Nordic Superintendents: Agents in a Broken Chain

This book analyses the superintendent position and relations and shows how the well-known policy umbrella, the New Public Management (NPM), is being adapted to national contexts. School superintendents are civil servants at the heart of the governance of municipal education. Educational governance in the Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden - is currently undergoing comprehensive restructuring and reconceptualisation at the hands of national governments influenced by transnational agencies. Our analyses of the superintendent position and relations show that the well-known policy umbrella, the New Public Management (NPM), is moving towards focusing on soft governance and social technologies as the preferred means of influences. Thus we rename it New Public Governance (NPG).

1. Directions for our investigation of the chain of governance and the agents; Lejf Moos, Elisabet Nihlfors, Jan Merok Paulsen.- Part I: Country reports.- 2. Danish superintendents are players in multiple networks; Lejf Moos, Klaus Kasper Kofod, Ulf Brinkkjær.- 3. Finnish superintendents are striving with the the changing operational environment; Mika Risku, Pekka Kanervio, Seppo Pulkkinen.- 4. Norwegian superintendents are mediators in the governance chain; Jan Merok Paulsen, Hans Christian Høyer.- 5. Superintendents in Sweden – structures, culture relations and leadership; Olof Johansson, Elisabet Nihlfors, Linda Jervik Steen, Sara Karlsson.- Part II: Thematic Chapters.- 6. Democracy in complex networks - political leaders and administrative professionals; Lejf Moos, Olof Johansson, Jan Merok Paulsen, Mona Strand, Mika Risku.- 7. Superintendent Leadership in hierarchy and network; Jan Merok Paulsen, Elisabet Nihlfors, Ulf Brinkkjær, Mika Risku.- 8. Political cultures; Klaus Kasper Kofod, Olof Johansson, Jan Merok Paulsen, Mika Risku.- 9.  Competence and understanding in the governing chain; Elisabet Nihlfors, Hans Christian Høyer, Klaus Kasper Kofod, Mika Risku.- 10. Governmentality through translation and sense-making; Lejf Moos, Jan Merok Paulsen, Olof Johansson, Mika Risku.- 11. Tendencies and trends; Lejf Moos, Elisabet Nihlfors, Jan Merok Paulsen.