A study of Finnish and Estonian principals’ perceptions of strategies that foster teacher involvement in school development

ABSTRACT

Our study focused on the leadership strategies of Estonian and Finnish principals aimed at encouraging teachers to participate in school development. We also looked at context-bound factors that form the framework within which principals discuss their work regarding (1) creating a shared vision, (2) implementing shared leadership practices, (3) fostering a collaborative school culture, and (4) supporting teachers’ development and recognizing teachers’ work. We interviewed five principals from each country and used directed content analysis to examine the data. According to the findings, most of the principals had experienced challenges when involving teachers in school development. This seems to be connected to the high levels of professional autonomy prevalent in both countries that is built on a long tradition of understanding autonomy as an individual property of a teacher rather than seeing it in relation to the autonomy provided to an organization. Regarding the aims set for education, Finnish principals emphasized the implementation of the national curriculum and local coherence, whereas principals in Estonia were keener to respond to the expectations set for schools to stand out based on their educational innovations, and this implies a higher level of competitiveness among the schools in Estonia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eve Eisenschmidt

Eve Eisenschmidt is a professor of educational leadership at the School of Educational Sciences at Tallinn University. Her area of research is teachers’ professional development, school development and leadership.

Raisa Ahtiainen

Raisa Ahtiainen, PhD (Ed.), is a postdoctoral researcher and principal investigator (PI) at the Centre for Educational Assessment (CEA) and the Leadership in Educational Contexts research and training group (LeadEd) at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. In her research, she focuses on educational change, school development, and leadership in education.

Berit Silvia Kondratjev

Berit Silvia Kondratjev is is a member of the School Development Team in Tallinn University Center of Educational Innovation. Her area of research is leadership and development in early childhood and general education institutions.

Reet Sillavee

Reet Sillavee is a member of the School Development Team in Tallinn University Center of Educational Innovation. Her area of research is school leadership, leaders´ empowering behaviour.