This book discusses principals' prerequisites and work within the five Nordic countries and focuses on schools as formal institutions that carry out functions delegated to them by the social collective. It includes a discussion about what kind of state policy demonstrates autonomy in Nordic schools, as well as the ways in which school leaders as…

Sweden has undergone many educational shifts in recent decades, going from a highly centralized system with a focus on collective education to a more market-guided system that offers more choice for the individual. Throughout this period, "education for all" has remained the guiding principle of government education policies, though some…

In this paper, we theorize on local school governance through a multi-method case study of a large-sized Swedish municipality by drawing on neo-institutional theory. In light of a changing governing landscape in Sweden in terms of a 're-centralization', new conditions between the state, the local education authorities (LEA) and the schools have…

This article presents the empirical analysis of the effects of a school choice policy in Estonia. The article shows that relying on markets and giving autonomy to the schools over student selection will produce admission tests, even at the elementary school level. This article's contribution is to show that a school choice policy experiment with…

As higher education has grown and state funding has been constrained, the financial sustainability of institutions of higher education (HE) has become an issue for policy makers and for those who govern and manage these institutions. The challenge for governments is to ensure that increasingly autonomous institutions respond to public interest…

School systems aspire to provide equal opportunity for all, irrespective of socio-economic status (SES). Much of the criticism of recent school reforms that introduce accountability, autonomy, and choice emphasizes their potentially negative consequences for equity. This report provides new evidence on how national features of accountability,…

This study aims to comparatively explore the role of the state (federal policy) in distance-education initiatives in the higher education communities of Sweden and the United States. In a globalized context, education institutes now have the capabilities to provide education and educational resources more efficiently and to a wide-ranging and…

Previous analyses of higher education policy in Sweden are addressed to examine the nature of the major tradeoffs between values. In addition, a set of value categories relevant to higher education policy in general is suggested. Values identified as particularly relevant to the analysis of higher education policy are equality, excellence,…

The implementation of reforms of institutional governance in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom is reviewed. The analysis is focused on reform goals associated with autonomy and participation. These goals have only partly been achieved, due to unrealistic assumptions and to the continuation of interest group politics during policy…

An unintended outcome of Swedish higher education reform, and one detrimental to academic work, was that the more numerous the reforms, the larger the size of the coordinating bodies above the local units and the more rapid the growth in bureaucratic personnel within local institutions of the higher education system. (MH)

Analyzes the impact of new research funding arrangements in Sweden, intended to shift emphasis from discipline-based research to multidisciplinary, problem-focused research. Focusing on management at the institutional level, it discusses the tension between the university, representing academic freedom and autonomy, and controls imposed by…