Lärande mellan policy och praktik : Kontextuella villkor för skolans reformarbete

Abstract Håkansson, Jan (2006). Learning between policy and practice. Contextual conditions for reform activity in schools. Acta Wexionensia No 95/2006. ISSN:1404-4307, ISBN: 91-7636-510-7. Written in Swedish with a summary in English. Considerable changes have characterised the past decades’ education policy. These changes apply to all types of schools within the Swedish education system. This thesis treats issues of professional teacher development, the introduction of project work in upper secondary school as well as quality audits in the school system. While intending to problematise and intensify discussions on the school reforms’ significance for school development, the thesis focuses on the conditions for practitioners in-depth reflection and deliberative learning in relation to various development measures in school. The overall purpose is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the relation between policy and practice with respect to school staff’s learning processes, which is constituted in policy and practical contexts examined here. One intention here is to present an analysis of the learning aspects in the explicit development measures formulated in policy documents. Another intention is to analyse learning, which is rather implicitly attached to the implementation of policy. The three reform processes have been studied in a broad socio-theoretical perspective on policy and learning. Yet, inspiration was also provided by a critical action research approach. Discursive and dialectic perspectives on policy, practice and learning are significant for carrying out the empirical studies, but also for the analysis of the empirical material. The study depicts myriad and controversial relations between policy, practice and learning. With respect to professional teacher development projects in partial study A, one outcome is that the policy’s transparent character interplays with creative learning aspects both in policy and practice. Regarding the introduction of project work in upper secondary education, partial study B establishes that the unclear and implicit policy character can be related to preserving learning aspects in the official discourse, yet, it can be creative when applied in practice. The policy on quality audits in the school system as examined in partial study C can be referred to as uncommunicative with an orientation towards preserving learning aspects, while there is possibilities within local evaluation and quality audits for an orientation towards creative learning aspects. On the whole, these reform processes are part of what can be identified as hybrid integration patterns in line with communicative perspectives and perspectives on set objectives. The results in this thesis illustrate a potential for improved participation aided by extended possibilities for communication within the framework of a deliberative perspective on governing schools. It is of great significance to pay attention to this in future reforms. Keywords: communication, critical action research, deliberation, learning, policy, school reform