About the project
The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge about educational leadership in disruptive times and how school professionals experience and deal with disruptiveness such as crisis and major challenges. The study has a case study methodology with a qualitative research design that includes both literature review, interviews and document analysis as methods. The case in this project is defined as educational leadership in times of disruption and the case units are schools and municipalities.
Aims
The intent of this project is to contribute to knowledge about the implications of educational leadership and governance in disruptive times and crisis in a Norwegian context. The aim is to contribute with both empirical and theoretical knowledge about how school actors, such as principals, middle level leaders, teachers and local authorities prepare for, experience and handle crisis. The aim is also to identify implications for future educational leadership research which includes a contribution to an international field of research.
Research questions and method
The main research question of the study is: How do school professionals in a Norwegian education context deal with crisis?
Subsidiary research questions:
- How is school leadership, disruption and crisis defined and what experiences and challenges are described in educational leadership research?
- How do school professionals define and experience crisis in general and as a part of their work?
- How do school professionals prepare for and deal with crisis?
The project is divided into three phases, phase one is a literature review of peer reviewed research articles about school leadership and crisis. The second and third phase is a case study of three municipalities where school actors will be interviewed and local management documents, notes and evaluations will be analyzed.