Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur skolledare samtalar om elever i särskolan och de underliggande frågeställningarna är att undersöka vilka förhållningssätt som framkommer i samtalen kring dessa elever och tillhörande särskoleverksamhet. Metoden som används är fokusgruppsdiskussioner för datainsamling, samt diskursanalys som teori och metod för analys. Totalt deltog åtta stycken skolledare uppdelade på två stycken fokusgrupper. Det insamlade materialet transkriberades och analyserades sedan utifrån en diskursanalytisk metod. Resultatet visar att skolledarna i studien i många fall avsäger sig sin aktörsroll och lägger ansvaret för verksamheten på andra ramfaktorer än sin egen ledarroll. Det visar sig i diskussionerna att respondenterna ofta söker nå någon form av konsensus kring det ämne de diskuterar. De understryker att det finns mycket för den ordinarie skolformen att ta lärdom av från särskolans arbetssätt – främst med tanke på individanpassad undervisning. Det visar sig också tydligt i skolledarnas diskussioner att perspektivet den omsorgsinriktade skolan är överordnat de styrdokument som Skolverket framhåller. Det framkommer också inslag av problematisering och engagemang kring normalitet, delaktighet och mångfald. Det finns även inslag av generalisering av egenskaper hos elever i särskolan i diskussionerna. Skolledarna i studien visar ett starkt engagemang för elever i särskolan, men en slutsats av studien är att de formella kunskaperna inte når upp till samma nivå. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how school leaders talk about students in special schools and the underlying intentions is to examine the attitudes that emerge around these students and the related school activities. The method used is the focus group discussions for data collection and discourse analysis as theory and method for the analysis. A total of eight school leaders divided into two focus groups participated in the study. The collected material was transcribed and then analyzed on the basis of a discourse analytical approach. The results show that school leaders in the study in many cases waives its operator role and puts the responsibility for action in frame factors other than their own leadership. It turns out in the discussions that the respondents often seek to reach some form of consensus on the topic they are discussing. They emphasize that there is much for the ordinary school in learning from the special school, especially regarding individualized teaching. It also shows clearly in the school leaders discussions that the perspective of the care oriented school is dominant to the documents distributed by the Swedish Department of Education. The discussions also reveals elements of problematizing and commitment to the aspects of normality, participation and diversity. There arealso elementsof generalization of thecharacteristics ofstudentsin special schoolsin the discussions. School leaders in the study show a strong involvement regarding pupils in special schools, but a conclusion from the study is that the formal knowledge does not reach the same standards.

The uptake and use of digital technologies continues to increase in schools throughout the world. In many schools the uptake and use of digital technologies takes place in One-to-One (1:1) initiatives in which teachers and students have their own laptops. In this thesis the uptake and use of digital technologies is studied from the student, teacher and school leader perspectives in order to through this gain knowledge regarding the conditions for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and educational change in K-12 schools. In the Unos Umeå research project the uptake and use of digital technologies in two schools, an upper secondary school and a compulsory school, was studied. A research design involving a case study approach (Yin, 2003, 2009) was used to study a 1:1 initiative. The methods of data collection were surveys, interviews and classroom observations. To explore, identify and describe conditions for TEL and educational change the data collected were used to map the initial expectations regarding the uptake and use of digital technologies from the start of the initiative as well as to follow the development of teaching and learning activities related to the uptake and use of digital technologies in the 1:1 classroom over a period of two years. The Ecology of Resources Model (Luckin, 2010) was used as a theoretical framework including the use of the concept of filters. Regarding the conditions for TEL, the results show that the uptake and use of digital technologies provides possibilities for new forms of teaching and learning in the 1:1 classroom. Students reported increased motivation, engagement and variation in schoolwork. Teachers described new forms of teaching as well as possibilities for collaboration, sharing of materials and continued professional development. For school leaders possibilities were found in collaboration, administrative support and follow-up of students and teachers, creating a unified vision of the work with digital technologies, and collaboration and sharing within the schools as an ecology of resources. The challenges seen from the student, teacher and school leader perspectives were related to use, technical support and optionality. If the possibilities are to be achieved, there is a need for continued professional development for teachers and school leaders. Further, clear directives through policy will be of importance. In the short term, the practical implications of the uptake and use of digital technologies, specifically in 1:1 initiatives, seem to be strongly connected to sustainability in schools. In the long term, if sustainable conditions for TEL and educational change in the 1:1 classroom can be created and upheld, the practical implications may for example be teachers’ improved skills to integrate a thought-through student use of laptops in their teaching practices and an increase in equality of digital competence between students, between schools and between classrooms in the same school.

