Session Information
26 SES 09 B, Researching Educational Leadership across the Globe
Paper Session
Contribution
This presentation will from a Translation Theory (Wæraas & Nielsen, 2016) approach, investigate an ongoing trend to improve the performance of pupils at elementary schools in Denmark trough educational leadership. Hence, the aim of the presentation is to trace understandings of educational leadership as the key and main answer to political requirements on efficient school improvement.
The emergence of educational leadership seems to be a result of how the Danish school system in recent years has earned disappointing PISA-results (PISA, 2000-2012) on school teaching and learning. Other investigations on the Danish school system results and ranking have been equally disappointing (TALIS, 2008, EVA, 2012). Among the initiatives to ensure better results for Danish pupils in the future, educational leadership has of late become the vogue (Andersen, 2011; Pors, 2014; Åkerstrøm Andersen & Pors, 2014). According to the latest PISA results (PISA, 2015), it has been worth the effort.
This presentation traces how new understandings of educational leadership are coming into existence and constructed through networks because of demands for evidence based practice. It is a part of my PhD project, and includes my preliminary findings. My findings are, on the one hand based on a review of national and international literature on educational leadership and on the other hand based on my investigation into the demand claim for better results and student-centered leadership in Denmark.
The rise of educational leadership
Based on above mentioned disappointing results, the Danish prime minister, in his speech at the Opening of Parliament in 2003, proclaimed to break away from what he called “roundtable discussions” at schools (Statsministeriet, 2003). At this point, a political awareness of the learning outcomes, and the need of knowing how to improve them, emerged.
In the end, this official problematization (Callon, 1986) of the quality of the elementary school led to extensive changes. In 2006, the Danish Clearinghouse for Educational Research (DCER) was founded. It serves to compile, analyse and disseminate the best currently available knowledge of evidence-informed practice (www.edu.au.dk).
The tendency of focusing on ‘best practice’ regarding educational issues increased with the financial crisis in 2008. The government appointed a ‘flying squad’ to inspect the elementary school. They required research on different topics to explain how and why school systems like Singapore, Canada and Finland were high performing compared to Denmark.
Similarly, the business sector became stakeholders regarding the reform of the elementary school by the Productivity Commission established by the government in the beginning of 2012. The school reform is to a great extent based on their recommendations (Produktivitetskommissionen, 2014). An increasing focus on the role of the principal emerged in the light of dominant ideas of quality, management, accountability and evidence based practice (Røvik, 2014) – contemporary ideas, seen as the key to efficiency improvement in the public sector. A growing interessement (Callon, 1986) of different actors saw the light of day, motivated by the hope for global competitiveness.
Universities were engaged to provide doctoral studies and research-based knowledge on school leadership and school development. In addition to ‘teaching by objectives’ (Hattie, 2009, 2011), Robinson’s research on school leadership (2007, 2011) was introduced and launched in the organizational field (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) by researchers, civil servants and consultancy groups. Her findings on student-centered leadership had a tremendous impact on upcoming development programs up and down the country and several stakeholders proclaimed educational leadership to be of significance.
Educational leadership turns out on the one hand out to be one of the main answers to better PISA scores, and on the other hand, to be an instrument of governmental control.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Alvesson & Sveningsson. 2012. Un- and re-packing leadership. Context, relations, constructions and politics. In Uhl-Bien & Ospina. (2012). Advancing relational leadership research. A dialogue among perspectives. USA. Information Age Publishing Inc. Andersen, S. C. W., S.C. (2011). Ledelse, læring og trivsel i folkeskolen. Retrieved from Callon, M. (1986). Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St Brieuc Bay. In J. Law (Ed.), Power, action and belief: a new sociology of knowledge (pp. 196-223). London: Routledge. DiMaggio, P. & Powell, W. (1983). The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationalitiy in Organizational Fields. In American Sociological review. Volmume 48, Issue 2, pp. 147-160. Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass. Greene, J. (2007). Mixed methods in Social Inquiry. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass. Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital : transforming teaching in every school. London: Routledge. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers : maximizing impact on learning. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social : an introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford Koyama, J. (2014). Principal's as Bicoleurs: Making Sense and Making Do in an Area of Accountability. Educational Administration Quaterly.New York: Oxford University Press. Leithwood, K. A., Louis, K. S., & Anderson, S. E. (2012). Linking leadership to student learning (pp. xxviii, 282 s., illustreret). Retrieved from http://ez.statsbiblioteket.dk:2048/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/stats/Top?id=10514037 Pors, J. G. (2014). Støjende styring : genopfindelsen af folkeskolen mellem ledelse, organisering og læring (1. udgave ed.). Frederiksberg: Nyt fra Samfundsvidenskaberne. Produktivitetskommissionen. (2014). Det handler om velstand og velfærd. Slutrapport. Retrieved from København: www.produktivitetskommissionen.dk Robinson, V. M. (2011). Student-centered leadership (1 ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Røvik, K.A. (2014). Reformideer i norsk skole. Spredning, oversettelse og implementering. Cappelen Damm AS. Oslo. Spillane, J. (2006). Distributed Leadership. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco. Statsministeriet. (2003). Statsminister Anders Fogh Rasmussens tale ved Folketingets åbning tirsdag d.7. oktober 2003. Retrieved from http://www.stm.dk/_p_7446.html Wæraas, A. & Nielsen, J.A. (2016). Translation Theory 'Translated': Three Perspectives on Translation in Organizational Research. In Journal og management Reviews. Vol 18 Åkerstrøm Andersen, N., & Pors, J. G. (2014). Velfærdsledelse : mellem styring og potentialisering. Kbh.: Hans Reitzel.
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