26. Educational Leadership
Paper
Implementing a Christian Education Ethos Vision: Perspectives of School Leaders and Pupils in Two Schools and Implications for Practice
Caroline Thomas
Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Thomas, Caroline
This presentation draws on a study of school leaders' experiences of Christian education ethos development. The research provided insights into the complexities of headteacher leadership within schools with a Christian character. I discuss these complexities and make recommendations for school leaders seeking to develop a school Christian education ethos in a culturally and religiously diverse modern Europe. I outline a practical methodology that school leaders can adapt to investigate the influence of their vision and espoused values on pupils' school experiences in all schools, with or without Christian character. This methodology promotes the pupil voice and can provide valuable insights into their sense of belonging within their school communities.
The research comprised two studies in England. The first focused on the leadership experiences of a new secondary headteacher in a recently opened Christian Free School. The second focused on a long-serving primary Church Academy headteacher. Using creative data-collection methods, I elicited a small group of pupils' views of their education within the school's ethos. The research stemmed from my interest in leaders' development of education ethos as a former headteacher of two primary schools.
A review of the literature on 'ethos' indicated that 'ethos' was difficult to recognise, define and measure in the context of schools. I developed a working definition of 'ethos' building on McLaughlin's (2005) conception of education ethos as an identifiable entity which defines the school's climate or character. My definition of education ethos represented what members of the school community stood for, its value system, its practices, and the purposes of education. Ethos represented the nature of the interactions between community members. I distinguished between education ethos as an aspirational entity sought by leaders and an entity experienced by community members (McLaughlin, 2005). I was interested in the intended and experienced education ethos within Christian education.
In England, the economy, marketisation of schooling and international comparison of schools in England with those in other countries using international league tables placed school leaders under increased pressure to achieve excellence in all aspects of the school's work. Although there has been a global focus on standards for economic competitiveness, there has been agreement on the importance of leaders creating positive school ethos. Since 2010, successive Conservative governments have focused on furthering headteachers' leadership autonomy and enhancing parents' choice of schooling. Autonomy concerns the extent to which those at lower levels of the system can make decisions independently of those at higher levels.
Policy initiatives have emphasised the creation of academies and Free Schools. These schools can give leaders greater autonomy over education, facilitating ethos development and introducing innovative curriculum design and teaching approaches. However, there was a risk that the ongoing demands of statutory school inspections and public examinations stifled such innovation. An issue was how externally imposed accountability frameworks limited school leaders' autonomy (Forrester and Gunter, 2009; Fink, 2010). Leaders seeking to develop innovative educational practices in the research schools needed to feel they possessed the capacity, confidence, and freedom to exercise autonomy. Headteachers had to decide how much they should comply with externally enforced accountability criteria.
The Church of England and Catholic Churches articulated an agenda which defined what was meant by Christian distinctiveness. Changes to the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) reflected the Church of England's agenda for excellence in Christian education. A distinctively Christian ethos based on Christian values was important. Leaders faced challenges in conveying the meaning and importance of the school's Christian values to the school community. They should enable pupils' holistic development, including academic achievement.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedI used an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009). Data collection methods provided detailed first-person accounts of leaders' experiences in developing Christian education ethos and pupils' experiences of that ethos. In IPA, the researcher makes sense of participants' interpretations of their experiences by bringing their unique lens to the encounter. I used my leadership and teaching experience to inform the research design, negotiate access to the research participants, and build leaders' trust in the research process. I delved beyond surface-level school policy responses using semi-structured interviews to gain leaders' honest thoughts and feelings about their leadership experiences. I interviewed fifteen leaders across three schools, which included a pilot study school, the headteachers, deputy headteachers, teacher leaders, and the chair of the governing body of each school.
Ethical considerations were necessary at all stages of the research process. My insights as a former headteacher added credibility to my interpretations of participants' perspectives. Nonetheless, I sought to take a reflexive stance to ensure I critiqued my influence on the research process and the findings.
