The Nordic Superintendents’ Leadership Roles: Cross-National Comparison

Nihlfors, Elisabet; Johansson, Olof; Moos, Lejf; Paulsen, Jan Merok; Risku, Mika

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6226-8_12

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Nordic superintendents' main motivation clusters around a sense of self-efficacy in perceiving their work as meaningful and important for the municipal school owner, and around self-belief in their own capacity to develop school leaders in a positive direction (Johansson et al, 2011). Superintendents see themselves mainly as implementation and change agents for schools and school leaders (Nihlfors, Johansson, Moos, Paulsen, & Risku, 2013).…”

Section: Motivational Drivers Of Superintendentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediation, Collaborative Learning and Trust in Norwegian School Governing: Synthesis from a Nordic Research Project

Paulsen

Henriksen

2017

NJCIE

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This paper analyses productive patterns through which school superintendents and subordinated principals collaborate at the local levels of implementation in the Nordic countries. The underlying theoretical premise is that the school governance systems in the Nordic countries, as a function of strengthened state steering and a variety of local political conditions, entail a series of loose couplings-described by the broken chain metaphor. The analysis is based on a review of findings from a comparative Nordic research project. The review reveals that school superintendents and principals to a large extent activate professional learning forums as integration mechanism-to make collective sense of ambiguous national reforms. Important learning conditions that emerge from the country reports, on which the reviewed research is based, seem to cluster and cohere around learning climate, interpersonal trust, leadership support and a shared knowledge base between the school leaders and the municipal apparatus. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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Section: Motivational Drivers Of Superintendentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediation, Collaborative Learning and Trust in Norwegian School Governing: Synthesis from a Nordic Research Project

Paulsen

Henriksen

2017

NJCIE

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“…Decision makers and leaders at each of the three levels exert some degree ofinfluence on policy-and decision-making processes that impact how schools are managed and lead. These circumstances create a complex system that influences superintendent's work (Nihlfors, 2003;Nihlfors, Johansson, Moos, Paulsen, & Risku, 2013), which has become multifaceted. Essentially, Norwegian superintendents are characterized by Paulsen (2014) as being middle managers who accomplish work by spanning boundaries using diverse strategies including serving as mediators, gatekeepers, coordinators, advocates, and liaisons to accomplish their work.…”

Section: Education Reform In Norwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

International Perspectives on the Micropolitics of the Superintendency

Björk

Browne‐Ferrigno

2016

REAL

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Article Info The rise of globalization compelled national governments to examine how they would adapt widespread social, economic, and political changes to advance their nation's future wellbeing. Most recognized the pivotal role of education in facilitating adaptation to changes unfolding in society and expressed concern about the quality of their education systems and student academic performance. During the last three decades, nations engaged in what is generally regarded as one of the most intense and protracted attempts at educational reform in recent history. National educational reform initiatives initiated in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and in the United States of America. In many instances, shifts in national education policy altered how school districts were organized, managed, and governed which in turn reconfigured superintendents' roles. An examination of findings from recent nationwide studies on superintendents suggests that decentralization and devolution of decision-making authority to municipal governments, local schools, and parents may have heightened the importance their micropolitical roles in the provision of education.

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“…Paulsen et al (2014) draw upon national surveys of superintendents’ leadership practices in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway to shed light upon leadership governance processes in relation to earlier reforms. Nihlfors et al ’s (2013) work reveals that superintendents “express high levels of reform consciousness” (p. 193) in response to earlier initiatives. In the Norwegian context, Paulsen (2014) shows how superintendents actively mediate national educational reforms, with more accountability-oriented influences reinterpreted in relation to school development and pedagogical-leadership discourses at the local level.…”

Section: Superintendents’ Work and Educational Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Nordic approach has been characterized by a relatively strong link between the political and administrative apparatus of government at the national and municipal levels. However, as Nihlfors et al (2013) argue, “this link is today challenged in different ways in the Nordic countries” (p. 194). Reflecting the tendency for smaller municipalities to be amalgamated into larger municipalities in Finland, this process was particularly salient for one of the smaller and more economically precarious municipalities involved in this research.…”

Section: Context Of Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They act as both mediators and drivers of change together with and in relation to various kinds of stakeholders (Johansson and Nihlfors, 2014; Paulsen, 2014; Paulsen et al , 2014; Rapp, 2011). Nihlfors et al (2013) describe the position of the superintendent as important in a linear way – as “a key agent in the chain of governance, where policy aims and objectives are transmitted from transnational, national and local levels to schools” (p. 194). However, while Nihlfors et al (2013) provide important insights into the nature of the work of superintendents in the Nordic countries, we challenge this “linear” understanding of educational governance, foregrounding how current educational reforms play out in complex and contradictory ways, depending upon how superintendents’ understand their work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The complexity and contradictions of Finnish superintendents’ work

Hardy

Salo

2017

JEA

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the governance of educational reform, as an interpretive process – “interpretive governance” – through a case study of five superintendents living in a predominantly Swedish-speaking region in Finland. Design/methodology/approach To foreground superintendents’ perspectives on reforms as simultaneously reflective and constitutive of governance processes, the research applies and extends Rhodes’ (2012) notions of “network governance,” “meta-governance” and “interpretive governance.” Interpretive governance, an underresearched area, is construed as particularly important for developing better insights into how school reform is understood by key actors involved in its enactment. Findings The research identifies what are described as three “deliberative” dimensions of interpretive governance; these modes of governance are elaborated as “dialogic,” “directive” and “defensive” in nature. Originality/value The study reveals senior educators’ interpretations of governance as multifaceted, and argues that these complex modes of deliberation need to be taken into account to better understand how school development is understood and enacted in municipal and school settings.

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The Nordic Superintendents’ Leadership Roles: Cross-National Comparison

Cited by 7 publications

References 10 publications

Mediation, Collaborative Learning and Trust in Norwegian School Governing: Synthesis from a Nordic Research Project

Mediation, Collaborative Learning and Trust in Norwegian School Governing: Synthesis from a Nordic Research Project

International Perspectives on the Micropolitics of the Superintendency

The complexity and contradictions of Finnish superintendents’ work

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