MOLiS – co-creative leadership in schools

The background to the project is that a school area in Halmstad municipality has expanded from two to four schools, which has led to a strengthened management team with two principals and an assistant principal. Two schools have previous experience with participatory leadership, while this is new for the other two. The area is now in a development phase where leadership needs to be developed in order to create a common direction and at the same time strengthen each school’s unique identity within the framework of the “1 school – 4 schools” initiative. The project explores when it is best to develop the business as one unit (1 school) and when as four separate units (4 schools). All schools and their teaching staff participate voluntarily in the project. The schools involved are Lyngåkraskolan, Haverdals byskola, Kvibilleskolan and Steningeskolan in Halmstad municipality.

The following research questions guide the project:

1. What is shown in the activity of principals and the teaching staff in the work towards a co-creation-oriented leadership and how is this reflected in their actions?
2. How can a process towards the development of a co-creation-oriented way of working take place through a collaboration between principals, teaching staff and researchers?
3. What characterises a co-creation-oriented way of working in regards to the headmaster’s and teaching staff level?
   

Co-creation-oriented leadership

Co-creation-oriented leadership is an umbrella term for organising work in a learning organisation with a focus on teaching and learning. In the project, this means leadership on two levels – principal and pedagogical staff level. It is a transdisciplinary way of working that can be applied at several levels and subject areas. In step with a more complex society, the view of school leadership has shifted towards co-creation-oriented leadership, where groups work together to create a culture based on trust rather than rules. Research shows that a strong organisation has several leaders at different levels and that co-creation-oriented leadership engages everyone in the organisation.

The practical project

In the project, we use process laboratories, a method where the participants design the content based on their activities. Process laboratories aim to transform existing ways of working and create innovation through collective work and reflection. They support the participants’ expansive learning and co-creative leadership. The process laboratories function as a dynamic platform where practice and research meet to challenge and enrich each other. This promotes practice development, creates new knowledge and new ways of working and strengthens the participants’ learning, which affects the business as a whole.

The research project is led by Eva Brooks, PhD and visiting professor in digital learning and is carried out together with Emma Edstrand, PhD of Educational Sciences. In addition to the researchers, the project group also includes two principals, an assistant principal and 10 groups of teaching staff from Lyngåkraskolan, Haverdals byskola, Kvibilleskolan and Steningeskolan (Halmstad municipality). The collaborative project is carried out within the framework of the national project Education, Learning and Research (ULF).