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Skolpolitik, skolutvecklingsarena och sociala processer : Studie av en gymnasieskola i kris

Holmström, Ola LU (2007)
Abstract
This dissertation is based on a case study of a series of events at a newly started Swedish high school. The study employs a qualitative methodology comprising of interviews, participant observation and analysis of text documents. The series of events opens with the grand visions of the municipality and the school's principal for the school and concludes with the teachers at the school unanimously acting to dismiss the principal. The purpose of the dissertation is to analyze this series of events in the light of the steering reforms and the optimistic attitudes towards school development in the 1990s. Thus the dissertation focuses on two different levels of the school system: on the one hand it looks at an actual school in crisis, on the... (More)
This dissertation is based on a case study of a series of events at a newly started Swedish high school. The study employs a qualitative methodology comprising of interviews, participant observation and analysis of text documents. The series of events opens with the grand visions of the municipality and the school's principal for the school and concludes with the teachers at the school unanimously acting to dismiss the principal. The purpose of the dissertation is to analyze this series of events in the light of the steering reforms and the optimistic attitudes towards school development in the 1990s. Thus the dissertation focuses on two different levels of the school system: on the one hand it looks at an actual school in crisis, on the other it looks at the policy level, which was predominated by an air of optimism. These two levels are linked in the dissertation via the concept school development arena. This connotes an analytical position towards which all principals and teachers were expected to move. When the school's local actors are in the school development arena they deal with the ?how? questions that the steering reforms turned over to them. If they do not enter the school development arena, the ?how? questions remain untreated and unanswered, resulting in not meeting the aims of the steering reforms. Against this background, a comprehensive drive towards the school development arena took place. This is expressed in the dominant school development discourse of the time that was carried by both school policy and school research. According to the discourse the principal should be a challenging leader, the teachers reflexive practitioners, and the school a learning organization. This dissertation shows that these directives pointed strongly towards the school development arena. The principal of the school in this study made great efforts to get the teachers to move into the school development arena, and this was the starting point for the pattern of social interaction that the dissertation focuses on. The social processes analyzed are interpreted using social psychological theory, symbolic interactionism, and Erving Goffman. Great analytical care is taken underline that social actions are not mechanical. How people act is rather a matter of how they define the situation. When the teachers define the principal's visions as ?nonsense?, they treated these visions as not worth bothering with. When the principal rewarded those teachers who entered the school development arena, his actions were deemed unfair, leading to protest and dissatisfaction. As the principal held steadfast to his course he was defined as autocratic and someone the teachers wanted to liberate themselves from. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Föreliggande avhandling är en fallstudie vars empiriska material utgörs av kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer, deltagande observationer och textdokument. Avhandlingen uppmärksammar ett händelseförlopp på en nystartad svensk gymnasieskola. Förloppet inleds med kommunens och rektorns stora visioner för verksamheten och avslutas med att en samstämmig lärargrupp avsätter rektorn. Avhandlingens syfte är att analysera detta händelseförlopp mot bakgrund av 1990-talets målstyrningsreform och dess optimistiska förhållningssätt till skolutveckling. Detta innebär att avhandlingen befinner sig på två olika nivåer av skolsystemet: å ena sidan uppmärksammas en skola som befann sig i kris och å andra sidan... (More)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Föreliggande avhandling är en fallstudie vars empiriska material utgörs av kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer, deltagande observationer och textdokument. Avhandlingen uppmärksammar ett händelseförlopp på en nystartad svensk gymnasieskola. Förloppet inleds med kommunens och rektorns stora visioner för verksamheten och avslutas med att en samstämmig lärargrupp avsätter rektorn. Avhandlingens syfte är att analysera detta händelseförlopp mot bakgrund av 1990-talets målstyrningsreform och dess optimistiska förhållningssätt till skolutveckling. Detta innebär att avhandlingen befinner sig på två olika nivåer av skolsystemet: å ena sidan uppmärksammas en skola som befann sig i kris och å andra sidan uppmärksammas en skolpolitik som samtidigt andas utvecklingsoptimism. I avhandlingen länkas dessa nivåer samman genom introducerandet av begreppet skolutvecklingsarena. Detta svarar mot en analytisk plats som samtliga rektorer och lärare förväntas att bege sig till. När skolans lokala aktörer befinner sig på skolutvecklingsarenan tar de sig an de ?hur-frågor? som målstyrningsreformen lämnat dem med. Men om de inte beger sig till platsen förblir ?hur-frågorna? obesvarade och reformens intentioner kan inte infrias. Mot denna bakgrund pågår en omfattande styrning mot