The problem was that much effort was being put into an alliance for preparing school leaders with little evidence concerning how effective such groups were in promoting positive change. The purpose of this study was to provide a historical background for the National Alliance for Developing School Leaders that included the rationale for the endeavor, the identification of key actors and their roles, and perceived changes resulting from Alliance affiliation. The information gleaned from the study was intended to answer the formulated research questions. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and through examination of relevant documents. Data were coded and clustered to assist with the organization of a plethora of information. The information was then used to tell the story of the National Alliance for Developing School Leaders as told by those directly involved in the conception and development of the Alliance. Evidence indicated that change had occurred as a result of the National Alliance for Developing School Leaders, however, the degree of change experienced varied across university sites. Conclusions drawn indicated that the Alliance provided faculty and students exposure to new materials and teaching techniques, opportunities for increased presentations and publications, higher visibility, professional development opportunities that included area school administrators, and increased professional dialogue regarding changes needed in administrator preparation programs. Evidence existed that more on-site visits and opportunities to dialogue about the successes of each program as well as the difficulties encountered by the universities attempting to change their preparation programs were desired by Alliance participants. Participants reflected on their experiences resulting from involvement with the National Alliance for Developing School Leaders and then shared insights regarding essentials necessary for successful multiorganizational collaborative efforts.

L’objectif principal de l’étude est d’analyser le flux expérientiel de activité de cinq proviseurs afin de mieux comprendre leurs modalités d’action sur des empans temporels courts. Il s’agit aussi de rendre intelligible la complexité de l’activité quotidienne des proviseurs et de mettre en lumière des modalités d’action liées à la gouvernance des établissements. Ils exercent dans des EPLE de 700 élèves à 1700 élèves situés dans deux académies (académies de Clermont-Ferrand et d’Orléans-Tours) et ont 10 ans d’expérience minimum. L'étude s’est appuyée sur les présupposés du programme de recherche du cours d’action (Theureau, 2006, 2009, 2015). Trois types de matériaux ont été recueillis : (i) des enregistrements audiovisuels des actions du chef d’établissement et des communications avec d’autres professionnels ; (ii) des enregistrements d’entretien d’autoconfrontation ; (iii) des notes d’observation destinées à compléter la description de l’activité ainsi que des traces de l’activité du chef d’établissement (mails, documents, etc.). Notre étude souligne que les proviseurs sont contraints à réaliser une multiplicité d’actions. Ils sont amenés à apporter un soin particulier au travail en équipe et à la communication sous toutes ses formes, à la formation et à l’accompagnement de leurs collaborateurs, dans un souci de co-construction les conduisant vers la mise en place d’un leadership partagé. Les résultats de notre étude peuvent ainsi contribuer au développement de nouvelles perspectives de formation. / This thesis mainly aims at analyzing the changes in the nature of the activities undertaken by five school leaders, in order to better understand their short-term actions. It is also a question of clarifying some of the principal’s modes of action while they carry out their everyday activities. It is also a question of making understandable the complexity of the daily role of the school leaders and of highlighting actions and policies connected to the governance of Lycées. The Lycées for which they are responsible have between 700 and 1700 students on role. They are located in two different regional education authorities: that of Clermont-Ferrand and that of Orléans-Tours. These school leaders have at least ten years’ experience in the role. Our study is based on the evaluation of the hypotheses of the research program : “Cours d’action” (Theureau, 2006, 2009, 2015). Three types of evidence were collected: (i) films of the work of the school leaders and their communication with other professionals; (ii) recording of face-to-face interviews; (iii) notes collected during the observation and used to clarify the descriptions of the activity, alongside other evidence eg emails or notes. Our study indicates that school leaders have to perform a large number of different actions. They pay particular attention to teamwork, and all forms of communication. The training and mentoring of staff is carried out with the aim of the establishment of shared leadership. The results of our study can contribute to the development of new types of training courses

