Public Defence: Rikke A. Sundberg

Rikke A. Sundberg  is defending her dissertation for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway. 

The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Humanities, Sports, and Educational Science.

You are invited to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.

• Link to full dissertation

Summary

School leaders’ autonomy has long been regarded as an instrument for improving quality in education. This thesis demonstrates how the autonomy of Norwegian and Swedish school leaders in quality work is formed in different ways and concludes that there is a need for a more nuanced understanding of school leader’s autonomy.

The study underscores the importance of governance models that balance demands for quality and accountability with trust, collaboration, and scope for professional judgement. Autonomy does not appear as a stable attribute of the school leadership role, but rather as a dynamic process influenced by political signals and governance, professional norms, and the organisational frameworks surrounding school leaders.

A nuanced view of autonomy recognises both professional discretion and collective responsibility. It requires clear frameworks, well-defined roles, and a political understanding that autonomy is developed through practice, not merely conferred through reforms.

Through comparative analyses of rich empirical data, the study finds that Norwegian school leaders’ autonomy in quality work develops within a close interplay with multiple actors and within a political context in which shared leadership is normatively embedded. Norwegian school leaders describe quality work as characterised by extensive involvement, relational work, and collaboration. This creates opportunities for the development of collective processes and broad ownership, but also entails a high degree of complexity, as school leaders must balance multiple considerations and may experience blurred boundaries in terms of responsibility and decision-making. Many describe being subject to steering from multiple directions simultaneously.

Norwegian school leaders therefore operate within a landscape of parallel expectations and considerable complexity.

By comparison, Swedish school leaders’ autonomy in quality work develops within a system characterised by clearer expectations, formal hierarchies, and strong individual accountability. Swedish principals have a clearly defined individual leadership responsibility and operate to a lesser extent within a relationally complex landscape comparable to that of their Norwegian counterparts. This clarity of responsibility provides predictability and a more clearly defined form of individual autonomy, but may at the same time limit shared forms of leadership and broad involvement, and make quality work a task that the principal increasingly manages alone. When the principal carries the primary responsibility single-handedly, everyday professional life may also be experiences as more “lonely”.

The dissertation demonstrates the need for a nuanced understanding of school leaders’ autonomy in quality work. Autonomy must be understood as a process and viewed in relation to political objectives, governance logics, and practical patterns of collaboration. In Norway this means that shared leadership, often highlighted as a positive and inclusive model, also requires clear demarcations of responsibility and effective coordination in order to avoid ambiguity and excessive accountability pressure. In Sweden, the findings suggest that strong hierarchical structures, while providing clear frameworks for responsibility, may simultaneously reduce opportunities for collective development and the sharing of leadership tasks.

A mutual implication is that professional capacity, both individual and collective, is crucial for managing the expectations that arise from different governance logics. School leaders’ autonomy is strengthened when leaders are able to exercise professional judgement within a system that simultaneously provides support, clear frameworks, and realistic expectations.