Processer och motorer i lokalt skolförbättringsarbete

In the last decades there has been a growing interest in studying processes in improvement work. A particular interest has been the improvement process that the organisation undergoes and why events evolve in the way they do. By better understanding improvement processes and identifying supporting and hindering forces, the possibilities successfully to plan and implement improvement work in a systematic way increases. The focus of this thesis is organisation processes in schools and the relations that hold between planned and emergent improvement, when using a research-based strategy. The aim of the study is to describe and understand how processes are initiated, developed and completed when using a strategy called ‘Scope for Action Model’(frirumsstrategin).

The empirical material of the study was organised and analysed according to Van de Ven’s and Poole’s four ideal types for process studies. Within each type, motors have been identified, which contain generative mechanisms that are a key to how actions, events and activities emerge and are driven forward.

The results of the study show that the emergent initiatives are more frequent than the planned ones and that they are more likely to generate an improvement – in the study defined as something new in the organisation. However, on several occasions the planned improvement work inspires emergent initiatives for improvement and in some cases seems to be a fundamental condition for their existence. The different motors, which in the analysis are seen as driving forces, support or challenge each other, making the process develop and produce a result.

The study shows that the participants reshape the strategy to make it fit into the organisation of the school. The results also show that teachers and principals have to be well-informed of how to work with a strategy in a practical and constructive way. They have to be able to translate crucial moments in the strategy to stimulate the participants to creative actions. The strategy for school improvement is not shown to be a solution which itself can create improvement, but in combination with the participant’s creative goal settings it can be a contributory factor.