I developed inclusive data collection methods to maximise pupils' engagement with the research and gain insight into how they experienced school leaders' attempts at establishing a distinct school education ethos. Pupils completed three draw-and-write tasks and one photo-elicitation task. They considered what it was like to be a pupil at their school, what made their school special, and what they would like to achieve to make their school proud of them. The photo-elicitation task invited them to photograph what they valued about their school and analyse their data to rank the aspects they appreciated most. The tasks enabled pupils aged five years and over to discuss their education confidently. I spent time in school observing the interactions between community members to promote an understanding of the research context. I worked with sixteen pupils across the three schools.
The data analysis entailed identifying inductive themes for each participant, followed by themes across each leadership and pupil group. I interpreted participants' experiences using Bronfenbrenner's (2005) Person-Process-Context-Time model of human development, Wenger's (1998) view of learning as experience in communities of practice and Lukes' (2005) dimensions of power. I focus on using Lukes' (2005) dimensions of power, which offered a comprehensive approach to analysing how leaders exercise power over individuals or groups.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe findings indicated both headteachers experienced tensions in developing a Christian education ethos because external pressures limited their autonomy. The headteachers' values were crucial in defining the vision for their schools' education ethos, but both encountered challenges in their deployment depending on their circumstances and contexts. The headteachers strived to provide an excellent education within the broader educational context. Both headteachers perceived themselves accountable for their school's success in the educational marketplace. The Free School headteacher faced challenges from the governing body when negotiating a vision focused on excellence, justice and learning in a Christian manner (Astley, 1994). By contrast, the governing body's vision focused on Christian nurture and education about Christianity. The Academy headteacher experienced challenges in his conceptions of Church education from the SIAMS inspector, who ultimately realigned his approach to education ethos development.
By comparing the data sets of leaders with pupils, I found congruence between the headteachers' intended school ethos and the pupils' experienced ethos. Despite the headteachers experiencing internal struggles with their leadership identity, the pupils' data indicated they understood the headteachers' values. These values helped them appreciate what their schools stood for and their expectations. It led to a powerful sense of belonging. This sense of belonging was about them experiencing comfort in being who they were and feeling emotionally and physically safe (Riley, 2017).
Lukes' (2005) dimensions of power helped understand how leaders used power to develop and implement their Christian ethos vision. Ideological power, Lukes's third dimension, was significant in understanding how leaders built relational trust amongst pupils and embedded school values. Headteachers needed to monitor changes in the school's context, including the community members' concerns and value positions and maintain the trust–power relationship within a range of policy constraints.
ReferencesAstley, J. (1994) The Philosophy of Christian Religious Education. Birmingham: Religious Education Press.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005) Making Human Beings Human. London: Sage.
Fink, D. (2010) The Succession Challenge: Building and Sustaining Leadership Capacity Through Succession Management. London: Sage.
Forrester, G., and Gunter, H. (2009) 'School leader: meeting the challenge of change' in Chapman, C., and Gunter, H. (eds.) Radical Reforms: Perspectives on an Era of Educational Change. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Glover, D. and Coleman, M. (2005) 'School culture, climate and ethos: interchangeable or distinctive concepts?', Journal of In-Service Education, 31(2), pp.251-271.
Lukes, S. (2005) Power: A Radical View (2nd ed.). Basingstoke. Palgrave Macmillan.
McLaughlin, T. (2005) 'The Educative Importance of Ethos', British Journal of Educational Studies, 53(3), 306-325.
Riley, K. (2017) Place, Belonging and School Leadership. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Smith, J.A., Flowers, P. and Larkin, M. (2009) Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Theory, Method and Research. London: Sage.