<p>The overall aim of this study is to describe and analyse some of the consequences of market forces and decentralisation in the educational systems of Sweden and England.</p><p>Since the 1980s, many countries have restructured their educational systems and introduced decentralisation and market forces. The reasons have sometimes been the same and sometimes they have differed, but demands for better school performance and the need for economic cuttings in the public sector, including schooling, are two of the most common reasons. This study will describe the development towards market forces and decentralisation in some countries in the western world in general, and, in particular Sweden and England. </p><p>The thesis makes a general overview of research on these issues in different countries and focuses on certain key concepts. Interviews and document analyses are the principal methods used, and case studies have been conducted in seven secondary schools in one Swedish municipality, and in ten schools in an English county. Interviews were made with 20 school leaders in the Swedish municipality and 20 in the English community in order to study their opinions on market solutions like competition and choice of school, as well as decentralisation and local management of schools.</p><p>The findings indicate that the educational systems of Sweden and England differ in many aspects, even if both can be described as decentralised. While the Swedish system gives the schools a high degree of autonomy, whereby the school leaders are responsible for almost everything in the daily running of the school, the English system includes more aspects of centralism, and provides less local decision making. The findings also indicate that the school leaders in Swedish municipalities are more satisfied with both decentralisation and market forces in schooling than their English colleagues. Several plausible interpretations could be made of the interview answers from the school leaders, but it seems that the higher degree of decentralisation in the Swedish educational system is perhaps the most important factor in this case. </p><p>Finally, the findings also indicate that the school leaders see positive aspects of choice and competition in schooling, like increased quality and better efficiency, as well as negative aspects, primarily the risk of segregation due to free school choice.</p>

The overall aim of this study is to describe and analyse some of the consequences of market forces and decentralisation in the educational systems of Sweden and England. Since the 1980s, many countries have restructured their educational systems and introduced decentralisation and market forces. The reasons have sometimes been the same and sometimes they have differed, but demands for better school performance and the need for economic cuttings in the public sector, including schooling, are two of the most common reasons. This study will describe the development towards market forces and decentralisation in some countries in the western world in general, and, in particular Sweden and England. The thesis makes a general overview of research on these issues in different countries and focuses on certain key concepts. Interviews and document analyses are the principal methods used, and case studies have been conducted in seven secondary schools in one Swedish municipality, and in ten schools in an English county. Interviews were made with 20 school leaders in the Swedish municipality and 20 in the English community in order to study their opinions on market solutions like competition and choice of school, as well as decentralisation and local management of schools. The findings indicate that the educational systems of Sweden and England differ in many aspects, even if both can be described as decentralised. While the Swedish system gives the schools a high degree of autonomy, whereby the school leaders are responsible for almost everything in the daily running of the school, the English system includes more aspects of centralism, and provides less local decision making. The findings also indicate that the school leaders in Swedish municipalities are more satisfied with both decentralisation and market forces in schooling than their English colleagues. Several plausible interpretations could be made of the interview answers from the school leaders, but it seems that the higher degree of decentralisation in the Swedish educational system is perhaps the most important factor in this case. Finally, the findings also indicate that the school leaders see positive aspects of choice and competition in schooling, like increased quality and better efficiency, as well as negative aspects, primarily the risk of segregation due to free school choice.

