In this symposium we report preliminary findings on local school governance in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Scotland based on a parallel survey undertaken simultaneously by board members across all five country’s municipalities and school districts. The overarching purpose of the study was to identify the school governance structures, processes, and systems resulting from several waves of administrative and political re-design reforms across all countries. Moreover, the survey draws attention to the level of empowerment, autonomy and strategic influence as perceived by local school politicians.  The cross-national nature of the symposium will provide a useful setting for examining the role of local and district school governance globally and locally.  In this symposium, the presentations are based on descriptive country reports, where some common themes running through all cases raised. The findings of our parallel studies will be utilized to address the following question in the symposium:

What are the primary ways in which local school board members describe their level of empowerment and actual influence towards the dominant coalition in the municipality as well as towards the school management level?