0000000000299505
AUTHOR
Olof Johansson
showing 6 related works from this author
Governmentality through translation and sense-making
2015
Public education governance is currently subject to change in the Nordic countries because regulations, norms and values are changing. This in turn has transformed structures and positions and has thus compelled agents to change their behaviour, mindset and identity.
Democracy in complex networks:political leaders and administrative professionals
2015
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,…
Local Decisions Under Central Watch: A Nordic Quality Assurance System
2013
Quality assurance or accountability, as we use the term, refers to when an actor, in virtue of contractual obligations, has the right to hold another actor responsible to a set of standards, to judge whether the standards have been met and to impose sanctions if the standards are deemed unfulfilled. In this chapter, we compare how (and if) these rights have been distributed and enacted in educational administration in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. By specifying contractual obligations, we wish to separate accountability from other kinds of asymmetric power relations, such as those between parent and child, and focus on acts of delegation and control.
Superintendent leadership under shifting governance regimes
2014
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 t…
The School Boards Between Power and Influence
2014
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 role in the implementation of the centrally decided school legislation from the parliament. Therefore, the central questions in modern Scandinavian schooling are: what are the ways of influence and what power mechanisms are in play throughout the schooling system.
The Nordic Superintendents’ Leadership Roles: Cross-National Comparison
2013
The chapter focuses on what happens when national education policies meet structures of implementation at the local school district and school levels. Focus is on the position that is subordinated to a municipal committee or board responsible for education. This position is here called superintendent, even if precise titles vary. By focusing on this position, its relation to the political board and the function as superior of principals in the school district, it will be possible to investigate some of the preconditions for learning in the school districts.