Petter Aasen

Balancing Trust and Technocracy? Leadership Training in Higher Education.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to analyse how participants in leadership training programs in higher education value and perceive their training process.Design/methodology/approach – A stylized theoretical model is developed indicating that leadership training may be designed along a collegial‐managerial continuum. To study how participants placed themselves on this continuum, a questionnaire was distributed to participants in three different leadership training programs.Findings – The study shows that leadership training programs are tools to modernize higher education without resulting in a rejection of inherent values and characteristics of the sector.Originality/value – Leadership training programs need to be supplemented with broader organisational development activities and a more systematic follow‐up process after completion of the program.

Knowledge Regimes and Contradictions in Education Reforms.

The article outlines a theoretical framework for understanding education policy and education reforms based on the concept of knowledge regimes. The concept refers to understandings and definitions of governance and procedural aspects, manners of governing and curriculum issues, thus it comprises contents, structures, and processes of education policy and governance. The article discusses how the concept may be helpful in understanding the complexity and ambiguity of education policy and development. The article argues that the concept of knowledge regimes enables us to gain a better understanding of education policy, the politics of education, and the political in education. Greater awareness of knowledge regimes can also help us to better understand both the circulation of national policy documents and technical and administrative plans, and the situation of those involved in education practice.