Skole-hjem-samarbejdet i et værdi- ogorganisationsperspektiv

Abstract

In this Master thesis I have chosen to examine the relation between the parents and the school in the Danish public school. A relationship, which is often described as difficult and potentially filled with conflicts – but does it have to be this way?
Therefore I want to examine the school principals’ view on values and organizations, and how that influences on the strategic work in connection to the parent-school cooperation. This, as well as the subjective positions the principals, teachers and parents can undertake.
I have interviewed three school principals on how they work with the parent-school cooperation. Through an explorative and inductive approach to the empirical material I have worked systematically with the methodology Grounded Theory. Through the principles in Grounded Theory I have extracted codes from the data. The codes have then been turned into concepts and then put into the analysis.
The concepts have been analyzed by using Torben Beck Jørgensens theory on public values. TBJ’s theory has also been used to analyze which values appear in the school principals’ organizations and by the principals themselves. My main interest is the value which appears in the connection between the school and the parents. Simultaneously I am curious to find out which public values the parent-school cooperation should contribute with in the relation to the school, and how the values will reflect on the principals’ choices.
I have also used M. Salamon’s theory on the three organizational theoretical paradigms to analyze the principals’ view on their organization. The three organizational theoretical paradigms describe organizations by using what characterize the organization in the paradigm, and which actions are allowed and legitimized. Bohni’s text links the three paradigms to the understanding of resistance and explains how it is understood in each of them.
In my analysis, I have used Salamons theory to find out which paradigm emerges with the principals’ view. Bohni’s text has been used to analyze how the principals meet and manage the resistance, from the parents.
Through my analysis I have discovered that there are different values that emerge from the school principals and that they affect on the strategic work. I have also discovered that the principals’ view on their organization is different from each other and therefore different paradigms emerge. The different paradigms set different demands on how aligned etc. the organization needs to be. Do the individuals need to work toward a common goal or is it more fluent and loose.