This paper reports on a planned National Norwegian project on Leadership, Governance and Life Mastery (LEGO-Life project) which will generate robust knowledge on institutional work towards increasing the life mastery and well-being (mental health) of students in secondary school. International and national research published during the last decades have proposed evidence for the significant role that schooling and well-being plays in the lives of adolescents (Deiner 2000; Lyubomirsky 2001; Lampropoulou, 2018; Steinmayr, et al, 2019). Globally, it is estimated that one in seven (14%) of 10–19-year-olds experience mental health conditions, yet these experiences remain largely unrecognized and untreated (World Health Organization, 2024)2. The updated Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 of the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains the original four major objectives: more effective leadership and governance for mental health; the provision of comprehensive, integrated mental health and social care services in community-based settings; implementation of strategies for promotion and prevention; and strengthened information systems, evidence and research. 

Educational leadership and the education mandate comprise a duty of care, justice, and critique (Ehrich et al., 2015; Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016), hence a well-functioning school organization is a crucial part of students’ mental health care. To develop a future-oriented and flexible education system, the LEGO-Life project will contribute knowledge about how governance and leadership at and between different levels are perceived, enacted and experienced regarding the intention of offering young people the competence that provides well-being and good mental health. Few studies combine research that offers knowledge and tools for school leadership and the governance-level, regarding student well-being and mental health. 

In The LEGO-Life project, we apply theories on institutional work developed by Lawrence and Suddaby (2006). The concept of institutional work can help illuminate how actors at different levels translate, understand and deal with students’ life mastery and well-being in secondary education (RQ1). Translation as a theoretical concept is not only useful for analyzing policy enactment and knowledge‐transfer processes, it also has the potential to guide considered interventions as part of institutional work in such processes to achieve various outcomes (Røvik, 2016). The translation itself may monitor specific rule‐based institutionalized processes that may be crucial for the outcomes. As such, this concept is central in studying institutional work within and across levels, institutions and professions (RQ1, RQ3, RQ4). 

By applying the concept of institutional work, we can explore how legal statutes, policy guidelines and knowledge sources delineate and provide opportunities to enhance student mental health (RQ2), which makes theories on professional discretion relevant (Ottesen & Møller, 2016; Molander, 2017). Both professional and legal norms guide action in organizations (Leo & Wickenburg, 2013). The interplay among policy, regulation and professional norms has several implications on how actors draw on their own professional knowledge, translate and enact legal statutes and policy guidelines. 

The project will contribute knowledge on how local authorities, school leaders, teachers and students perceive, enact and experience the policy intention of student life mastery in school practice and how school systems can improve mental health and well-being for adolescents.

The main research questions are as follows: 

1.     How do professional actors⁸ translate, understand and handle the problems and expectations related to students’ mental health in upper secondary education? 

2.     In what ways do legal statutes, policy guidelines and knowledge sources describe and provide opportunities for student mental health, and how do actors at different levels enact such institutional work? 

3.     What characterizes the institutional work across levels, contexts and professions to increase/secure student mental health secondary education and what kind of challenges do they meet? 

4.     To what extent, under what conditions and with what consequences can institutional work across levels, institutions and professions contribute to increase student life mastery and well-being in secondary education? 

The LEO-Life project has a longitudinal design and a mixed-methods approach that includes qualitative and quantitative methods of data gathering. Qualitative data sources include regulations, national and local policy documents, information about local quality assurance systems established at the county and municipal levels interview and observational data. The latter is emphasized in terms of enabling a closer examination of the actors’ work in joint meetings. For the qualitative part of the project, four counties are selected, based on data on student mental health over time (national student survey) and geographical location: xxxx, xxxx, xxxx, and xxxx. They contain xx upper secondary schools. The quantitative part of the project includes register data and two rounds of surveys targeting students in one-third of upper secondary schools in Norway and a selection of lower secondary schools. To evaluate how students perceive and experience the school mandate and their mental health, the LEGO-Life project will make use of a nine-item Mental Health Learning Scale (MHLS9). This instrument enables researchers and practitioners to evaluate and more precisely focus on mental health interventions in schools by addressing students’ understanding of how to obtain and maintain good mental health using a short, reliable, and valid measure. This recently developed instrument is a valuable contribution to the field of school governance and leadership, and youth mental health research, because it enables the measurement of the perceived learning of factors promoting good mental health by young people (Bjørnsen et al., 2024). The mixed-methods approach makes it possible to describe concrete work in particular situations and contexts, but also to map key characteristics on a broader basis, linked to contextual factors and register data on the school level. The longitudinal design makes it possible to document development over time and test causal relationships (Maxwell, 2019) between governance, leadership and young peoples mental health.

By embracing the education mandate, the LEGO-Life project will contribute knowledge on how schools might become sources of resilience and hope for all students. The LEGO-Life project will highlight how promoting mental health and well-being supports the achievement of education and learning objectives. The project will contribute knowledge on how local authorities, school leaders, teachers and students perceive, enact and experience the policy intention of student life mastery in school practice and how school systems can improve mental health and well-being for adolescents. The LEGO-Life project will be of great interest to international, national and local education authorities as well as for professional school actors, such as school leaders and teachers, public health care professionals, students, and the local communities. Thus, the project will contribute to the existing knowledge base in this field including implications for research, policy and practice.

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