Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss the role of Nordic school principals in a cross-national context and to highlight the implications for the leadership roles in research and practice. The data builds on the country-wide reports in this book, the findings in the TALIS report (2018), and the perspectives of pedagogical leadership. The ways in which school leadership roles are perceived and dealt with are relatively similar across national school contexts. Nordic school principals seem to experience their practice with shared responsibilities, providing opportunities and educational engagement by acting as pedagogical leaders with a collective approach to their leadership role, even though there are differences in Nordic education policy contexts. Pedagogical leadership in a Nordic context means leadership tasks primarily related to curriculum, teaching activities, and the core values of schooling. Power, trust, control in the form of governance and leadership in the Nordic countries needs high attention.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abrahamsen, H. (2018). Redesigning the role of deputy heads in Norwegian schools–tensions between control and autonomy? International Journal of Leadership in Education, 21(3), 327–343.
Abrahamsen, H., & Aas, M. (2016). School leadership for the future: Heroic or distributed? Translating international discourses in Norwegian policy documents. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 48(1), 68–88.
Ärlestig, H., & Johansson, O. (2020). Educational authorities and the schools: Organisation and impact in 20 states. Springer.
Ärlestig, H., Nihlfors, E., & Johansson, O. (2016). International School Principal Research. In H. Ärlestig, C. Day, & O. Johansson (Eds.), A decade of research on school principals: cases from 24 countries. Springer.
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2011). How schools do policy: Policy enactments in secondary schools. Routledge.
Bjørnset, M., & Takvam Kindt, M. (2019). Fra gallionsfigur til overarbeidet altmuligmann? Rekruttering av skoleledere i norsk skole (From galleon figure to work-overloaded all-rounder?). Fafo-rapport.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589–597.
Camphuijsen, M. K., & Levatino, A. (2021). Schools in the media: Framing national standardized testing in the Norwegian press, 2004–2018. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 43, 1–16.
Day, C., & Gurr, D. (2014). Leading Schools Successfully. Routledge.
Day, C., & Leithwood, K. (2007). Successful principal leadership in times of change. An international perspective. Springer.
Donaldson, M. L. (2013). Principals’ approaches to cultivating teacher effectiveness: Constraints and opportunities in hiring, assigning, evaluating, and develo** teachers. Educational Administration Quarterly, 49(5), 838–882.
Elstad, E. (2009). Schools which are named, shamed and blamed by the media: School accountability in Norway. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(2), 173–189.
Glickman, C. D. (2002). Leadership for learning: How to help teachers succeed.. ASCD.
Guerriero, S. (Ed.). (2017). Pedagogical knowledge and the changing nature of the teaching profession. Educational research and innovation. OECD Publishing.
Gunnulfsen, A. E., & Møller, J. (2021). Production, transforming and practicing ‘what works’ in education–The case of Norway. In Moos & Krejsler (Eds.), What works in Nordic school policies?: Map** approaches to evidence, social technologies and transnational influences (Series no. 15). Springer.
Hallinger, P. (2005). Instructional leadership and the school principal: A passing fancy that refuses to fade away. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 4(3), 221–239.
Hargreaves, A., Halász, G., & Pont, B. (2007). School leadership for systemic improvement in Finland – A case study report for the OECD activity improving school leadership. OECD.
Hautamäki, J., & Kupiainen, S. (2014). Learning to learn in Finland: Theory and policy, research and practice. In Learning to learn. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203078044-9
Helstad, K., & Møller, J. (2013). Leadership as relational work: Risks and opportunities. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 16(3), 245–262. ISSN 1360-3124.
Krejsler, J. B., & Moos, L. (2021). Danish–and Nordic–school policy: Its Anglo-American connections and influences. In What works in nordic school policies? (pp. 129–151). Springer.
Leithwood, K. (2021). A review of evidence about equitable school leadership. Education Sciences, 11(8), 377.
Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D., & Steinbach, R. (2002). Changing leadership for changing times. Open University Press.
Leo, U. (2015). Professional norms guiding school principals’ pedagogical leadership. International Journal of Educational Management., 29(4), 461–476.