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26. Educational Leadership
Paper
Religious Education in Diverse Contexts: School Leaders’ Understanding of Religious Diversity and Interconnections between Non-formal and Formal Religious Education
Thor-André Skrefsrud1, Marianne Hustvedt2, Ole Kolbjørn Kjørven1, Hildegunn Valen Kleive2
1Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences; 2Volda University College
Presenting Author: Hustvedt, Marianne;
Kjørven, Ole Kolbjørn
Across the European context, the subject of religious education (RE) is seen increasingly as an important tool with which schools may enhance students’ sense of identity, promote intercultural understanding, and raise awareness of issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (Jackson, 2014; Weisse, 2010). Acknowledging that religious beliefs and practices are essential dimensions of diversity in a pluralistic society, educators working with RE are given the responsibility to teach skills and knowledge that are vital for living together in diverse communities. In RE classrooms, students get to learn about a variety of religions and worldviews. As such, RE is seen to provide a space in which students are given the opportunity to reflect on existential and ontological questions and enhance their understanding of the beliefs and perspectives of people whose worldviews and values differ from their own (Bråten, 2015; Engen, 2018; Reiss, 2016). For that reason, although many countries still practice confessional RE in public schools (Kuyk et al., 2007), there is a trend and also recommendations towards inclusive and non-confessional RE in public schools in Europe, such as the Norwegian non-confessional RE subject (see also Jackson, 2014).
Simultaneously, many students in public schools attend non-formal faith education programs of religious minorities in their spare time, often run by local religious communities. Most participants in these programs are children and youth with immigrant backgrounds. So-called “Quran schools” (Moore, 2012) are probably the most well-known example of such education programs, although most minority faith communities have their equivalents, such as Catholic catechesis. Yet, this type of education has received modest attention in research, despite the politicization of migration-related diversity, particularly religious diversity, across Europe (Alba & Foner, 2017; Connor, 2014; Schweitzer et al., 2019). In particular, there is a gap in research and understanding about the interface between faith community and public school religious education, not least with regard to how schools accommodate for and address the phenomenon of students’ dual experience of RE.
On this background, the proposal at hand investigates how school leaders in urban and rural parts of Norway view the interconnections between formal RE in public schools, and non-formal religious education in local faith communities, mapping views on religious diversity, students’ leisure activities, exposure to and experiences with local religious communities. The paper aims to answer the following research question: How do school leaders in public schools in Norway understand religious diversity, and how do they reflect upon the phenomenon of non-formal faith education?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe study has a qualitative research approach with a phenomenological perspective. Data for this paper has been collected as part of the project Non-formal faith education, the public school, and religious minorities in Norway (FAITHED), funded by the Research Council of Norway. During 2022 and early spring 2023 we conducted semi-structured interviews with school leaders in eight schools with a diverse student population (four primary, four lower secondary) (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015). Four of the schools are located in a highly diverse urban context, while four of the schools are situated in a rural area.
The interviews were conducted by the researchers, working in pairs in the urban and rural contexts respectively. All interviews were transcribed and coded by our research team, using NVivo software for analyzing the transcripts. The analysis of the data material follows Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-step thematic analysis.
The interviews of school leaders are part of a larger data collection that also includes observations, interviews with teachers, and analysis of student assignments. As part of the larger FAITHED project, data has also been collected in Catholic and Muslim faith communities. This broadens the perspective and gives us an opportunity to discuss our findings from different angles.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsOur results show that the informants report a widespread tolerance for religious diversity. In some cases, however, school leaders uttered skepticism towards exclusive truth claims and when religion becomes visible in social practices. They also reported critical attitudes amongst students towards certain religious traditions, such as Judaism and celebrations of for instance pride, which they reported as challenging issues to manage in everyday school situations.
In the interviews, intercultural events such as the United Nation Day was reported as important, but without linking these events of celebrating diversity to religion. Moreover, the RE subject was seen as an important arena for giving students intercultural competence to prepare them for interactions with people from diverse backgrounds. In some of the interviews, the informants recognized a tension between attitudes towards religious diversity within the school and the aims and intentions of the non-confessional RE subject.
