Analyzing teachers' discretion : the influence of policies and head masters

The school is one of the most important institutions in our western society, and the teachers' role hence also highly important. By investigating teachers' discretion; constraining and enabling factors, and their strategies to handle the situation, a broader knowledge regarding teachers' working conditions and their strategies to cope can be reached. Understanding these issues is important in order to continuously improve teachers' working conditions.During the last 10-15 years the upper secondary school in Sweden has gone through major structural changes, governance wise and also organizational wise. It is reasonable to assume that these changes have affected the teachers' working conditions, including the issue of discretion. The aim of this paper is to explore upper secondary school teachers' discretion. The research questions posed are: How can upper secondary school teachers' discretion be described? What constraints and enabling factors can be identified? What strategies do the teachers develop?This study is based on a number of interviews with experienced upper secondary school teachers. The interviews focus on the concept of discretion in various aspects of the teachers' work. The theoretical framework is based on Karasek and Theorell's (1990) now classical demand and control model, where the concept of social support is included.Godkänd; 2006; 20070416 (kirhon