In this symposium we report findings on superintendent from empirical investigation of superintendents Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and compare with US, India and South Africa. We particularly attempted to identify ways in which the superintendent institutions, their professional work and competence development, work challenges and communities of practice can be understood, analyzed and described in a comparative discourse in national surveys. 

The cross-national nature of the symposium will provided useful setting for examining the role and the term school superintendents also in a Global setting.  The empirical data from our studies will permit us to look across these national settings for common themes as well as highlighting important professional, social, and developmental experiences in a seven country settings.

The Research Questions for the symposium

 The findings of our study will be utilized to address the following question in the symposium:

• What are the primary ways in which superintendents describes their superintendent institutions, their professional work and competence development, work challenges and communities of practice.