Introduction:

People are moving across the world seeking for places for working and living. Some small places in Norway with good working conditions, got new inhabitants from all over the world. We  will now look further into one of this small places. The subject of this study is the municipal councillors impact on integration of children in kindergarten and schools in a local community.

Context:

This study is conducted in a small community, an island here called Oya, in the northern Norway. Most of the families here work in the fishing industry, either in a boat as fishermen, at the pier or in the factory. In the fishing industry there is a need for workers and the population has during the last years changed because of workingimmigration. The community has been more diverse with inhabitant representing different nationalities, languages and religions, but all living and working in the local community. Internationalisation and free float of workcraft is a global concept and probably leads to diversity in many schools and kindergartens around the world.

On this Island there is a school and a kindergarten. The diversity in the educational institutions also has changed and the study explores the local educational leaders experience of the s

changes. The center of the municipality is about 60 km away. Here we find the councillors for school and kindergarten. They are leaders for several institutions, but also deal with changes in diversity. The study also explores their experiences and the interactivity between the two levels of leadership.  

Research question:

How do four leaders on different level in municipality experience their impact on inclusion of children in school and kindergarten characterised by high degree of diversity?   

Theoretical foundation:

In the local community we find  a diversity of nationalities, languages, religions, norms and traditions. Working with integration and inclusion has both national and local components (Germeten & Nilsen, 2012). We expect that this affects the leaders for school and kindergarten, locally and at the municipality. These leaders  have key roles, but we know little about how they create conditions for changes. The subject of this study is how the local authorities/the municipality and the leaders at the local kindergarten and school, lead inclusion in a  group of children characterised by diversity.

Integration is a political goal. How the leaders at the municipality, kindergarten and school stimulate families and children's’ participation, are important for develop integration (Putnam, 2007; Barry, 1997, 2005). Inclusion is a stronger concept, used as pedagogical principle in schools and kindergartens involving  acknowledgment, democratic competence, justice, and equality (Bjørnsrud, 2005; Moen, 2014; Otterstad & Andersen, 2012).  

Changes in demography leads only to a small degree to changed practice (Moen, 2014; Andersen et al, 2011).  We know little about how the leaders understand education policy and what constitutes daily practice in kindergarten and schools.

By using sensemaking theory we highlight the connection between educational leadership and implementation of change. This has implications for education authorities at different levels, actors in school and kindergarten (Coburn, 2005; Timperley & Parr, 2009; Spillane et al., 2002; Weick, 1976). We also use  professional learning theory (Dreier, 1999; Lave & Wenger, 2003; Vygotsky & Cole, 1978; Wertsch & Semin, 1991) and educational leadership theory (Bass, 1999; Schield, 2010), theory with different perspectives and emphasis, will form the basis of this empirical study enlightening the transformation and the impact between the levels.

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