International School Boards in the Governance Process

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The symposium participants share findings from an international collaborative research project which examined, compared, and contrasted educational governance systems in the Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Data from a previous national study of school board members and superintendents from the United States is presented as a comparative. School board members and municipal superintendents were surveyed with identical, but culturally modified, survey instruments for each Nordic country. In addition to country reports on the survey outcomes, thematic data emerged through a comparative analysis including (a) control and trust, (b) power and influence, (c) quality assurance and satisfaction (d) politics, administration and professionalism, (e) democracy and ‘member knowledge’, (e) management and leadership, (f) multi-level governance, and (g) school board and superintendent relations.

Sub Unit

• Division L - Educational Policy and Politics / Section 1: Governance, Finance, and Intergovernmental Relations

Chair

• Lejf Moos, Department of Education, Aarhus University

Papers

• School Board Governance in Denmark - Lejf Moos, Department of Education, Aarhus University; Klaus Kasper Kofod, Aarhus University - School of Education

• School Board Governance in Norway - Jan Merok Paulsen, Hedmark University College; Guri Skedsmo, University of Oslo

• School Board Governance in Finland - Mika Risku, University of Jyvaskyla; Pekka Kanervio, University of Jyväskylä; Seppo Pulkkinen, University of Jyväskylä

• School Board Governance in Sweden - Elisabet Nihlfors, Uppsala University; Olof Johansson, Umeå universitet