The article reports the findings of a qualitative case study in one elementary school in Iceland. The aim was to investigate the level of leadership capacity within the school, and how this had evolved through the school's improvement. Information was gathered over one school year about planned improvements that had taken place in the school over the 10-year period prior to the study. Data was collected through observations, document analysis, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and a survey. Participants came from all sectors of the school community. A conceptual framework developed by Lambert (2003a) was used to analyse the leadership capacity within the school. The findings show that the leadership capacity of the school, and of groups within the school, had grown considerably during the period under study and was connected to the degree of involvement in school improvement work. The findings indicated an interactive relationship between school improvement and the building of leadership capacity during the period under study.
Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að kanna hvernig skólaþjónusta sveitarfélaga stæði að því að tryggja kennurum og skólastjórnendum stuðning til starfsþróunar og að efla skóla sem faglegar stofnanir, sem þeim ber samkvæmt lögum. Rafræn spurningakönnun var lögð fyrir skólastjóra leik- og grunnskóla og þá sem voru í forsvari fyrir skólaþjónustu í sveitarfélögum á Íslandi. Til að fylgja spurningakönnuninni eftir voru valin fimm tilvik og þau rannsökuð sérstaklega. Niðurstöður benda til þess að ekki sé jafnvægi milli meginviðfangsefna skólaþjónustunnar, sem eru að styðja nemendur og foreldra annars vegar og starfsþróun kennara, stjórnenda og annars starfsfólks hins vegar. Margt bendir til þess að skólaþjónustuna skorti skýrari stefnu um skólamiðaða ráðgjöf þar sem betur er skerpt á hlutverki hennar í því að efla og þróa skólana sem faglegar stofnanir og uppfylla þar með reglugerðarákvæði. Í því skyni þurfa yfirvöld og fræðslustjórar að hafa samráð um áherslur og leiðir og tryggja heildstæða þjónustu með áherslu á starfsþróun og skólamiðaða ráðgjöf fyrir starfsfólk skóla í samstarfi við kennara og skólastjórnendur.
The purpose of this study is to explore the roles and responsibilities that national education legislation in Iceland imposes on municipalities in terms of leadership. A qualitative content analysis was applied to explore the relevant national legislation—that is, education acts, regulations, and curriculum guides—and identify themes by looking for specific words that are characteristic in leadership practices. The findings reveal that policy ends concerning educational leadership of municipalities are somewhat tacit in current national legislation. Yet, the roles and responsibilities that the state delegates to municipalities comprise leadership functions that are distributed in nature and, to a large extent, harmonize with desired leadership practices as emphasized in the literature. Legislation emphasizes comprehensive education, but also in-cludes signs of technocratic homogenization. In the discussion of our findings, we argue that the educational system is quite dependent on the political emphasis at each given time, making it difficult for both munic-ipalities and the state to facilitate a cohesive leadership emphasis. We suggest that closer attention to the local level, and a recognition of it as an important unit and agency for educational development, is of sig-nificant importance. These observations will be followed by a further investigation into the actual practice of leadership at the local level.
Í þessari grein eru kynntar niðurstöður rannsóknar þar sem markmiðið var að varpa ljósi á viðhorf og reynslu skólastjóra leik- og grunnskóla af stuðningi við þá af hálfu fræðsluyfirvalda sveitarfélaga sem og annarra, bæði í starfi og til að sækja meistaranám í skólastjórnun. Gagna var aflað með viðtölum við 14 skólastjóra sem höfðu samtals starfað sem skólastjórar í um 14 sveitarfélögum. Niðurstöður benda til þess að sá stuðningur sem skólastjórarnir fengu skipti þá miklu máli. Hann hafði áhrif á það hvernig þeir upplifðu starfið og hvernig þeim fannst sér ganga að sinna því og vinna samkvæmt eigin sannfæringu og þekkingu. Stuðningur fræðsluyfirvalda sveitarfélaga var skólastjórum einna mikilvægastur en hann var breytilegur. Skólastjórarnir túlkuðu stuðning fræðsluyfirvalda aðallega út frá því að hvaða marki þeir upplifðu velvilja og skilning af hálfu sveitarfélaganna gagnvart sér og skólastarfinu. Skólastjórarnir töldu þó að fræðsluyfirvöld þyrftu yfirhöfuð að taka meiri ábyrgð á stuðningi við þá og skólana, og að stuðningur þyrfti að vera meiri, markvissari og betur lagaður að þeirra eigin aðstæðum. Jafnframt komu fram vísbendingar um að huga þyrfti sérstaklega að stuðningi við skólastjóra sem koma að sameiningarferli skóla. Niðurstöður benda til þess að stuðningur fræðsluyfirvalda sveitarfélaga sé fremur lítill þegar kemur að meistaranámi í skólastjórnun og virðist vera litið á slíkt nám sem einkamál skólastjóra (og kennara). Annars sóttu skólastjórar helst stuðning í eigið tengslanet, til maka, aðstoðarskólastjóra og stjórnendateymis, auk annarra skólastjóra.
The purpose of this research is to shed light on the educational leadership practices regarding school support services at the municipal level in Iceland from the point of view of actors from both municipal and school levels. Furthermore to explain how those views are shaped by the structural arrangements and human resources of the services, population density and geographical location. Leaders of municipal educational support services, preschool principals and compulsory school principals responded to a questionnaire about practices regarding school support services. A framework of desirable leadership practices was used as an analytical tool to measure this leadership. The findings revealed that leadership practices regarding school support services match poorly with the leadership framework. Human resources are important elements of the leadership practices regarding the school support services, but the services’ structural arrangements, municipal population density and geographical location are less so. It is suggested that it is necessary to focus on improvements in leadership practices in general, regarding the school support services. For that purpose, more engagement is needed in the development of professional capacity, and a focus on creating a shared understanding between the services and school principals.
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