We found that the informants knew about some faith education programs outside of school. However, they had limited specific knowledge about the content of these programs and how they potentially could relate to RE in the schools. While recognizing the value of students’ leisure time and expressing an ambition of connecting the curriculum to students’ lives outside of school, they were unsure about the relevance of utilizing knowledge and experiences from the faith programs in school.
ReferencesAlba, R., & Foner, N. (2017). Strangers no more: Immigration and the challenges of integration in North America and Western Europe. Princeton University Press.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101, https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (3rd ed.). Sage.
Bråten, O. M. H. (2015). Should there be wonder and awe? A three-dimensional and four-levelcomparative methodology used to discuss the “learning from” aspect of English and Norwegian RE. Nordidactica: Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education 5: 1–23.
Burner, T., Nodeland, T. S., & Aamaas, Å. (2018). Critical perspectives on perceptions and practices of diversity in education. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE),2(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.2188
Connor, P. (2014). Immigrant Faith: Patterns of Immigrant Religion in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. New York University Press.
Engen, T. O. (2018). KRL, inkludering og tilpasset opplæring. In E. Schjetne & T.-A. Skrefsrud (Eds.), Åvære lærer i en mangfoldig skole. Kulturelt og religiøst mangfold, profesjonsverdier og verdigrunnlag (pp. 196–217). Gyldendal.
Jackson, R. (2014). Signposts: Policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education. Council of Europe.
Kuyk, E., Jensen, R., Lankshear, D., Manna, E. l., & Schreiner, P. (Eds.). (2007). Religious education in Europe: Situation and current trends in schools. IKO.
Moore, L. C. (2012). Muslim Children’s Other School. Childhood Education, 88(5), 298-303.10.1080/00094056.2012.718243
Reiss, M. J. (2016). Teaching and Learning in Diverse and Inclusive Classrooms. In G. Richards & F.Armstrong (Eds.), Teaching and Learning in Diverse and Inclusive Classrooms: Key Issues for New Teachers (pp. 111–121). Routledge.
Rosowsky, A. (2008). Heavenly readings: Liturgical literacy in a multilingual setting. Multilingual Matters.
Schweitzer, F., Ilg, W., & Schreiner, P. (Eds.). (2019). Researching non-formal religious education in Europe. Münster: Waxmann.
Weisse, W. (2010). REDCo: A European research project on religion in education. Religion & Education, 37(3), 187-202. 10.1080/15507394l2010.513937.
26. Educational Leadership
Paper
Educational Management and Students’ Merit Values: An Understanding of the Diversified, Semi-functional School System
Katarina Ståhlkrantz, Stephan Rapp
Linnaeus University, Sweden
Presenting Author: Ståhlkrantz, Katarina;
Rapp, Stephan
In Sweden, as in many other countries all over the world, the question of equality is one of the most critical concerns. In the international policy discourse, there is a dissatisfaction with unequal educational opportunities for students. As a global trend, educational policies aiming to address the inequality in education emphasise global competiveness with a focus on comparative studies, such as OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, and greater accountability (Schultz, 2019).
All students must have access to education to achieve the best results possible. In the Swedish Education Act, education must be equivalent regardless of where in the country it is organised (SFS 2010:800). In an equivalent education, students are compensated according to their background and conditions, which means that each student receives the support required to achieve the school’s goals. The equivalence mission rests on every stalkeholder who is responsible for education.
Monitoring results is an important task for educational managers at the local school level. Portrayed as loosely coupled (Weick, 1976) and multi-leveled (Uljens, 2015), the school organisation is supposed to be rationally managed to effectively operate, holding every level accountable for students’ learning outcomes. The various levels in the school system can be illustrated as ‘webs of contracts’ (Wohlstetter et al., 2008), where local school agents, for example teachers, undertake actions on behalf of a principal (Gailmard, 2014). According to Ferris (1992), “the principal ‘contracts’ with the agents to act on the principal’s behalf” (p. 333). The contract further involves the delegation of discretion and decision-making authority to the agents (Soudry, 2007). In turn, the principal may make decisions that affect the actions agents take.
