Notions of Successful Leadership in Norwegian Schools: Implications for Training Heads

Author(s):

Unni Hagen

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

26. Educational Leadership

Format:

Paper

Session Information

26 SES 04 A,

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-28

16:00-17:30

Room:

NIG, Seminarraum, 6. Floor

Chair:

Klaus Kasper Kofod

Contribution

Norway is in the process of establishing a National Training Program for Heads (NTPH), thus following Sweeden (Rektorskolan) and England (National College for School Leadership) amongst others. Contextually adjusted policy borrowing is widespread in education (Dimmock and Walker, 2005, Hagen, 2006). However, any such borrowing begs the question about what the leading ideas are - here successful headship – in any given place at any given time. This paper starts by exploring and mapping notions of successful school leadership as they are articulated in key NTPH texts circulating through the tendering process. The paper then compares and discusses, in light of international school leadership research, what the implication of institutionalizing particular notions of leadership through a national training program might have for developing new notions of distributed headship (Harris, 2008). The following broad research questions are guiding the critical reading of texts: What theoretical understanding of successful leadership underpins the central policy documents, the tender and the bids? What consequences do these underpinnings have for setting up and delivering successful and sustainable training programs, and for tapping into various pools of formal and informal leadership within each school, as well as for the wider context within which the school finds itself? The background for posing these questions is linked to: a) the decision and rationale setting up a national training program for new school heads, b) the particular challenges facing school heads in Norway, and c) the researched based notion that certain forms of distributed leadership is more successful than others (Leithwood et al, 2006). From 2009 all newly appointed heads in Norwegian primary and secondary schools will undergo school leadership training. The tender, specifying five key competence areas was launched in January 2009. Eight networks of providers across the country will be appointed. The challenges for school heads in Norwegian schools are well documented in: 1) nationally grounded comparative research (e.g. Møller and Fuglestad, 2006), 2) international expert accounts (e.g. Mortimore et al, 2004) and 3) in multinational reports (e.g.OECD, 2007). The Norwegian school heads are expected to improve teaching and learning, to be accountable, change agents, loyal and visible leaders, to lead through others etc. (Møller, 2007; Lillejord, 2003). Despite research based findings backing up the idea of training school heads, Mortimore et al (2004) warns that there is a risk of throwing out what is good in Norwegian schools, by trying too hard to be best in class.

Method

The paper is based on documentary analysis of carefully selected key texts made public between January and August 2009 (government policies, tender, and bids). The analysis is based on mapping of school leadership discourses drawing on Rolland Paulson's social cartography. Social cartography is, following Roland (1996:7), a way of writing and reading maps, thus "addressing questions of location in the social milieu". Social cartography relies on the use of visual metaphors to construct new discourses - here new and alternative discourses about what might and might not constitute successful leadership within the national training program for school heads.

Expected Outcomes

Preliminary reading and mapping show that notions of successful leadership are clustered around dominant leadership theories circulating internationally. At the same time in-articulated and taken-for-granted notions of successful leadership are circulating, rendering the notions of successful leadership opaque and not easily accessible. Although notion of leadership is linked to persons, place and time, and grounded in dominant school development policies circulating locally, nationally and internationally, using social cartography as a tool, enables a close reading and local mapping of meaning attached to successful leadership both as policy and practice.

References

Buland, T. and Havn, V. (2007) Intet menneske er en øy. Evaluation Report on Retention. (Trondheim: SINTEF) (No Person is an Island.) Davis, S.; Darling-Hammond, L. ; LaPointe, M. and Meyerson, D. (2006) School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals. Stanford, CA: Stanford Educational Leadership Foundation/The Wallace Foundation. DfES (2007) Independent Study into School Leadership. London: Price Waterhouse Coopers. Dimmock, C. og Walker, A. (2005) Educational Leadership: Culture and Diversity. London: SAGE. Fullan, M. (2006) Turnaround Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Grønmo, L.S. et al (2004) Hva i all verden har skjedd i realfagene? (Oslo: ILS-Univeristy of Oslo) (What has Happened to Science?) Hagen, Unni (forthcoming) French School Leaders: A Literature Review. School Leadership Hagen, Unni (2008) An Administrative Dinosaur? French School Leaders facing Pedagogical Challenges. ENIRDELM Newsletter, April: p. 14-18 Hagen, Unni (2006) Heads Negotiating School-Based Management in the 1990s: Russian, Norwegian and Scottish Stories of Change. Thesis submitted to the Degree of Philosophy, Institute of Education, University of London. Harris, A. (2008) Distributed School Leadership: Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders. London: Routledge. Leithwood, K.; Day, C.; Sammons, P.; Harris, A. and Hopkins, D. (2006). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. London: National College for School Leadership/Department for Education and Skills. Markussen, E.; Frøseth, M.W.; Lødding, B. and Sandberg, N. (2008): Bortvalg og kompetanse. NIFU STEP Report no 13. Oslo. (Choice and Skills.) McKinsey & Company (2007) How the World’s Best Performing Systems Come Out On Top. London: McKinsey. Mortimore, P. et al. (2004) Equity in Education: Thematic Review Norway. Paris: OECD. Møller, J. (2007) Skolelederes betydning for elevenes læringsresultater. I J. Møller og L. Sundli (eds.) Læringsplakaten - skolens samfunnskontrakt. (Oslo: Norwegian Academic Press.) (School Leaders' Impact on Student Learning.) pp.165-184. Møller, J. and Fuglestad, O.L. (2006) Introduction. I J. Møller, and O.L. Fuglestad (eds.) Ledelse i anerkjente skoler. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, p.13-23. (Leadership in Successful Schools.) OECD (2007) Improving School Leadership. Paris: OECD. Opheim, V. (2004) Equity in Education. (Oslo: NIFUSTEP, Report no. 7) Paulston, R. G. (1996) (ed.) Social Cartography: Mapping Ways of Seeing Social Change and Educational Change. (New York: Garland) St. meld. nr. 31 (2007-2008) Kvalitet i skolen. Oslo: Det Kongelige Kunnskapsdepartement. (Quality in Schools) Utdanningsdirektoratet (2009) Konkurranse om nasjonalt utdanningstilbud for rektorer. Vedlegg 2. (05.01.2009)(http://udir.no/templates/udir/TM_Artikkel.aspx?id=3720)

Author Information

Unni Hagen

Oslo University College

Faculty of Education and International Studies

Oslo

158

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