Elisabet Nihlfors and Olof Johansson

1. The Superintendent in the Policy Stream
This symposium will present how school superintendent in different parts of the world address the challenges that increased demands for accountability and improve student outcomes put on all superintendents. The policy stream has in most western countries grown into a hurricane of accountability and that have changed the function of superintendent into more of a control than support function in the local school district.

Prof. Olof Johansson, Umeå university, Sweden; Prof. Lejf Moos, The Danish school of education, Aarhus University Denmark; Professor Elisabet Nihlfors, Uppsala university, Sweden; Prof. Jan Merok Paulsen, Hedmark university college Norway and Ass. Prof  Mika Risku & Prof. Pekka  Kanervio  University of Jyväskylä Finland.

2. The Nordic educational system – politics and administration working together?
In this session we will report from a Nordic project which study the educational system on many different levels. The symposium will report from Norway, Finland, Danmark and Sweden. We will argue that that there are a Nordic model but we will also display great difference between the countries. We will compare roles and functions and the efficiency of the systems and give plausible explanations to difference in system as well as student performance.

Prof. Olof Johansson, Umeå university, Sweden; Prof. Lejf Moos, The Danish school of education, Aarhus University Denmark; Professor Elisabet Nihlfors, Uppsala university, Sweden; Prof. Jan Merok Paulsen, Hedmark university college Norway and Ass. Prof  Mika Risku & Prof. Pekka  Kanervio  University of Jyväskylä Finland.

Elisabet Nihlfors, adj.professor at Umeå university and a meeber of the research unit STEP at Uppsala university (Studies in Educational Policy and Educational Philosophy). Her main research interest is governance of schools and leadership. She is also Secretary General Educational Sciences at the Swedish Research Council.

Olof Johansson is professor of Political Science, Head of Department and Director of the National Head Teachers Training Programme at Umeå University, Sweden. He is also an International Associate of the Centre for the Study of Values and Leadership and a member of the Board of Governors of the UCEA: Willower Centre for the Study of Leadership and Ethics located at Penn State University in USA. For the past few years, the focus of Dr. Olof Johansson’s research interest has been on educational leadership.

Publications by Olof Johansson>>
The Successful School Leadership Project (SSLP)>>