work towards demands (Liljenberg & Andersson, 2021), as discrepancies in the vertical relationship of local school governance create tensions and force principals to act as gatekeepers between LEAs' and their individual organization (Adolfsson & Alvunger, 2020;Ståhlkrantz & Rapp, 2022).…”

Section: When Reforms Meet Practice: Dilemmas Ambiguity and Organizat...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While this appears to hold true within many aspects of this thesis, the pragmatic solutions and actions within local implementation do not, for the majority of cases, appear to lack in complexity or dismiss the strategic goals of the reform. Instead, the intentions are bridged and buffered within school leader practice (Ståhlkrantz & Rapp, 2022) based on contextual rationality (Weick, 1988), adhering to individual circumstances and apprehensions of the individual organization, rather than adhering to the more technical rationality postulated by the reform message.…”

Section: Untangling Dilemmas Within Managerial Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As seen in prior literature on the influence on school improvement and reform implementation by local education authorities (LEAs) and school districts (Rorrer et al, 2008), this level of governance often possesses a central position in steering strategic outcomes within a variety of reform intentions. In the Swedish case, LEAs have been shown to play an important role in assisting and creating spaces for school principals' improvement and implementation work (Liljenberg & Andersson, 2021), while simultaneously being a force of tension due to discrepancies in the vertical, hierarchical relationship of governance-creating gate-keeping situations between individual school units and upper management (Adolfsson & Alvunger, 2020;Ståhlkrantz & Rapp, 2022). In this thesis, context-specific dilemmatic factors to the reform's implementation spanned across the entirety of municipalities, such as resource-based constraints and facilitators, and served as cues to strategic action from LEAs.…”

Section: Untangling Dilemmas Within Managerial Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Managerial Dilemmas of a Borderland Position: Professional Standardization in the Swedish School-age Educare

Andersson¹

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The overarching aim of the thesis is to explore how local school management actors, i.e. school principals and municipal management staff, interpret and enact changes in their organizations following the demands and intentions derived from the teacher certification reform in Swedish School-age Educare. Through four individual research articles and a summary chapter, this compilation thesis focuses on the local organizing efforts and areas of conflict in enacting the initiatives of quality development and equivalence within the educational program. As a novel entity when compared to the institutional and professional properties of the neighboring school forms, and with little prior research into the managerial practice of the educational program, this thesis contributes to the understanding of professional standards-implementation and educational management outside of the compulsory school system. The thesis takes its theoretical point of departure in a symbolic interactionist approach toorganizational sensemaking – providing a framework for exploring actors’ interpretations, interactions and actions in making sense of the reform in relation to themselves, their organizations and extended environments. Guided by constructivist grounded theory methodology, the sub-studies ofthe thesis are carried out through case studies and qualitative interview studies.The main findings of the thesis show that managerial actors in Swedish School-age Educare interpret and enact the intentions and demands of the reform based on three co-constructive and dilemmatic factors that encompass the identity, quality and resource-based aspects of the educational program. Managers, across both the municipal and local school level, untangle and maneuver within and between these factors by means of contextual rationality and pragmatic problem-solving – resulting in a wide variation in outcomes between individual organizations. This is apparent incommon activities affected by the content of the reform, such as professional development of current staff, recruitment procedures and hiring routines and the re-structuring of staff responsibilities. As a result of this, issues arise in relation to the initial reform intentions and logic of qualitative equivalence through professional standardization in School-age Educare, with further implications for local managerial practice towards improvement and change in the educational program.

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Section: Qualitative Equivalence Through Certification and Profession...mentioning

confidence: 73%

Section: When Reforms Meet Practice: Dilemmas Ambiguity and Organizat...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Untangling Dilemmas Within Managerial Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Untangling Dilemmas Within Managerial Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Managerial Dilemmas of a Borderland Position: Professional Standardization in the Swedish School-age Educare

Andersson¹

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What constitutes key professional knowledge for the cultural leadership of elementary schools? Considering career headteachers’ organizational knowledge

D’Souza

2023

International Journal of Leadership in Education

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Organizing for deputy principalship in Swedish school organizations: The triggers and factors shaping the process

Andersson,

Sälj

2024

Management in Education

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Although constituting a significant position in the daily practices and development of many school organizations, little is known regarding how the position of the deputy principal is organized. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Swedish principals organize for the deputy principal position by focusing on the triggers and factors constituting their sensemaking of the division of responsibilities. The paper provides an additional perspective by focusing on the interpretive aspects comprising the organizing processes. The paper draws from qualitative interview data from a larger study on deputy principals’ position in the Swedish school system. The results show how principals’ sensemaking is triggered by contextual cues and reform-driven factors that together create spaces of ambiguity in relation to the organizing of the deputy principals’ position. Principals make sense of these events based on personal- and identity-oriented beliefs, as well as frameworks and perceived expectations from municipal organizers.

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Leading for higher grades—balancing school leadership on the fine line between accountability and professional autonomy

Cited by 3 publications

References 42 publications

Managerial Dilemmas of a Borderland Position: Professional Standardization in the Swedish School-age Educare

Managerial Dilemmas of a Borderland Position: Professional Standardization in the Swedish School-age Educare

What constitutes key professional knowledge for the cultural leadership of elementary schools? Considering career headteachers’ organizational knowledge

Organizing for deputy principalship in Swedish school organizations: The triggers and factors shaping the process

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