Kan man overhovedet lede en skole: Om ledelse i en dannelsesinstitution

Publikation: Kandidat/diplom/masterMasterForskning

Abstract

In this master project, I will ask introductory and overall questions to whether it is possible all together to run a school. And these questions are asked due to the ongoing requirements about how to better run a school which we hear each time the Danish folkeskolen is weighed and found too light. The question might be rhetorical because a school can and must, of course, always be run even though the management tasks may prove difficult. In this project, I have concretized the problem to these two fundamental questions:
(I) How are the school’s tasks perceived as a society institution by different actors in and around the school?
(II) What is the correlation between the understanding of the school’s tasks and the managerial challenges and options which the headmaster must relate to pedagogically and strategically?
I will address above questions twice based on the new institutional organization- and management theories and with focus on three central circuits in the network of organisations which a school forms part of:
Power circuit and legitimacy circuit in relation to the politicians and the administration, user circuit and production circuit in relation to students and parents, and finally the organisation circuit between the headmaster and the teachers. To a certain degree it is a case-study and the empirical material comprises interviews with central actors in the various circuits.
In the first round, the survey is about the difficulties which can be faced in connection with running a school. This can be linked up with the fact that the school according to the Danish legislation must solve two tasks namely edification (‘Bildung’) and education – where one of which is general and the other is more user-oriented. From politicians and the administration, requirements are issued on objectives and finances, whereas from the parents, demands are made that particularly their child must be seen, heard and challenged in the school. Also, the professional teachers challenge the management when it comes to requirements on autonomy and influence.
In the second round, when I look at the questions more inductively, it will show that the actors apart from criticism and frustrations also simultaneously will voice their respect for other people’s standpoints and opinions, and that there actually is an appreciation of the complexity and meaning of the management tasks.
Based on this, I will in the last part of the project point at which options are available when it comes to leadership in relation to the actors the three circuits – with special emphasis on management and motivation of the professional teachers and the manager’s competencies.
OriginalsprogDansk
StatusUdgivet - 2011

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