This paper explores the school choice reform in Sweden, a country where a drastic shift in education policy has taken place that includes fast expansion of market solutions and strong state support for competition. Although there are studies examining the school choice reform, few focus on the effects of this reform from a teacher perspective, especially so in the context of Sweden. To this end, this paper examines how Swedish upper secondary teachers in independent (private) and public schools experience their work in relation to school choice reform. This study uses qualitative interviews of 58 teachers from five municipal and three independent upper secondary schools. Its theoretical framework relies on Freidson's distinction between the logic of the profession, the bureaucracy, and the market. The findings indicate that the traditional position of teachers-a position that must negotiate the tension between the logic of the profession and the logic of the bureaucracy-is now in fact challenged by the logic of the market. This study argues that values linked to the logic of the market are imposed on the teachers, and these market values clash with the teachers' values, values based on the logic of the profession.
The devolution of public sector schooling systems has been a feature of education reform since the 1980s. In Western Australia, the Independent Public School (IPS) initiative has recently been installed, announced by the state government in 2009. Now over 80 percent of the state's public school students attend IP schools. Drawing on interview data from a broader study of devolution and the conditions of teachers' work, this article explores the cases of two schools -one IPS and one non-IPS. While both schools were ostensibly disadvantaged, they proved to be highly contrasting schooling sites, responding to the school marketplace in markedly different ways. We consider the ways in which the IPS initiative is contributing to the operation of market dynamics within the public school sector in WA, and argue that it has created new mechanisms for the residualisation of particular, and specifically non-IP, schools. Furthermore, while one school was apparently more of a 'winner' within the school marketplace, as it was attracting increasing student enrolments, we query what it might actually mean to 'win' in such a policy settlement, with staff at both schools reporting significant dissatisfaction in their work.
Purpose -The aim of this article is to challenge the concept of "the learning organization" as unproblematic and inherently good. Design/methodology/approach -The research looked at how teachers -as an example of public sector professionals in a work organization that claims to be a learning organization -view their conditions for learning. Findings -By using this approach, the normative values surrounding the concept of the learning organization were discussed. This approach identifies power-relations: i.e. who has the priority of interpretation to define what learning is desired and considered relevant as well as when, how and where one learns. In addition, it gives indications to how and why the implementations of management concepts are not always successful. Originality/value -This article shows how the implementation of a governance concept (learning organization) in fact can be seen as bringing with it unintended consequences for the organization as a whole -and especially for the professionals. Even within a work organization claiming to be a learning organization, learning gaps can be identified.
Purpose -Effects of NPM in professional work are often discussed on an overriding level, and professionals' own experiences of their working conditions in their specific work contexts have been less discussed (Hasselbladh et al. and Liljegren). In an attempt to consider this concern, this paper seeks to focus on individual professionals, exemplified by teachers and nurses, and their experiences of intra-professional relations, i.e. teachers' relations with other teachers and nurses' relations with other nurses. Design/methodology/approach -Applying a theoretical framework on professions and professional work, the aim is to discuss the meaning of intra-professional relations, and how NPM-influenced changes in the organisation of work affect these relations. Moreover, possible effects of the organisational changes for the professionals will be discussed. It is argued that intra-professional relations are essential for professionals; at the same time the cases discussed illuminate how changes in the organisation of work influence intra-professional relations, in ways that highlight the tension between profession and organisation. Findings -The findings can be seen as an illustration of consequences of the adoption of NPM-influenced governance ideals; this paper sees the organisational changes as deriving from the managements' focus on "the customer in centre of attention", in the form of interdisciplinary work teams and TAS. Originality/value -The paper shows that, through investigating how individual professionals experience their work, consequences of NPM-related governance changes are unveiled.
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