Tillid, frihed og ledelse i en skolekontekst

Abstract

Note: This master thesis is about trust, freedom and leadership in public schools. It is based on a case study in a Danish public school and analysis of written government material. The thesis is based on the hypothesis that the teachers have no confidence in neither the local leadership nor the municipality or government. In 2013 there was a great conflict between The Danish Union of Teachers (Danmarks Lærerforening, DLF) the Danish government and Local Government Denmark (Kommunernes Landsforening, KL). The conflict was rooted in different opinions on manage the teachers’ working hours and to where and when they had to be working. In the summer of 2013 the government adopted a law on the working rules (lov 409) for teachers, and on top of that they adopted a reform of the public schools. The teachers’ union took no part in neither preparation of lov 409 nor the decision on the reform of the public schools. Through interviews with teachers at a public school, the thesis investigates the teachers’ view on trust, freedom and leadership in this particular public school in 2017. Moreover the thesis explores thoughts of KL and DLF on the way the teachers should be working and if they can be trusted as they are expressed in written materials by KL, the Minister of Education and DLF. The interviews and the analysis of the written materials have been done based on theory on governmentality. In the analysis this thesis primarily uses theories that are based on a relational approach to management and has through this perspective been able to characterize the teachers’ understanding as added value to the theoretical terms and concepts. Through this exploration and analysis, the thesis find that KL, DLF and the government have three different approaches to the Danish teachers. Moreover, the thesis find that the teachers trust the local management, but still lack trust in KL and the Danish government.