Abstract
Bridging curriculum research with educational leadership, we examined
the 2014 Finnish curriculum reform compilation and enactment process
through the lens of distributed leadership.
As a tool for the examination, we used the resource–agency duality
model of distributed leadership. It explicates how organizational members create resources and enact agency to achieve organizational and
individual goals. This mixed-methods study had three phases. First, we
conducted document analysis to position the 2014 curriculum in a series
of curriculum reforms. Second, we analyzed how distributed leadership
was interpreted and incorporated in the goals and instructions of the
2014 national core curriculum document. Finally, we surveyed 21 key
actors for their insights of distributed leadership in the curriculum compilation and enactment process.
The findings revealed a trend of deepening and expanding distributed
leadership in curriculum work over the past decades. This trend mirrored
the general societal development in Finland. The 2014 curriculum explicated goals and instructions to use distributed leadership for inclusion,
multidisciplinary learning, student-centred assessment and operational
culture. The key actors regarded the leadership for the 2014 curriculum
work as distributive which enabled resource creation and agentic participation on both national and local levels.
the 2014 Finnish curriculum reform compilation and enactment process
through the lens of distributed leadership.
As a tool for the examination, we used the resource–agency duality
model of distributed leadership. It explicates how organizational members create resources and enact agency to achieve organizational and
individual goals. This mixed-methods study had three phases. First, we
conducted document analysis to position the 2014 curriculum in a series
of curriculum reforms. Second, we analyzed how distributed leadership
was interpreted and incorporated in the goals and instructions of the
2014 national core curriculum document. Finally, we surveyed 21 key
actors for their insights of distributed leadership in the curriculum compilation and enactment process.
The findings revealed a trend of deepening and expanding distributed
leadership in curriculum work over the past decades. This trend mirrored
the general societal development in Finland. The 2014 curriculum explicated goals and instructions to use distributed leadership for inclusion,
multidisciplinary learning, student-centred assessment and operational
culture. The key actors regarded the leadership for the 2014 curriculum
work as distributive which enabled resource creation and agentic participation on both national and local levels.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) |
| Place of Publication | Bolzano |
| Publication status | Unpublished - 5 Sept 2018 |