Introduction

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides multiple lenses to view school governance practices in eleven countries and economies across four continents: Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. It addresses the fundamentals of school governance today’s globalized and complex world. The book explores and examines the relationship among those trends of change in globalization, education reform, and school governance. It emphasizes that the social contract is a combination of hard and soft governance of loose and tight coupling between national and local authorities and institutions. The book explains and exhibits the logic behind Swedish educational policy and its changing school management practices connected to digital education. It explores a large body of research literature and government policy documents spanning two decades to build her claims with solid supporting evidence.