Drawing on the principal-agent theoretical framework, the aim of this study is to empirically examine the functionality of the local school system, particularly with respect to the contract of equal opportunities for all students to improve school results. The following research question has guided the study: How does the local school system function to uphold the contract of giving all students equal conditions for increased merit values?
The study is part of a research project in a Swedish municipality. Previous results from the project (Rapp, 2021; Ståhlkrantz & Rapp, 2022) show that the superintendent, as principal, prioritises the continuous improvement of academic outcomes. The superintendent emphasises that the main priority is for students to achieve high merit values. However, this priority is not supported by all agents in the school organisation. For example, one teacher considers that the students are too young to have to worry about their grades (Rapp, 2021). There are also school principals who prioritise students’ well-being over their academic outcomes (Ståhlkrantz & Rapp, 2022). These are examples of different beliefs and values (Robinson, 2017) that can exist on various levels in the school organisation.
As a multi-leveled governed system, there is a distribution of power among different system levels but also a dynamic relationship and interaction among various actors and their interdependency in the school organisation (Wilkoszewski & Sundby, 2016). To handle expectations and requirements from the principal, local school agents use adaptive strategies, such as bridging and buffering (DiPaola & Tschannen-Moran, 2005) and acting as gatekeepers (Ståhlkrantz & Rapp, 2022). When this occurs, the contract between principal and agents is broken, which makes it difficult or even impossible to realise the principal’s intentions. With the problems ecountered in a multi-leveled school organisation, the hypothesis of this study is that the picture of an ideal, well-functioning school organisation as a “governing chain” with “webs of contract” that aim to give students equal educational opportunities for optimal goalfullfilment may be better illustrated as a diversified, semi-functional school system.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedDespite being a small Swedish case study (Yin, 2009), this study is of international interest because it provides in-depth insights into how global education policies are translated to a local context. Empirical data were collected using a questionnaire and focus interviews (Cohen et al., 2018), with respondents consisting of local school administrators and primary school teachers. The school has a principal, three assistant principals, about 80 teachers, and more than 850 students (aged 6–16). All teachers were invited to answer a digital questionnaire with a total of 47 questions. The questions were, among other areas, about the school’s governance, cooperation and trust in the governing chain, knowledge results, and the demand for higher merit values. The response rate was 49%.
The municipality’s digital survey system was used to administer the survey. Before sending out the questionnaire, all respondents were informed of the purpose of the study. When the survey was distributed, they were informed that participation was voluntary and that answers would be kept anonymous (Vetenskapsrådet, 2017).
To deepen the understanding of the survey responses, three focus interviews were conducted with randomly selected teachers. A focus interview with the school’s principal and assistant principals was also conducted. The content of the focus group questions was based on the answers given in the questionnaires. Each interview took 60-90 minutes and was recorded. Before the focus interviews, the interviewees were informed that participation was voluntary and that the recorded interviews will be kept anonymous (Vetenskapsrådet, 2017).
In the analysis of the empirical materials, it was integral to identify the framework behind the functionality of the school organisation in upholding the contract of equal opportunities for all students to improve their learning outcomes. Since the principal-agent theory emphasises the responsiveness of the agent’s decisions to the principal’s goals, how this responsiveness is mediated by available actions, and institutional contextual factors, this framework is suitable for studying accountability in public education (Ferris, 1992; Gailmard, 2014). Within the principal-agent relationship, Wohlstetter et al. (2008) identified five key problems: (1) limited decision rights, (2) information asymmetry, (3) divergent objectives, (4) weak incentives, and (5) adverse selection. As a final step, these key problems were utilised as analytical tools to analyse empirical data.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe school is governed by national constitutions, which together with local educational priorities, form the contracts that agents are supposed to fulfill. This can be achieved in a diversified and multi-level system, where each level is responsible for its work. Following previous research on principal agency (Ståhlkrantz, 2022) and teacher agency (Bergh & Wahlström, 2018; Priestly et al., 2012), it is argued that school principals and teachers apply high levels of agency and discretion in their daily work. The principal-agent theory reveals that teachers, as agents, are in the best position to make decisions about education. Through incentives and regulations, the principal can ensure that agents responsibly fulfill their delegated role. However, if agents do not share the same beliefs and values as the principal, the former will not execute the activities requested.
