Introduction

In this symposium we report findings on local school governance in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. based on a parallel survey undertaken simultaneously by board members across all six 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 Research Questions for the symposium

The findings of our parallel studies will be utilized to address the following question in the symposium: Who are the board members; what are their tasks; why do they tend to them; how and with whom?