Leo, U., Persson, R., Arvidsson, I., & Håkansson, C. (2020). External expectations and well-being, fundamental and forgotten perspectives in school leadership: A study on new leadership roles, trust and accountability. In L. Moos, E. Nihlfors, & J. M. Paulsen (Eds.), Re-centering the critical potential of Nordic school leadership research: Fundamental, but often forgotten perspectives (pp. 209–229). Springer International Publishing.
Møller, J. (2009). School leadership in an age of accountability: Tensions between managerial and professional accountability. Journal of Educational Change, 10(1), 37–46.
Møller, J. (2012). The construction of a public face as a school principal. International Journal of Educational Management, 26(5), 452–460.
Møller, J., Eggen, A., Fuglestad, O. L., Langfeldt, G., Presthus, A.-M., Skrøvset, S., & Vedøy, G. (2005). Successful school leadership: The Norwegian case. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(6), 584–594.
Moos, L., Johansson, O., & Day, C. (Eds.). (2011). How school principals sustain success over time. Springer.
Moos, L., Nihlfors, E., & Paulsen, J. (2020). Re-centering the critical potential of Nordic school leadership research: Fundamental, but often forgotten perspectives (1st ed.). Springer International Publishing.
Norqvist, L., & Ärlestig, H. (2021). Systems thinking in schools, perspectives from various levels. Journal of Educational Administration., 59(1), 77–93.
Persson, R., Leo, U., Arvidsson, I., Nilsson, K., Österberg, K., Oudin, A. & Håkansson, C. (2021). Svenska skolledares arbetsmiljö och hälsa: En lägesbeskrivning med förslag på vägar till förbättringar av arbetsmiljön (Swedish school leaders’ work environment and health: A description of the situation with suggestions for ways to improve the work environment). AMM-Rapport 4/2021.
Ragnarsdóttir, G. (2018). School leaders’ perceptions of contemporary change at the upper secondary school level in Iceland. In Interaction of actors and social structures facilitating or constraining change (PhD). University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Risku, M., & Pulkkinen, S. (2016). Finland: Finnish principal. In H. Ärlestig, C. Day, & O. Johansson (Eds.), A decade of research on school principals: Cases from 24 countries (pp. 61–75). Springer International Publishing.
Saarivirta, T., & Kumpulainen, K. (2016). School autonomy, leadership and student achievement: Reflections from Finland. International Journal of Educational Management., 30(7), 1268–1278.
Sahlberg, P. (2016). The global educational reform movement and its impact on schooling. In The handbook of global education policy. Wiley.
Seland, I., Olsen, M. S., Solem, A., Lysø, I. H., Aamodt, P. O., & Røsdal, T. (2012). Spørsmål om tid. En studie av arbeidsbetingelser og tidsbruk for ledere av skoler og sykehjem. (A question of time. A study of work conditions and time use for leaders in schools and nursing homes). NIFU Rapport 18/2012. 12.
Solbrekke, T. D., & Englund, T. (2011, November). Bringing professional responsibility back in. Studies in Higher Education., 36(7), 847–861.
TALIS. (2018). Results (Volume II): Teachers and school leaders as valued professionals, TALIS. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/19cf08df-en
Törnsén, M., & Ärlestig, H. (2014). Pedagogiskt ledarskap, mål, process och resultat (Pedagogical leadership, goals, processes and results). In Framgångsrika skolor: Mer om struktur, kultur, ledarskap. Studentlitteratur.
Uljens, M., & Nyman, C. (2015). En Historisk Rekonstruktion av Pedagogiska Ledarskapsdiskurser i Finland (Rapport 38/2015, Pedagogiskt Ledarskap – Teori, Forskning och Skolutveckling). Åbo Akademi.
Uljens, M., Møller, J., Ärlestig, H., & Frederiksen, L. F. (2013). The professionalisation of nordic school leadership. In L. Moos (Ed.), Transnational influences on values and practices in nordic educational leadership (Studies in educational leadership, vol 19). Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gunnulfsen, A.E., Leo, U. (2023). Principals’ Roles in a Nordic Education Context: Shared Responsibility and Pedagogical Engagement. In: Gunnulfsen, A.E., Ärlestig, H., Storgaard, M. (eds) Education and Democracy in the Nordic Countries. Educational Governance Research, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33195-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33195-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33194-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33195-4
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)