Leadership in Improving Schools: A Qualitative Perspective

This article reports early case-study data gathered from 20 schools involved in the ‘Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes’ project. We present and discuss the perceptions of headteachers and other school leaders regarding leadership factors that directly and indirectly affect pupil outcomes in these improving schools. Included are issues relating to the pivotal role played by the headteacher in setting and communicating a strategic vision for the school; models of distributed leadership; and the building of leadership capacity so as to build a collective responsibility for the improvement of pupil outcomes

Market competition in upper secondary education: : Perceived effects on teachers’ work

The development and expansion of market solutions is one of the mostimportant changes in Swedish education in the last 30 years. The aim of the article is todescribe and analyse how students and staff in upper secondary schools perceive the impactof market competition on teachers’ work. Three groups of actors in two Swedish regionswere interviewed: students, teachers and principals. The interviews were carried out at eightschools in five municipalities, at both public and independent schools. The results show thatcompetition relations are more complex than is often assumed. Intensification of teachers’work is a common theme in the interviews. Traditional professional values and identities arechallenged by the market competition and a market-oriented teacher is shaped – whetherthe teachers like it or not. The extension of teachers’ tasks is increasingly about marketing. Anew type of service-minded and flexible teacher is created. Regarding the effects ofcompetition on teacher performance, the results are contradictory. The quality discourse isproblematised as there is no evident link between winners in the school competition and thequality of teaching and student outcomes. The Swedish case is interesting in theinternational literature as an example of a rapidly growing upper secondary school marketwhich is closer to the logic of the market than many other nations’ school systems