Page 93 - ALR2018 Handbook

National School Outcomes as Measure for Local School Success

- Governance and Leadership in Under Preforming Schools
Olof Johansson and Helene Ärlestig

Objectives

The paper will analyze a Swedish Government initiative for improving low preforming Schools
called ‘Co-operation for better schools’. The aim is to study how public schools understand
and use audit information from the State School Inspection about their schools achievements
in their improvement work. The focus is on how the local school organizations define
necessary steps to improve their schools. What role do the different leadership functions –
superintendents, principals and teachers - play in the reflection process when the schools
themselves define their challenges?

Perspective(s)

The empirical base for our research are 40 school districts and around 60 schools, which has
been selected to participate in the initiative for “better schools”. They have all been criticized
by the State School Inspection for not holding the standards required in their schools. All
schools has accepted to get external support to improve their school results and work for
inclusion of all students.

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