School Leaders’ Autonomy in Public and Private School Contexts: Blurring Policy Requirements
Abstract
This study responds to calls for more nuanced research on school actors’ autonomy in contexts characterized by multiple governance configurations. It investigates school leaders’ autonomy when enacting policy requirements in public and private school contexts, with Norway as an example. The study draws on qualitative data from eight leaders in diverse school contexts, revealing how the increased standardization of competence and assessment requirements challenges school leaders’ autonomy in private and public schools. Using the idea of gap management (Knapp & Hopmann, 2017), we find that there is little overall difference between state-funded private schools and traditional public schools. However, we did find variation in how standardization challenges school leaders’ autonomy. The variation in school leaders’ autonomy seems to lie within the visions of the schools and school leaders.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Keywords:
education policy, school leaders, autonomy, standardization
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Alessandra Dieude, Tine Sophie Prøitz
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.