Curriculum and Leadership in Transnational Reform Policy: A Discursive-Institutionalist Approach

Abstract

Educational leadership research has in general focused on organizational conditions and expectations for managing and leading activities (Leithwood et al. 1994, pp. 38–61; Spillane and Healey 2010; Møller 2006, pp. 53–69) in parallel curriculum theories have offered insights into substantial societal problems that must be addressed in school and society (Hopmann 1999, pp. 89–105; Westbury 2000, pp. 15–54). This chapter presents a study in which we link curriculum theory both to discursive institutionalism and educational leadership policy and research findings. By including discursive institutionalism (Schmidt 2012) within a framework of curriculum theory, it is possible to distinguish between different forms of discourses and their functions in forming and conveying ideas. Thus, we explore educational leadership policy using a reflexive approach to reforms as intertwined with public discourses and research. A transnational perspective on leadership confirms the applicability of reforms across geographical territories, relating to wider societal and cultural contexts. Following an institutional-discursive approach, we argue that the ways in which social and educational questions become intertwined in actual reforms are dependent on cognitive and normative ideas in the public sphere. Thus, reforms to education leadership are related to coordinative and communicative discourses beyond the individual reform, while solutions to curriculum and leadership problems are anchored in educational policies and practices. Against this background, we argue that a deeper understanding of the meaning of educational leadership discourse and the conditions under which such a discourse is conducted is crucial.