Abstract   The purpose of the study was to ascertain the school leaders knowledge and priorities of the national goals for their school system respectively and how they declare that they and other operators within the local school system, give priority to the goals. In order to answer this question at issue, a web-based questionnaire was performed among school leaders in a fairly large municipality in Sweden.   My result shows that the school leaders have good knowledge of the national goals for the school system where they operate, but they experience that other actors have less knowledge of these goals. Furthermore, the school leaders declare that they give priority to the national goals to a high degree, but not more than other goals, while they experience that other operators do not prioritize the national goals to the same extent. The other actors in this context are school staff, school heads, responsible local politicians and municipal principal organisers. Those who prioritize the national goals the least are the local politicians, according to the school leaders. The result indicates that local goals sometimes are more prioritized than the national goals, instead of using the national goals as a criterion and subordinate the local goals. / Sammanfattning Syftet med min undersökning var att ta reda på skolledares kännedom om och prioriteringar av de statliga målen för sina respektive verksamheter och hur de uppger att de och andra aktörer prioriterar dessa mål. För att undersöka detta genomfördes en webbaserad enkätundersökning bland skolledare i en medelstor kommun i västra Sverige.   Mitt resultat visar att skolledarna uppger sig själva ha god kännedom om de statliga målen för sina respektive verksamheter men att de uppger sig uppleva att andra aktörer har sämre kännedom om dessa. På samma sätt uppger sig skolledarna i hög grad, om än inte lika hög grad, prioritera de statliga målen framför andra mål samtidigt som de upplever att andra aktörer inte prioriterar de statliga målen i lika hög grad. Dessa andra aktörer är skolans personal, förvaltning, ansvariga lokala politiker och huvudman. Lägst värden vad gäller prioriteringar av de statliga målen uppger skolledarna att de upplever att lokala politiker har. Resultatet indikerar att lokala mål ibland kan prioriteras framför statliga, istället för att utgå från och underordnas dessa.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of effective school leadership. The study was conducted in senior secondary schools in the southern region of Botswana. The southern region comprises of the south and south central regions which has twelve (12) senior secondary schools, out of which seven (07) schools were randomly sampled for the study. Both interviews and questionnaires were used as research tools. One hundred and eighty nine (189) questionnaires were distributed and only one hundred and four (104) were completed and returned. Eight interviews were conducted among school leaders. Results from the questionnaires were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and tables. Results from the interview were analyzed within a framework that was structured along the lines of the research questions. The study reveals that most of the teachers have a teaching qualification (PGDE), have adequate teaching experience, and are generally young (30-35 years). In terms of position of responsibility, most of them are clustered around senior teacher II (42.3%) and teacher/educator (36.5%). The study also reveals that schools performance is hampered largely by indiscipline and laziness towards schoolwork by both stakeholders. The school leaders must act as catalysts in creating a learning environment and be actively involved in implementing improvement strategies that help both students and teachers to enhance their learning and achievement (cf. 2. 16. 2). / Thesis (M.Ed)--North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2007

School leaders are faced with serious moral challenges on a daily basis at schools, which often result in them making poor moral choices. In a situation of moral decay in schools, reports in the news media create the impression that school leaders often fail to demonstrate the necessary values advocated by the Moral Regeneration Movement and the Manifesto of Values, Education and Democracy. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore school leaders’ understanding and reasoning regarding values and morality. For the purposes of the study a number of possible lenses, such as cultural relativism, religious beliefs, ethical subjectivism, classical utilitarian theory, Domain theory, and the ethic of justice, ethic of care, ethic of critique and the ethic of community, were identified and used in analysing the way school leaders reason about moral dilemmas. A design located within hermeneutic phenomenology was used in the study with the aim to understand school leaders’ understanding and reasoning regarding values and morality. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data gathering techniques was used in a concurrent mixed method design using a single questionnaire. The sample for the study consisted of educators enrolled for a formal management training programme. This group was largely homogenous in terms of religion, language, culture and was mainly from rural areas of Mpumalanga. Seventy-three participants took part in the study. It emerged from the data that the espoused theories used by school leaders could be related to the lenses identified in the literature. The school leaders’ espoused theories were mainly based on the ethic of justice and the ethic of care and were aligned to their preferred value orientations. At the espoused theory level, school leaders revealed a strong moral orientation. Further research is indicated to study school leaders’ theory in action. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The focus on specific principal leadership behaviors that positively impact student achievement has become more and more pronounced since the inception of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Recently, researchers have begun to focus on a more dramatic type of change as a method for improving student achievement in schools. Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) conducted a meta-analysis of more than 5,000 studies and identified seven leadership behaviors that related to improved student achievement and were viewed as second-order in nature. In many cases, second-order change was needed (a) to accomplish the student achievement improvements necessary to attain Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and (b) to ensure that all students would read on grade level by 2014. For this study, 66 principals from schools with fewer than 60% of students who qualified for free and reduced-price lunches from five urban Florida school districts completed an online survey, Principal Actions Survey (PAS), created to determine which of the seven leadership behaviors successful principals utilized in their schools. Principals were specifically asked to comment on those actions that they felt impacted student achievement and achievement of AYP. Principals consistently responded that they used the seven leadership behaviors, but the results from this study indicated very few statistically significant relationships or predictive relationships. The 66 principal responses were also compared to responses on the PAS of principals from urban Florida elementary schools with more than 60% of students who qualified for free and reducedprice lunches (La Cava, 2009). These comparisons indicated that principals of schools iv with a higher level of poverty reported utilization of the seven leadership behaviors on a more frequent basis or with a higher success rate than principals at schools with lower poverty levels.