School Management: Norwegian Legacies Bowing to New Public Management

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relevance of school management training programmes to current Norwegian education policies and strategies. A specific question was asked: How relevant is the teaching professors’ understanding of school management competence? The findings indicate a split understanding of policy relevant understanding of school management. A majority of respondents had an understanding of school management coherent with the national policies and strategies. A minority did not. They saw the headmaster primarily as a communicative facilitator for teachers’ work, and an ‘administrative caretaker’. In an international perspective the findings represent a Norwegian particularity. There is a collision between Norwegian anti-management legacies of running schools and the Government’s need for effective and accountable management. This may imply a slower speed of implementing educational reforms in Norway.