This multiple case study examines organizational processes in two municipalities’ school improvement works with the aim of providing accessible learning environments for all students. Different levels of the Swedish education system share the responsibility for improving schools to provide high-quality education for all learners. Previous research shows that it is a complex task to carry that out in practice. The complexity comes from the fact that different levels and parts of the education system need to be coordinated in solving the assignment, and that it is possible to interpret how to carry out the assignment through performance in practice in a number of different ways. The aim of this study is to examine and create knowledge about organizational processes in school improvement for accessible learning environments that bring multiple schools together. The theoretical approach has been organization from a constructivist perspective where organization is seen as a constant doing. Theories about sensemaking, organizational learning as well as governance and management have provided a theoretical framework. Questions about what happens in organizational processes when coordinating the development work of several schools’ joint activities and what opportunities and challenges can be brought up in the organizing have been guiding. Documents from the two municipalities’ school improvement works have been analyzed and actors within the school systems have been interviewed on the basis of themes. The findings showed that school improvement for accessible learning environments is an ongoing dynamic activity that cannot be seen as a linear process with a beginning and an end. The findings also showed that sensemaking about what accessible learning environments can be and how it can be created is ongoing and based on each person´s previous experience but also generates in organizational learning. It was apparent that leaders cannot control and manage how the schools perceive or carry out the assignment in practice, but they can create a common framework. Leaders together with employees, students and others within and outside the school system could meet within that common framework, to collaborate and jointly explore and create future initiatives based on each other's experiences in the work of creating a school for all. These meetings could provide the conditions for responsive decision-making.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-197836 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Swärd, Anna |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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