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Transnational Influences on Values and Practices in Nordic Educational Leadership pp 173–192Cite as

Local Decisions Under Central Watch: A Nordic Quality Assurance System

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Part of the book series: Studies in Educational Leadership ((SIEL,volume 19))

Abstract

Quality assurance or accountability, as we use the term, refers to when an actor, in virtue of contractual obligations, has the right to hold another actor responsible to a set of standards, to judge whether the standards have been met and to impose sanctions if the standards are deemed unfulfilled. In this chapter, we compare how (and if) these rights have been distributed and enacted in educational administration in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. By specifying contractual obligations, we wish to separate accountability from other kinds of asymmetric power relations, such as those between parent and child, and focus on acts of delegation and control.

We find that there is variation between the four Nordic countries. It is clear that Sweden has gone furthest in reintroducing central command through the use of statutory regulations, oversight and sanctions, whereas Finland has largely abstained from developing a comprehensive system of national quality control. But in Finland, international evaluations and assessments are used to position the country in the global context and to identify national strengths and weaknesses. Finland also tries to take an active role in the development of international evaluations, so that they meet the needs of the Finnish education system. Denmark and Norway have positioned themselves in between the two extremes, both having developed national oversight systems with monitoring and reporting requirements, but so far without the addition of hard sanctions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Principal Development, Umeå University, S-901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Olof Johansson (Professor)

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Mikael Holmgren

  3. Department of Education, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Elisabet Nihlfors

  4. Department of Education (DPU), Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lejf Moos

  5. Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Guri Skedsmo

  6. Volda University College, Volda, Norway

    Jan Merok Paulsen

  7. Institute of Educational Leadership, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Mika Risku

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  1. Olof Johansson
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  3. Elisabet Nihlfors
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Correspondence to Olof Johansson .

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  1. , Department of Education, Aarhus University, Tuborgvej 164, Copenhagen, 2400, Denmark

    Lejf Moos

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Johansson, O. et al. (2013). Local Decisions Under Central Watch: A Nordic Quality Assurance System. In: Moos, L. (eds) Transnational Influences on Values and Practices in Nordic Educational Leadership. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6226-8_11

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