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| 2. |
- Andersson, Klas, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Learning for the Future? Effects of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) on Teacher Education Students
- 2013
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 5:12, s. 5135-5152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Currently, politicians, university representatives, scholars and leading NGOs share a strong belief in the ability of educational systems to generate positive attitudes to sustainable development (SD) among citizens, with the idea of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as perhaps the most apparent expression of this conviction. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether ESD might have the intended effects on teacher education students. More specifically, we account for the results from a panel study on the effects of a course on SD held in autumn 2010 at the University of Gothenburg (n = 323) on teacher education students. The surveys consisted of questions about the students’ concerns about various issues, including issues related to SD, and their attitudes towards SD and views of moral obligations to contributing to SD. The study included a control group (n = 97) consisting of students from the teacher-training programme at University West, which had not and did not include ESD. We find positive effects of ESD on almost all attitudes and perceptions, including e.g., personal responsibility in relation to SD and willingness to contribute to SD, while there is no noticeable effect in the control group. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of our results for the idea of ESD in teacher training programmes at Swedish higher education institutions.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Klas, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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'Tell us what, but not how' - understanding intra-organisational trust among principals and LEA officials in a decentralised school system
- 2020
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Ingår i: School Leadership & Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1363-2434 .- 1364-2626. ; 40:5, s. 465-482
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the last two decades, researchers and practitioners have shown great interest in research concerning how to implement change in local schools. The research repeatedly stresses the importance of trust among colleagues, yet few studies have examined intra-organisational trust, or the absence of such, during a change process within a decentralised school system that includes local education authorities (LEAs) and local schools. This qualitative study of a municipality reveals principals' and LEA officials' views of intra-organisational trust, while managing a situation of a lack of quality within their school organisation. The article presents empirical data from interviews using the analytical perspective from intra-organisational trust to explore trust, or lack thereof. To analyse the statements, a framework of attributes of trust belief (views of co-workers' benevolence, ability, integrity and predictability) is used. The results describe increasing trust belief among principals and LEA officials comprised in a collectivistic approach of building a new structure for quality and improvement work. The article contributes to the understanding of what creates trust as well as how the relationship between intra-organisational trust and school development can be understood.
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- Liljenberg, Mette, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Local Education Authorities´ Responsibility for Quality- and Improvement Work
- 2019
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Ingår i: Paper presented in the symposium "Bridging the knowledge practice gap" at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Stavanger, 8-12 January 2019.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- School development is a shared responsibility for local education authorities (LEAs) and local schools. Yet, there are several reports showing that Swedish LEAs have varying capacity to fulfil their assignment (Hanberger, Lindgren & Lundström, 2016; Utbildningsdepartementet, 2017). The aim of this study is to develop knowledge about how LEAs handle their responsibility for quality- and improvement work and how school leaders and teachers respond to this work. The paper presents the initial phase of a comparative case study of Swedish LEAs. Data consists of the Swedish Schools Inspectorate’s reports of regular supervision of LEAs’ systematic quality work between 2014 and 2018. Data is also collected through fieldwork in one LEA. The preliminary results indicate that LEAs still have difficulties taking their responsibility for quality- and improvement work. However, there are LEAs that over time have strengthened their capacity. The LEA that has been followed in the fieldwork is one of these. In relation to the symposium topic this LEA introduced tools that stimulated common sensemaking, e.g. a visionary document presenting the future of the schools, an expanded quality- and improvement department and meetings to enrich the relations between officials, school leaders and teachers. Nevertheless, these formal and informal organizational aspects were not unquestioned by school leaders and teachers.
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| 6. |
- Liljenberg, Mette, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Novice and experienced principals’ attitudes towards support in their leadership
- 2019
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Ingår i: Paper presented at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Stavanger, 8-12 January 2019.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the decentralized school system principals experience intense work situations as they are expected to be accountable decision-makers and take responsibility for economic, marketing, work environment, and personnel issues. When supporting principals in their leadership role, different leadership perspectives can be noted in different arrangements. The aim of this study is to examine western Swedish principals’ attitudes towards support in their leadership, testing two different approaches, the so-called heroic and distributed approaches, investigating whether principals believe that these approaches could improve their job satisfaction, competence and relationships within the school. In order to capture principals’ attitudes to different approaches to leadership support, data were collected in a scenario-based experiment. The participants were exposed to one of two randomly distributed scenario versions of the hypothetical support, introduced to improve practice. The study involved 154 novice western Swedish principals recruited from the National School Leadership Training Program and 85 experienced principals taking part in professional development programs. The preliminary results indicate that novice principals are in favor of the heroic leadership approach, except when it comes to relational work. Yet, for experienced principals no differences between the leadership approaches could be detected.