skolutvecklingsarenan. Denna tar sig uttryck i en dominerande skolutvecklingsdiskurs som bärs upp av skolpolitik och skolforskning. Av diskursen framkommer att rektorn skall vara en utmanande ledare, att lärarna skall vara reflekterande praktiker och att skolan skall bli en lärande organisation. I avhandlingen visas att dessa direktiv riktar ett skarpt ljus mot skolutvecklingsarenan. Fallskolans rektor gjorde sitt yttersta för att lärarna skulle bege sig till skolutvecklingsarenan och detta var startpunkten för det mönster av social interaktion som avhandlingen fokuserar på. Dessa sociala processer analyseras med utgångspunkt i socialpsykologisk teoribildning från den symboliska interaktionismen och Erving Goffman. Stor analytisk vikt läggs vid att sociala handlingar inte är mekaniska. Hur människor agerar är i stället ett utfall av hur de definierar situationen. När lärarna kom att definiera rektorns visioner som ?nonsens? agerade de mot dem som någonting att inte bry sig om. När rektorn premierade de lärare som begav sig till skolutvecklingsarenan definierades hans agerande som orättvist och man bemötte hans handlingar med protester och missnöje. När rektorn ändå höll fast vid sin handlingslinje definierades han som maktfullkomlig och lärarna började att agera mot sin rektor som någon att vilja slå sig fri från. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Professor Carlgren, Ingrid, Lärarhögskolan, Stockholm
organization
alternative title
School policy, School development arena and Social processes : A study of a high school in crisis
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
School policy, Social psychology, Sociology, Social processes, School development, School development arena, Sociologi, Socialpsykologi
pages
232 pages
publisher
Department of Sociology, Lund University
defense location
Hörsalen, Stora Algatan 4, Lund
defense date
2007-02-02 10:15:00
ISBN
91-7267-229-3
project
"Förutsättningar och hinder för skolutveckling - en kartläggning", finansiär: Arbetslivsinstitutet Syd.
"På skolutvecklingsarenan - när skolan som vision och skolan som verksamhet möts", planeringsanslag från Vetenskapsrådet.
Holmström, Ola (2007). Skolpolitik, skolutvecklingsarena och sociala processer: studie av en gymnasieskola i kris. Diss. Lund : Lunds universitet.
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
0728aed3-d219-408e-a60c-af4e2906a514 (old id 26945)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:13:52
date last changed
2021-12-20 09:00:04
@phdthesis{0728aed3-d219-408e-a60c-af4e2906a514,
  abstract     = {{This dissertation is based on a case study of a series of events at a newly started Swedish high school. The study employs a qualitative methodology comprising of interviews, participant observation and analysis of text documents. The series of events opens with the grand visions of the municipality and the school's principal for the school and concludes with the teachers at the school unanimously acting to dismiss the principal. The purpose of the dissertation is to analyze this series of events in the light of the steering reforms and the optimistic attitudes towards school development in the 1990s. Thus the dissertation focuses on two different levels of the school system: on the one hand it looks at an actual school in crisis, on the other it looks at the policy level, which was predominated by an air of optimism. These two levels are linked in the dissertation via the concept school development arena. This connotes an analytical position towards which all principals and teachers were expected to move. When the school's local actors are in the school development arena they deal with the ?how? questions that the steering reforms turned over to them. If they do not enter the school development arena, the ?how? questions remain untreated and unanswered, resulting in not meeting the aims of the steering reforms. Against this background, a comprehensive drive towards the school development arena took place. This is expressed in the dominant school development discourse of the time that was carried by both school policy and school research. According to the discourse the principal should be a challenging leader, the teachers reflexive practitioners, and the school a learning organization. This dissertation shows that these directives pointed strongly towards the school development arena. The principal of the school in this study made great efforts to get the teachers to move into the school development arena, and this was the starting point for the pattern of social interaction that the dissertation focuses on. The social processes analyzed are interpreted using social psychological theory, symbolic interactionism, and Erving Goffman. Great analytical care is taken underline that social actions are not mechanical. How people act is rather a matter of how they define the situation. When the teachers define the principal's visions as ?nonsense?, they treated these visions as not worth bothering with. When the principal rewarded those teachers who entered the school development arena, his actions were deemed unfair, leading to protest and dissatisfaction. As the principal held steadfast to his course he was defined as autocratic and someone the teachers wanted to liberate themselves from.}},
  author       = {{Holmström, Ola}},
  isbn         = {{91-7267-229-3}},
  keywords     = {{School policy; Social psychology; Sociology; Social processes; School development; School development arena; Sociologi; Socialpsykologi}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Sociology, Lund University}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Skolpolitik, skolutvecklingsarena och sociala processer : Studie av en gymnasieskola i kris}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}