A functional, tightly coupled system presupposes that local school agents undertake actions on behalf of the principal and that every level in the governing chain is acoountable for the students’ learning outcomes. Preliminary results of this study indicate various problems in the principal-agent relationship in the local school organisation.
In the ideal governing system, if the result is not good enough, accountability can be demanded. However, this ideal image is not consistent with the reality in education. At the local school level, no one in the governing chain is held accountable for improving students’ learning outcomes. Thus, the students themselves become responsible for their own merit values.
Teachers decide the learning content and manner of teaching. In other words, if teachers do not prioritise increased merit values, the principal has very limited options to manage the school organisation according to contracted objectives and values. As such, it might be more accurate to illustrate the school organisation as a semi-functional organisational system rather than a functional governing chain.
ReferencesBergh, A., & Wahlström, N. (2018). Conflicting goals of educational action: A study of teacher agency from a transactional realism perspective. The Curriculum Journal, 29(1), 134-149.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research Methods in Education (8th ed.). Routledge.
DiPaola, M. F., & Tschannen-Moran, M. (2005). Bridging or buffering? The impact of schools’ adaptive strategies on student achievement. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(1), 60–71.
Ferris, J. M. (1992). School-based decision making: A principal-agent perspective. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 14(4), 333-346.
Gailmard, S. (2014). Accountability and principal–agent theory. In M. Bovens, R. Goodin, & T. Schillemans, T. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of public accountability (pp. 90–105). Oxford University Press.
Priestly, M., Edwards, R., & Priestly, A. (2012). Teacher Agency in Curriculum Making: Agents of Change and Spaces for Manoeuvre. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(2), 191-214.
Rapp, S. (2021). Att leda elevers kunskapsutveckling. Styrkedjan och det pedagogiska ledarskapet [To lead students' knowledge development. The chain of command and educational leadership]. Gleerups.
Robinson, V. (2017). Reduce change to increase improvement. Corwin.
Schultz, K. (2019). Distrust and Educational Change: Overcoming Barriers to Just and Lasting Reform. Harvard Education Press.
SFS (2010:800). Skollagen. [Education Act].
Soudry, O. (2007). A principal-agent analysis of accountability in public procurement. Advancing public procurement: Practices, innovation and knowledge-sharing, 432-451.
Ståhlkrantz, K. (2022). Principal agency: Educational leadership at the intersection between past experiences and present environments. In N. Wahlström (Ed.). Equity, Teaching Practice and the Curriculum: Exploring Differences in Access to Knowledge (pp. 90–104). Routledge.
Ståhlkrantz, K. & Rapp, S. (2022). Leading for higher grades—balancing school leadership on the fine line between accountability and professional autonomy, International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-21.
Uljens, M. (2015). Curriculum work as educational leadership–Paradoxes and theoretical foundations. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 2015(1), 27010.
Vetenskapsrådet (2017). God forskningssed [Good research practice]. https://www.vr.se/download/18.2412c5311624176023d25b05/1529480532631/God-forskningssed_VR_2017.pdf.
Weick, K. E. (1976). Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21, 1-19.
Wilkoszewski, H., & Sundby, E. (2016). From Hard to Soft Governance in Multi‐level Education Systems. European Journal of Education, 51(4), 447-462.
Wohlstetter, P., Datnow, A., & Park, V. (2008). Creating a system for data-driven decision-making: Applying the principal-agent framework. School effectiveness and school improvement, 19(3), 239-259.
Yin, R. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE.
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