School autonomy, leadership and student achievement: reflections from Finland
International Journal of Educational Management
ISSN: 0951-354X
Article publication date: 12 September 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide national information on school autonomy, leadership and student achievements in Finland.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a literature review on Finnish studies focusing on school autonomy, leadership and student achievement. The studies have been reviewed on the basis of a content analysis.
Findings
There exists a shortage of studies connecting school leadership to student achievements. School leadership in Finland has been investigated in previous research, especially from the perspective of shared or pedagogical leadership, but vast majority of the studies have focused on teachers and educational staff, not directly on students. An evident reason for this is inaccessible information on school-based data and the nature of education being a “public good”, which is supposed to meet the same standards across the country.
Originality/value
This review will provide the international audience a deeper understanding in the school autonomy and leadership development in Finland.
Keywords
Citation
Saarivirta, T. and Kumpulainen, K. (2016), "School autonomy, leadership and student achievement: reflections from Finland", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 30 No. 7, pp. 1268-1278. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-10-2015-0146
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited