Session Information
26 SES 13 A, Results Resourses and Multicultural Societies
Paper Session
Contribution
The recent Swedish Education Act (SFS 2010:800) of 2010 has, compared with the former one (SFS 1985:1100), imposed many new requirements on the Swedish school system. One significant new requirement is that education in primary and secondary school must be based on research and proven experience. In Sweden two sectors of the society that had already been subjected to this requirement, namely, higher education and health care (SFS1982:763, 1992:1434, 1997:218) and under the 2010 Education Act the primary and secondary school sectors are now included in this requirement.
In Sweden, as in many other countries, the principal is the school’s pedagogical leader (Rapp 2010) and is deemed to have chief accountability for school outcomes. Even so, results in Swedish schools have, over many years, according to international measurements such as PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and TIMMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) deteriorated strongly. Given that the 2010 Education Act has now stated that education has to be based on research and proven experience, the expectation of the legislators is that school results will improve (prop. 2009/10:165).
The amendment in the Education Act was not debated before it came into force. Even more tellingly, it does not appear that the legislators conducted any investigations into international experiences of this requirement. If they had, for instance, an examination of the extensive English debate started in the mid-90s would have proven useful (Hargreaves 1996, Hammersly 1997. It is noteworthy that the Swedish legal requirement seems to be unique within the international context(Rapp & Kroksmark 2015).
In looking at other countries’ experiences it should be noted that neighboring Finland has no similar requirement regarding research and proven experience. Even so, Finland has, for a number of years, attained excellent results in the PISA investigations. Some argue that one reason for that might be research-based teacher training (Toom, et al., 2008; Kansanen, 2014). Neither does England have such a legal requirement, even though there is a generally accepted idea that education should be an evidence-based practice (Tooley 1998 et al. in Biesta 2007). In English schools “best practice” is established and the conception has some connection to research and proven experience.
A system theory perspective postulates that what happens in one part will affect other parts (Rapp 2001). Thus, in regard to school, requirements from the government go through local authorities to schools and are then supposed to become reality in the classrooms. However, this does not always happen because of disruptions in the more-or-less tight coupling between levels in the steering chain of decision(Rapp 2011).
As noted, Finland and England, unlike Sweden, have no legal requirements obliging education to be based on research and proven experience. However, one can assume that principals in those countries do indeed work to improve their schools’ outcomes. This study’s main objective is therefore to learn more about what affects the principal’s work toward improving school results. The knowledge generated can give a deeper understanding of the influence the principals have on school outcomes and what role a legal requirement can play in the affecting their work. The following questions will guide the study:
- What is the context in which principals base education in their schools on research and proven experience?
- What responsibility do principals believe they have for their schools’ outcomes?
- How do principals act to improve their schools’ results?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Alexandersson, M. (1994) Metod och medvetande. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Biesta, G. J. J. (2007) Why “what works” won’t work. Evidence-based practice and the democratic deficit of educational research. Educational Theory, 57(1), 1–22. Cohen, L., & Manion, L. (1989) Research methods in education. London: Crom Helm. Denzin, N.K., & Y.S. Lincoln (1998) Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials. London: Sage. Hammersley, M. (1997) Educational research and teaching: a response to David Hargreaves´ TTA lecture. British Educational Research Journal, 23, (2), pp. 141-162. Hargreaves, D. H. (1996) Teaching as a research-based profession: Possibilities and prospects. The teacher training agency annual lecture 1996. Kansanen, P. (2014). Teaching as a Master’s Level Profession in Finland: Theoretical Reflections and Practical Solutions. In O. McNamara et al (Eds). Workplace Learning in Teacher Edution. Professional Learning and Development in Schools and Higer Education 10. Dordrecht: Springer. Kroksmark, T. (1995) Teaching and teacher´s “Didaktik”. Outlines for a phenomenographic description of teachers´teaching competences. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 14 (4), 365-382. Kvale, S. (1997) Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Marton, F. (1981) Phenomenography: Describing conceptions of the world around us. Instructional Science 10 no. 2:177-200. Marton, F., & S. Booth. (2000) Om lärande. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Proposition 2009/10:165. Den nya skollagen – för kunskap, valfrihet och trygghet Rapp, S. (2001) Headteacher – a guarantee of pupils’ legal security. Örebro: Studies in Educaion no. 2. Rapp, S. (2010) Head teacher as a pedagogical leader: A comparative study of headteachers in Sweden and England. British Journal of Educational Studies, 58 (3), 331-349. Rapp, S. (2011) The director of education as a leader of pedagogical issues: a study of leadership in municipal educational sector activities. School leadership and management, 31 (5), 471-490. Rapp, S. Kroksmark, T. (2015) Swedish principals´understanding of the concept: Education based research and proven experience. Submitted Schutz, A. & T. Luckman (1974) The structures of the life-world. London, Heinemann Educational Books. SFS (1982:763) Hälso- och sjukvårdslagen SFS 1985:1100 Skollagen SFS (1992:1434) Högskolelagen SFS (1997:218) Högskolelagen SFS 2010:800 Skollagen Toom, A., Krokfors, L., Kynaslahti, H., Stenberg, K., Maaranen, K., Jyrhämö, R., Byman, R. & Kansanen, P. (2008) Exploring the essential characteristics of research-based teacher education from the viewpoint of teacher educators. Researchgate: http:// www.researchgate.net/publication/ Tooley, J. & Darby, D. (1998) Educational research: A critique. London: OFSTED.
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