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| 7. |
- Liljenberg, Mette, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Novice principals’ attitudes toward support in their leadership
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Leadership in Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1360-3124 .- 1464-5092. ; 23:5, s. 567-584
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Novice principals experience intense work situations and various solutions have been suggested to handle them. This paper explores western Swedish novice principals’ attitudes toward support in their leadership. Specific questions addressed are whether the principals believe that two approaches, the so-called heroic and distributed approaches, could improve their job satisfaction, pedagogical leadership and relationships within their schools. The research provides novel contributions as it combines a scenario-based experiment with follow-up interviews to provide new insights regarding school leadership. The results clearly demonstrate that novice principals experience intense working situations. Moreover, they show that the principals significantly favor the heroic leadership approach for promoting job satisfaction and facilitating relational aspects of their work. However, for mitigating the loneliness associated with a leadership role, the principals significantly favor the distributed leadership approach. Thus, the results raise questions about previous suggestions that distributed leadership is a panacea for principals’ intense work situations.
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| 8. |
- Liljenberg, Mette, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Recognizing LEA Officials' Translator Competences When Implementing New Policy Directives for Documentation of Schools' Systematic Quality Work
- 2023
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Ingår i: Leadership and Policy in Schools. - 1570-0763 .- 1744-5043.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article aims to deepen our knowledge about the work and competences of local education authority (LEA) officials when implementing new policy directives for documentation in the decentralized Swedish school system. The results show that the LEA officials used strategies and actions that improved relevance for principals and schools through changes in what was documented and how they understood results, supported by continuing professional development. In their brokering position the LEA officials proved to be key actors, contributing to empowerment, confidence and trust. Hence, the results indicate the importance of LEAs finding balance between steering and supporting in policy implementation.
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| 9. |
- Liljenberg, Mette, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Relations between an improving Swedish LEA and school principals with joint quality and improvement responsibilities
- 2021
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Ingår i: Education Inquiry. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2000-4508. ; 12:2, s. 147-162
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study addresses a fundamental but neglected aspect of efforts to ensure quality and improvement in a decentralised school system: the relationship between the local education authority (LEA) and local school principals. Empirically, it is based on analysis of relevant documents and interviews with key actors in a Swedish LEA (a municipality), selected as a deviant and successful case. The data analysis is rooted in the theoretical concepts of sense-making and framing. The results show that to handle the joint responsibility the LEA introduced new artefacts for quality and improvement work. These included an expanded support unit for quality and improvement, a visionary document for all educational units and a system of tools and forums to expand quality work at local school level and stimulate collaboration between LEA-level actors and school principals. The principals saw a need for most of the artefacts and regarded them as useful. However, the analysis also reveals some negative resonance concerning relevance for the local schools and expectations of uniformity. In addition to presenting and discussing these findings, issues concerning trust and relationships are highlighted in this paper.
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| 10. |
- Liljenberg, Mette, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Relations in a Shared Responsibility – A Case Study of an Improving Swedish LEA
- 2019
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Ingår i: Symposium - Fundamental and often forgotten perspectives on/in School and Leadership.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Research on quality and improvement in the Swedish school system is primarily research on either the state or the local school level (Nordholm, 2015). Consequently, what happens in between, at the local education authority (LEA), seems to be forgotten. In the decentralized Swedish school system LEAs and principals have, by law, a joint responsibility for ensuring quality and systematically improving the school. However, there are indications showing that Swedish LEAs have varying capacity to fulfil this assignment something that brings consequences for principals (Utbildningsdepartementet, 2017). The more extensive international research of LEAs is to a large extent oriented towards policy implementation and show that an active LEA, providing resources, strategies for school improvement, as well as advice and support for principals, improves implementation (e.g. Campbell & Murillo, 2005; Coburn, 2005). Studies of school districts also show that LEAs can have a successful role in closing gaps in achievement of diverse groups of students (Leithwood & Azah, 2017). Consequently, school boards and superintendents are important for organizing quality and improvement work (Kowalski et. al., 2010; Moos, Nihlfors & Paulsen, 2016). The same goes for principals (e.g. Sun & Leithwood, 2015; Moos et. al., 2013). However, the relationship between LEAs and principals in improvement work is a forgotten perspective in the decentralized Swedish context. The aim of this study is to contribute to the knowledge about the relationship between LEAs and principals in the Swedish school system by addressing the research question: How do LEAs handle their responsibility for quality and improvement work and how do principals respond to this?
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