Dan Roger Sträng Østfold University College Norway Education, Research & Development 5th International Conference 4–8 September 2014 Elenite Holiday Village, Bulgaria www.sciencebg.net

1. Education, Research & Development
5th International Conference
4–8 September 2014
Elenite Holiday Village, Bulgaria
A POLYPHONIC REANALYSIS INSTRUMENT
FOR UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL CULTURES
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG
ØSTFOLD UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
NORWAY

2.  School cultures
 An ecological
explanatory
model
 School
development
 Scope for action
strategy
(Berg, 2003)
 A polyphonic
instrument for the
reanalysis of
school cultures
1. INTRODUCTION
2
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

3. • Volunteer members
of a group, which
may not always
coincide with
individual interests
(Hofstede, et.al. 2010)
• Acting primarily
according to own
interest
SCHOOL CULTURES
INDIVIDUALIST COLLECTIVIST
3
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

4. SCHOOL CULTURES
,
”
Commonly described phenomenas are
often accultured
(Anderson and Schlunke, 2008)

5. • Culture is just
another term for the
mental software that
every human being
carries within their
patterns of thinking,
feeling and potential
acting
MENTAL SOFTWARE
5
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

6. • Framework for
understanding the multiple
and interacting
determinants of behavior
• The interaction between
interlapping ecosystems will
have a significant effect on
individuals
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979)
AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL
6
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

7. • The interaction between
the defined school
culture and its
consequences
• For real development,
an increased focus on
school cultural subjects
is required
• A first step can be a
critical survey of the
existing cultures in
relation to the school´s
internal governance and
the degree of self-
renewal capacity
(Blossing, 2009)
SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
7
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

8. • The struggle for dominance
between representatives of
the individual and the
collective school culture
• The complex nature of
schooling, with expansion of
roles, responsibilities,
demands and expectations
CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
8
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

9. • Complex processes
may always conflict
and interact, and
thereby the
purposes, aims,
objectives and goals
will be visible
(Hodgkinson, 1996)
• How to reconcile the
organization´s
nomothetic and
idiographic
aspirations and
structures
A MAIN QUESTION
9
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

10. • School activities must be seen
in relation to the complexity
and widespread confusion that
characterize schools as
organizations
• Activities within the individual
school becomes visible in the
juncture between state legality
and social legitimacy
(Berg, 2003)
•
• To reflect on this
concept is similar to
reflect on schools,
both as local
organizations and as
a public institution
3. SCOPE FOR ACTION
10
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

11. SCOPE FOR ACTION
Oppdrag
Enkelte
lLeadersL
Outnyttet SCOPE FOR ACTION for utvikling og endring
11
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

12. • Explain and designate
the dialogical
interaction between
actors
• Investigate the presence
of an individualist or
collectivist oriented
school culture
A way of identifying
and understanding the
underlying
mechanisms of existing
phenomenas
(Ackroyd, 2009)
4. POLYPHONIC REANALYSIS
12
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

13. MICRO LEVEL
THE REAL SCOPE FOR ACTION
13
PHD Dan Roger Sträng, Østfold University
College, Norway

14. • A series of cultural
analyzes of pupils in
primary schools
5. EMPIRICAL TESTING
14
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

15. Looking for common
denominators among
schoolchildren (<14)
conveying their own
experiences of school
actors behaviour at
different levels in the
organization
THE AIM OF THE STUDY
15
• The aim of the cultural
analyses was to
maintain a broader
understanding of
everyday life in school
from schoolchildren´s
perspective
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

16. • The youngest pupils focus on
weaknesses in the school´s
internal and external work,
concerning facilities,
equipment and educational
applicability
• In eight grade there are
subcultures of small groups,
with different opinions
• Everyday work for pupils of
the sixth grade appear to be
more complex than for the
comrades in the lower ages
• Pupils´ culture is not similar
to teaching culture
EXCERPTS FROM THE EMPIRICAL DATA
16
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

17. • To manage a school
organization from a
culturalist perspective
requires a different
approach than the
traditional instrumental
or pragmatic way of
governance and
management.
• To understand the
complexity of schools we
need to learn about values
and motives in different
contexts
• Formal –informal
• Organizational –
institutional
• Idiographic – nomothetic
• Individualist - collectivist
6. CONCLUDING REMARKS
17
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

18. • The polyphonic
reanalysis may help
learning to navigate
among institutional and
organizational
dilemmas, by clarifying
at what level conflicts
are located, and which
actors are involved
LEARNING TO NAVIGATE
18
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY

19. 19
Thank
you!
PHD DAN ROGER STRÄNG, ØSTFOLD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NORWAY