In Norway, inclusive schooling for all pupils is manifested in legislations with focus on learning environment. In the national curriculum it is written that “a generous and supportive learning environment is the basis for a positive culture where students are encouraged and stimulated for professional and social development” (Directorate for Education and Training, 2020). School principals are obliged to follow this law and have to justify their decisions based on the Education Act (Møller & Skedsmo, 2013). However, the exact role of school principals, their duties and responsibility regarding inclusive schooling is still underexplored (Badstieber, 2021). The study aims to analyze how school leaders´ responsibilities for inclusive schooling are depicted in policy documents in Norway regarding the implementation of inclusion policies since 1994 and how this is understood in the discourse on school leaders´ responsibilities in school leaders’ professional journals in Norway. Due to the Salamanca Declaration and subsequent efforts for more inclusive school systems, the analysis of policy documents begins with the year 1994. For the analysis of the documents Bowen’s content document analysis in the further development of Prøitz (2015) was used. For the first part, school laws and their guiding documents regarding inclusive education were investigated. The second part of the analysis worked with school leader union magazines, partially written by principals for principals. The document material shows how political implementations arrive in professional daily work life and how policies are understood and interpreted by principals and their associations. The material furthermore presents the interface between intentions and practice. Preliminary results indicates that school leaders in Norway had to undertake increasing responsibilities for inclusive school settings over the years. It can be seen in more defined job descriptions regarding the development of competences of school staff, evaluations, and collaboration with other stakeholders. Even though the regulations for inclusion communicate a certain degree of autonomy, control from higher school authorities is increasing and school principals are made more accountable for their decisions. This is made clear through penalties, highly discussed in the union magazines, accompanied by suggestions from lawyers on how to interpret and deal with duties manifested in policies. This study show how policies on inclusion at various times can imply for school leaders in the implementation of an inclusive school for all children.

Abrahamsen, H. N., & Aas, M. (2019). Mellomleder i skolen. Fagbokforlaget. Badstieber, B. (2021). Inklusion als Transformation?! Eine empirische Analyse der Rekontextualisierungsstrategien von Schulleitenden im Kontext schulischer Inklusion. Julius Klinkhardt. Badstieber, B. & Moldenhauer, A. (2016). Schulleitungshandeln in inklusionsorientierten Schulentwicklungsprozessen. In U. Böing & A. Köpfer (Eds.), Be-Hinderung der Teilhabe. Soziale, politische und institutionelle Herausforderungen inklusiver Bildungsräume (pp. 209 - 219). Julius Klinkhardt. Directorate for Education and Training (2020). Overordnet del: Prinsipper for skolens praksis. Læreplanverket for Kunnskapsløftet 2020. https://sokeresultat.udir.no/finn-lareplan.html?fltypefiltermulti=Kunnskapsl%C3%B8ftet%202020 Prøitz, T. S. (2015). Learning Outcomes as a Key Concept in Policy Documents throughout Policy Changes. Scandinavian journal of educational research, 59(3), 275-296. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2014.904418 Moos, L., Nihlfors, E. & Paulsen, J. M. (2016). Nordic Superintendents: Agents in a Broken Chain. Springer International Publishing. Møller, J., & Skedsmo, G. (2013). Modernising education: New Public Management reform in the Norwegian education system. Journal of educational administration and history, 45(4), 336-353. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2013.822353 Stenersen, C. R., & Prøitz, T. S. (2022). Just a buzzword? The use of concepts and ideas in educational governance. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 66(2), 193-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2020.1788153 Wermke, W., & Prøitz, T. S. (2019). Discussing the curriculum-Didaktik dichotomy and comparative conceptualisations of the teaching profession. Education enquiry, 10(4), 300-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2019.1618677