Förändringsprocesser i förskola och skola belyst genom ett implementeringsperspektiv

The aim of the study is to investigate how a new evaluation tool, Evaluation Tool for Accessible Education (Värderingsverktyg för tilgänglig utbildning), which aims to make kindergarten and school learning environments more accessible to more people, was implemented in a Swedish municipality. The authors investigate the implementation at two levels: 1) at the decision-making level in the municipal administration, focusing on how the municipal steering group staged the work on change, and 2) at the level of implementation in a kindergarten and a primary and lower secondary school, where focus is placed on how the evaluation tool is perceived and used. The study also sheds light on how actors at the two levels talk about the evaluation tool, and how occurrences at different levels affect each other. The research questions are: a) How is the work on change staged regarding increased accessibility at the decision-making level? b) How is the evaluation tool perceived and used at the implementation level? c) How did occurrences at the different levels affect each other?

The results show that implementing a new concept is a complex and unpredictable process. In the case investigated in this study, the implementation process was hindered by discrepancies regarding where the two levels actually were in the process. The authors believe that there must be an understanding that the levels involved in an implementation process are associated with each other, where occurrences at the different levels affect each other. They emphasise that dialogue within and between the levels, both before and during the implementation process, is essential if the changes are to be sustainable. 

The empirical data consists of interviews, focus group discussions and observations of representatives from the different levels in the implementation process. The observation in school and kindergarten was non-participatory, while the researchers took on a more active role in the municipal steering group. Focus group discussions were conducted with the educators at the implementation level where the topic was about how they experienced working with the new evaluation tool. Members of the steering group, the headteacher and the kindergarten coordinator were interviewed about the implementation process. 

Nisser, D. A. & Olsson, M. (2018). «Förändringsprocesser i förskola och skola belyst genom ett implementeringsperspektiv». Utbildning & Lärande, (12)2:77-94.