Principal autonomy has been identified as an important ingredient in effective and healthy schools. However, little is known about the various dimensions of the phenomenon and how it takes form in different contexts. This article presents an analytical device contributing to further understand the complex nature of principal autonomy. The device…

This article aims to undertake a comparative investigation of school administration to understand further the frames of curriculum making. School administration is an under-illuminated aspect of curriculum research. The paper commences from the notion that, in mass education, a school system is operationalized by many schools, which are coupled to…

As the privatisation of the public sector has grown rapidly in Sweden in the last decade, private companies have become an imperative part of education. Private companies sell and deliver consultancy, hardware, software, services, etc. to schools and municipalities. This study examines a growing rate of activities from companies and businesses…

This article presents the results from a survey investigating 708 Swedish and 1583 Finnish teachers' perceived autonomy with a focus on the teachers' perceptions of who makes the most important decisions in school. Teacher autonomy is seen as exercised at different levels; by teachers individually in the classroom or by teachers as a collective in…

Following Ben-Porath [1967. "The Production of Human Capital and the Life-Cycle of Earnings." "Journal of Political Economy" 75 (3): 352-365], the influence of life expectancy on education and on human capital has attracted much attention among growth theorists. Whereas existing growth models rely on an education decision made…

Power in the university is seen as the academic division of labor that creates a number of self-sufficient units responsible for the production of academic work. Two kinds of reforms in higher education, efficiency and participation by disenfranchised groups, have affected the power structure of higher education institutions. (Author/MLW)

The current structure of governance and decision making in Swedish higher education and the effects of recent national reform on perceived and actual autonomy at the central, regional, and local levels are discussed. An initial desire for more decentralized decision making has turned to increasing demand for more guidance by central organizations.…

The effect of external factors on higher education curricula cannot be fully understood unless attention is paid to governing and controlling factors and to the historical, societal and economic context of the programs. The current market-orientation of regional colleges and the implementation of a nurse education reform are discussed. (Author/MLW)

The transition from an elite university to a mass university has characterized modern university life. The purely quantitative development has been accompanied by a number of changes in the decisionmaking system in higher education. No systematic comparative studies exist of the development of the decisionmaking system. A project is under way at…

The history of the Swedish universities and their roots in various traditions are traced. Attention is directed to the historico-sociological theory concerning the development and transformation of the Swedish universities from a traditional cultural institution to a rational educational institution. Six themes are covered: a general historical…

The application of the idea of diplomacy to educational change is addressed, with attention to the problems faced by the head of a teaching and learning support group within a university, along with the role of educational advisers, or consultants, The analysis is structured based on the main elements of diplomacy. Attention is directed to an…