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Nordic Superintendents: Agents in a Broken Chain pp 311–334Cite as

Tendencies and Trends

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Part of the book series: Educational Governance Research ((EGTU,volume 2))

Abstract

When we look for general tendencies in the development of the role of Nordic educational superintendents, we find that social technologies have become fundamental features of contemporary governance, education and comparisons. Social technologies are procedures, recipes, manuals, methods, indicators etc. that are produced and implemented for the use of authorities to govern institutions and individuals. Contemporary social technologies are to a high degree formed by neoliberal marketplace discourse and thus by ‘new public management’ ideologies: they are basically intended as a tool to further collaboration, trade and exchange across national borders when building a global marketplace. Therefore we also see that they mostly context- and content-free, but nevertheless pursue marketplace homogenisation. We see that the most important social technologies in educational leadership and governance are evidence-based decisions, best practices, governing by indicators, standards and numbers, accreditations and certifications. We therefore rename the New Public Management (NPM) into New Public Governance (NPG). We see the same tendency at the very core of education: prescribing national or international indicators, standards and procedures like best practice, shifting the focus from education and teaching to effective learning that is to be measured with international tests and without discussion of the purpose of the activities, nor of the circumstances and relations in which education and learning take place. It seems to us that these tendencies will become the trends of the future, unless directions and means are changed dramatically.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is worth noting that numbers are themselves subject to interpretation. The ones used here are taken from the World Bank tables, but if we use Eurydice (2012) we see that public expenditure in Denmark is 92 rather than 97. 5 % and in England 69 rather than 78.7 %. The numbers of course are based on different data, but for comparative use it makes sense to use numbers produced in the same way from the same source.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lejf Moos

  2. Department of Education, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Elisabet Nihlfors

  3. Faculty of Teacher Education and International Studies, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, Oslo, Norway

    Jan Merok Paulsen

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  1. Lejf Moos
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  2. Elisabet Nihlfors
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  3. Jan Merok Paulsen
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Correspondence to Lejf Moos .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Danish School of Education, Aarhus University , Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lejf Moos

  2. Department of Education, Uppsala University , Uppsala, Sweden

    Elisabet Nihlfors

  3. College of Applied Sciences, Oslo and Akershus University Fac. of Teacher Educ. and Inter. Studies, Oslo, Norway

    Jan Merok Paulsen

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Moos, L., Nihlfors, E., Paulsen, J.M. (2016). Tendencies and Trends. In: Moos, L., Nihlfors, E., Paulsen, J. (eds) Nordic Superintendents: Agents in a Broken Chain. Educational Governance Research, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25106-6_11

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