Session Information
26 SES 06 B, Principals' Role to Support and Assess Teachers
Paper Session
Contribution
In July 2011 a teacher registration reform (TRR) and a probation year for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) came into effect in Sweden (Government Bill, 2010/11).
It required newly qualified teachers and pre-school teachers to do a “probationary year” under the guidance of a mentor. Between July 1 2011 and July 1 2014 principals or pre-school managers were responsible for assessing whether the NQT were to be registered or not. The principals were expected to perform this assessment by following the national standards (competence profiles) developed by the Swedish National Agency for Education, the issuing authority. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss (1) sources of support for assessment and (2) to what extent these supported the principals in the assessment of the NQTs. Data is drawn from a questionnaire answered by 248 principals, completed in 2014 within the research project “Head teachers working conditions and the evaluation of newly qualified teachers (the RAOL-project)”
The TRR is another example of travelling policies in a globalized world, in this case with origin in Scotland and Canada. Some contextual policy learning adjustments (Lingard, 2010; Waldow, 2009) were made regarding the standards, but almost no adjustments regarding the structure and focus of the reform. As a consequence, parts of the reforms have been adjusted or withdrawn at several occasions. One major policy retreat was made in June 2013 when the Minister of Education, the Presidents of two teacher unions, representatives of The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions and The Swedish Association of Independent Schools made a joint statement to withdraw the assessment of NQTs. Hence, the implementation of the Swedish TRR and the assessment of NQTs can be viewed as an example of policy borrowing and the challenges encountered when reforms are implemented prior to a completed policy learning processes. From July2014 the assessment ceased to be part of principals’ task.
Thus, this paper offers unique data from a specific time period with particular tasks and working conditions for principals. Swedish research on how principals assess and evaluate teachers' skills is largely absent, but similar international research indicates the need to explore how such assessments are performed. For instance, Kimball & Milanowski (2009) found that head teachers vary their evaluations over time and in relation to subjective values, and that their evaluations seem to be based on intuition and instinct rather than carefully formulated and objective criteria.
Recent studies show that the working conditions for principals are intense with fragmented working days during which many quick decisions have to be made (Day, 2000; Nihlfors & Johansson, 2013). Research on school leaders' working conditions (e.g. Day, 2000, Swedish Work Environment Authority, 2011; Swedish Schools Inspectorate, 2010) raise questions on how working conditions affect the assessment of NQTs, and how the assessment affects working conditions and the principal’s role and self-image (Federici, 2013). Principals operate in the intersection of different interests, expectations, tasks and roles (Nihlfors & Johansson, 2013; Törnsén & Ärlestig, 2014), which affect the psychosocial work environment. Interestingly, changes in the professional role were being handled differently by the principals depending on their career stage (The Swedish Research Council, 2011).
Even though the main data reported here is Swedish, in times of policy travelling the results are of importance in a wider European perspective to help understand principals’ working condition and roles.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2012). How Schools Do Policy: Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools London & New York: Routledge. Day, C. (2000). Leading schools in times of change. Buckingham: Open Univ. Press. Federici, R. A. (2013). Principals’ self-efficacy: relations with job autonomy, job satisfaction, and contextual constraints. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 28:73–86 Government bill 2010/11:20 Legitimation för lärare och förskollärare [Registration for Teachers and Pre-School Teachers]. The Swedish Government. Kimball, S.E. & Milanowski, A. (2009). Examining Teacher Evaluation Validity and Leadership Decision Making Within a Standards-Based Evaluation System. Educational Administration Quarterly. Vol. 45. No. 1. February 2009. 34–70. Lingard, B. (2010). Policy Borrowing, Policy Learning: Testing Times in Australian Schooling, Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 129-147 Nihlfors, E. & Johansson, O. (2013). Rektor - en stark länk i styrningen av skolan. [The Principal – a strong link in the Governance of School]. Stockholm: SNS förlag. Swedish School Inspectorate (2010). Rektors ledarskap. En granskning av hur rektorer leder skolans arbete mot ökad måluppfyllelse. [The Principals Leadership. Inspection of how priciplas leads the schools towards increased goal-fullfilment]. Skolinspektionen: Stockholm. SOU. 2008. Legitimation och skärpta behörighetsregler [Swedish Government Official Report 2008:52. Registration and stricter qualifying rules]. Stockholm: Ministry of Education and Research. Swedish Work Environment Authority (2011). Rektorers arbetsmiljö. En tillsynsinsats genomförd av Arbetsmiljöverket (AV), distriktet i Göteborg under 2009 och 2010. [Principals working condition. An inspection by the Swedish Work Environment Authority, Gothenburg region 2009-2010] ISG 2011/100102. Göteborg: Arbetsmiljöverket. Swedish Research Council (2011). Rektor – En forskningsöversikt 2000-2010. [Principals – a Research overview 2000-2010]. Vetenskapsrådets rapportserie. 2011:4. Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet. Törnsén, M. & Ärlestig, H. (red.) (2014). Ledarskap i centrum: om rektor och förskolechef. [Leadership in the center: about principals and pre-school managers]. Malmö: Gleerup. Waldow, F. (2009). Undeclared imports: silent borrowing in educational policy-making and research in Sweden, Comparative Education Vol. 45, No. 4, November 2009, 477–494.
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