Example codes for the emerged categories
| Categories . | School 1 . | School 2 . | School 3 . |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leadership | I believe that one of the most important aspects of management is the strategic implementation of concepts, especially when significant time and resources are invested, as is the case when it involves the entire municipality. It’s essential to ensure these concepts are integrated into our current practices and systems effectively. (Principal) | Leading a large organization involves establishing structures and providing stability so that employees know what to expect and where they stand. (Principal) | In my daily role, personnel management plays a significant role. I directly oversee the leadership team, and I’m also closely involved in managing tasks with teachers and pedagogues. Educational leaders handle one-on-one discussions and department meetings, and I may join them when invited. So, my responsibilities encompass personnel management and strategic planning. (Principal) |
| Learning | We refer to them as educational theme meetings, held 10 times a year, and organized with the help of a committee. I have primarily taken the lead in structuring these meetings, with clear agendas, discussion topics, and occasional presentations (Member of the leadership team) Our understanding of learning: We aim for students to be engaged in their own learning process. Learning should be visible; learning should make sense (Document 1) | My starting point is to create stronger collaborative units where we collectively prioritize our professional approach. I want to emphasize that regardless of which teacher a student encounters, they receive the best possible education. It shouldn’t be a matter of luck whether they have Carl or Sofie as their teacher. (Principal) In our School, we place safety and companionship at the center so that we can fulfill our most important task: high-quality academic learning for all students. (Webpage) | The leader is indeed focused on a learning-oriented approach and strives to discuss the next best steps for students. However, we encounter a challenge as we have training tests starting as early as fifth grade, and now extending through seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, which goes against this approach. (Teacher) We have a practice where we frequently use various tests to assess student performance. Last year, we created an overview of these tests. Teachers input the results from tests taken in the spring into a form for each child, and certain values are color-coded as red, yellow, or green. During collaborative meetings, we don’t always delve deeply into individual students because our focus is on gaining a general overview and making broader decisions related to a class or transition (Member of the leadership team) |
| Culture | Traditions help bind the community together, whether it’s the spring concert or the soccer tournament. The large gatherings at our school before Christmas and by the pool before summer vacation are atmospheric highlights where we sing our school’s own song (Webpage) | It’s important for us to send a clear signal to both the ethnic Danish students and bilingual children that we prioritize Danish as the primary language in our school. However, there are situations where we find it necessary to use other languages to ensure effective communication. In such cases, we bring in interpreters if there are issues with understanding. (Member of the leadership team) | The feeling of togetherness is crucial – that we’re in this as a team. We physically work side by side, treating it as a shared project with different roles. They rely on what we offer and the support we provide, and they can trust us with their concerns. Simultaneously, we depend on them to excel in their everyday work. (Member of the leadership team) |
| Collaboration | It’s a challenge, and I’d like someone to review it with me. We found getting our colleagues to see its relevance this way easier. Through a reflective dialogue, you can clarify your own dilemma and potentially take action that inspires you to try it. [Yes.] So, there have been some key factors in how we engaged our colleagues and conveyed its significance. (Teacher) | We engage in some classroom supervision and action learning experiments, which provide opportunities for the teachers to learn from one another. It’s essential to tap into the collective knowledge within our staff. We’re currently focused on making this knowledge widely accessible and integrated throughout the school (Member of the leadership team) | Nonetheless, we have made substantial progress in achieving this parallelization across our educational practices From a management perspective, this approach tends to lean more towards resource optimization, while our colleagues adopt a perspective that emphasizes collaboration centered around students and subjects. (Teacher) |
| Categories . | School 1 . | School 2 . | School 3 . |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leadership | I believe that one of the most important aspects of management is the strategic implementation of concepts, especially when significant time and resources are invested, as is the case when it involves the entire municipality. It’s essential to ensure these concepts are integrated into our current practices and systems effectively. (Principal) | Leading a large organization involves establishing structures and providing stability so that employees know what to expect and where they stand. (Principal) | In my daily role, personnel management plays a significant role. I directly oversee the leadership team, and I’m also closely involved in managing tasks with teachers and pedagogues. Educational leaders handle one-on-one discussions and department meetings, and I may join them when invited. So, my responsibilities encompass personnel management and strategic planning. (Principal) |
| Learning | We refer to them as educational theme meetings, held 10 times a year, and organized with the help of a committee. I have primarily taken the lead in structuring these meetings, with clear agendas, discussion topics, and occasional presentations (Member of the leadership team) Our understanding of learning: We aim for students to be engaged in their own learning process. Learning should be visible; learning should make sense (Document 1) | My starting point is to create stronger collaborative units where we collectively prioritize our professional approach. I want to emphasize that regardless of which teacher a student encounters, they receive the best possible education. It shouldn’t be a matter of luck whether they have Carl or Sofie as their teacher. (Principal) In our School, we place safety and companionship at the center so that we can fulfill our most important task: high-quality academic learning for all students. (Webpage) | The leader is indeed focused on a learning-oriented approach and strives to discuss the next best steps for students. However, we encounter a challenge as we have training tests starting as early as fifth grade, and now extending through seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, which goes against this approach. (Teacher) We have a practice where we frequently use various tests to assess student performance. Last year, we created an overview of these tests. Teachers input the results from tests taken in the spring into a form for each child, and certain values are color-coded as red, yellow, or green. During collaborative meetings, we don’t always delve deeply into individual students because our focus is on gaining a general overview and making broader decisions related to a class or transition (Member of the leadership team) |
| Culture | Traditions help bind the community together, whether it’s the spring concert or the soccer tournament. The large gatherings at our school before Christmas and by the pool before summer vacation are atmospheric highlights where we sing our school’s own song (Webpage) | It’s important for us to send a clear signal to both the ethnic Danish students and bilingual children that we prioritize Danish as the primary language in our school. However, there are situations where we find it necessary to use other languages to ensure effective communication. In such cases, we bring in interpreters if there are issues with understanding. (Member of the leadership team) | The feeling of togetherness is crucial – that we’re in this as a team. We physically work side by side, treating it as a shared project with different roles. They rely on what we offer and the support we provide, and they can trust us with their concerns. Simultaneously, we depend on them to excel in their everyday work. (Member of the leadership team) |
| Collaboration | It’s a challenge, and I’d like someone to review it with me. We found getting our colleagues to see its relevance this way easier. Through a reflective dialogue, you can clarify your own dilemma and potentially take action that inspires you to try it. [Yes.] So, there have been some key factors in how we engaged our colleagues and conveyed its significance. (Teacher) | We engage in some classroom supervision and action learning experiments, which provide opportunities for the teachers to learn from one another. It’s essential to tap into the collective knowledge within our staff. We’re currently focused on making this knowledge widely accessible and integrated throughout the school (Member of the leadership team) | Nonetheless, we have made substantial progress in achieving this parallelization across our educational practices From a management perspective, this approach tends to lean more towards resource optimization, while our colleagues adopt a perspective that emphasizes collaboration centered around students and subjects. (Teacher) |
Source(s): Authors' own creation/work