Katarina Norberg

Intercultural Education and Teacher Education in Sweden.

The Swedish school is a meeting place for different cultures. Gender and class variations have been recognized for many years. More recently, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity has also ent ...

Ethical Dilemmas of Swedish School Leaders Contrasts and Common Themes

Being a skillful school leader presumes the competence to judge the ethical consequences of actions. This implies a need for all school agents to discover and analyze what values are at stake and, in turn, reconcile didactic rationality with ethical rationality. This article aims to explore ethical dilemmas in daily school practice, experienced and identified by school agents on different levels: school politicians, superintendents, principals and teachers. These dilemmas are further analyzed from different ethical perspectives. The findings demonstrate a variety of ethical dilemmas on different leadership level. What was considered as an ethical dilemma on one level is not mentioned on another level in the school system. Nevertheless, one common trend was the conflict between a strong values oriented profession and personal values of individuals, where childrens rights might be at stake.

Morality at the Margins: A Silent Dimension of Teaching and Learning.

Teaching is a moral endeavour. It transmits moral messages based on values and expectations. This paper explores the relationship between school practice and the democratic values endorsed in the Swedish national curriculum. A lunch‐time episode illustrates the discrepancy between the national curriculum’s ethical values and their realization in practice. This discrepancy problematizes the decentralization process in Swedish schooling. Furthermore, it suggests that episodes at the margins of school practice may be just as important to the moral curriculum of school as the knowledge‐related elements conventionally deemed to be the core of the curriculum.

The Ethical Dimensions of Curriculum Leadership in Scandinavian Countries.

Purpose – Schooling is a significant tool for fostering future generations, which, in turn, implies that the curriculum is an ethical document. It mirrors the societys notion of what is valuable, ...

Global conversations about social justice The Swedish−US example

This qualitative study investigated the social justice practices of four principals − two from the United States and two from Sweden. The purpose of the study was to enhance our understanding of school leaders’ actions as they work to promote socially just practices in different national contexts. Principals were interviewed to examine their perceptions of what social justice leaders do, how they make sense of social justice, what helps and hinders the work of social justice, and how they learned to become social justice leaders. Findings from the principals’ interviews are presented as a fictional conversation to illustrate similarities and points of departure in social justice practice between the two countries. Principals emphasized the proactive nature of social justice leadership, demonstrated through decision-making, strategic planning, and daily interactions. The importance of giving voice to those who cannot speak for themselves, holding high expectations for all students, and the importance of modeling positive values was underscored. Conclusions from this study illustrate that social justice leadership in practice, despite the national context, offers more commonalities than differences.

The constitutive values of Swedish schooling: a challenge to the inner life of schools

Abstract Schooling has always been a tool for transferring values to future generations. Despite social changes such as globalisation, information technology and the retreat of national capital, schools are still institutions where a civic identity is promoted. In a multicultural society, the challenge is to advocate constitutive values without excluding citizens. The Swedish curriculum identifies educational goods by emphasizing constitutive values such as democracy, solidarity and equality in accordance with ethics linked to Western Christian humanism. In addition, these values have to be interpreted and concretised in local contexts. This article examines these aspects of curriculum and the national question. It has three sections. It discusses constitutive values in Swedish schooling; it links deliberation to the localisation and concretisation of these national values, and it reflects on the implementation of these values in a Swedish school. Overall, the article focuses on possibilities for deliberative practice in a multicultural school.

Educational Leadership and Im/Migration: Preparation, Practice and Policy--The Swedish Case.

Purpose: Migration to Sweden dramatically increased in 2015 and challenged the reception system at all levels and societal institutions, one of which was the school. As a response to the lack of a ...

Legislation vs. morality – a police officer’s ethical dilemma

Policing is a moral endeavor. This paper discusses policing as a complex mission linked to its moral dimension and how individual values may impact how daily work is accomplished. It highlights the ethical dimension of decision-making from different ethical perspectives and the importance of developing practical ethical awareness in routine tasks and everyday activities. A routine episode, as depicted by a female police officer in an in-service program, illustrates how a number of ethical dimensions may arise in an unexpected situation with a discrepancy between the national ethical values for policing and its realization in practice. This paper draws attention to the importance of a forum in which shared dilemmas drawn from everyday activities are discussed, focusing on legislation as well as different ethical perspectives, to identify alternative actions.

In the name of honor : Swedish school leaders’ experiences of honor-related dilemmas

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine honor-related dilemmas that principals encounter in daily practice. Such dilemmas illustrate how special demands from parents can collide with the ...

The Swedish national principal training programme : a programme in constant change

ABSTRACT In the mid-1970s, a systematic national principal training programme was introduced in Sweden. The aim was to guarantee better-equipped principals in their mission to lead and develop schools in accordance with national steering documents. Since then, the programme has been subjected to changes, but its focus has remained the same. The three-year programme is currently directed at already-employed principals whose efforts are estimated to consume about 20% of their working time. Six universities provide the programme with content that corresponds to thirty higher-education credits. Consequently, the academy has to balance its fundamental role as a critical independent institution and its mission to provide an education that is crucial in the educational steering system. This article presents an historical overview of the programme’s development as well as the current programme’s design and challenges, and it discusses the expected future demands for change.