School Leader Autonomy: A Systematic Research Review

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Reviewing the Literature and Proposing New Theories in Educational Leadership (Table 13)

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic research review on school leader autonomy between 2000 and 2023 following the four-step PRISMA methodology. The preliminary results provide a valuble map of the national, regional and local contexts of the conducted studies. Our mapping also reveals the spread between different theoretical and methodological perspectives, and different while recurring themes in the studies, such as principals’ varying responsibilities for hiring staff and for resource allocation between school systems; principals’ experiences of district level support and governance; how marketization reforms both facilitate and hinder principals’ decision-making; and how principals’ perceptions of their decision-making capacity is related to their interest in entering the principals profession and stay on the position.

Authors

• Daniel Nordholm, Uppsala University

• Maria K. Jarl, University of Gothenburg

• Wieland Wermke, Stockholm University