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The HyFlex (hybrid + flexible) course design promises increased learning choice, accessibility, and improved student performance. Yet it also raises concerns about diminished informal learning and the reinforcement of extrinsic, goal-oriented behaviors. When COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, we tested HyFlex teaching in a large undergraduate public administration course (N = 96) at Umeå University, Sweden. Using a consistent final exam, we compared student outcomes across three modes: pre-pandemic (face-to-face), during the pandemic (remote), and postpandemic (HyFlex). Results show the highest student performance and satisfaction in the HyFlex format. However, concerns remain about how HyFlex may contribute to a performative culture in higher education and normalize expectations of combining full-time studies with extensive work commitments.

Förskolan har en lång historia, men det var först för drygt 20 år sedan som förskolan blev en del av utbildningspolitiken. Den här boken bygger på omfattande empiri från fyra nationella undersökningar gjorda mellan 2012 och 2021 där vi kan följa professionsutvecklingen hos förskolans rektorer. I denna tredje upplaga har samtliga kapitel reviderats och uppdaterats.

Resultaten av undersökningarna visar bland annat att förskolans rektorer har höga krav på sig själva och numera också på sin huvudman. Idag deltar de flesta barn i förskolans läroplansstyrda verksamhet och förskolan är både en viktig och självklar del utbildningskedjan. Trots detta anser nästan en tredjedel av förskolans rektorer att förskolan prioriteras lägre än skolan i olika beslutsstrukturer.

De fyra nationella undersökningarna möjliggör jämförelser över tid. Där framkommer bl.a. att rektorerna känner sig säkrare i sin roller 2021 än 2012 och att den senaste läroplanen har bidragit positivt till förskolans utveckling. Utifrån den sista enkäten redovisas också rektorernas syn på sin situation under pandemin.

Undersökningarna ger intressanta bilder av hur förskolans rektorer upplever sitt uppdrag och deras olika förutsättningar för att genomföra uppdraget på ett framgångsrikt sätt. Författarna gör jämförelser med rektorerna i skolans uppfattningar, vilket gör det möjligt att diskutera likheter och skillnader i skolledarnas arbete. 

Elisabet Nihlfors, professor em. i pedagogik med inriktning mot ledarskap, Uppsala universitet. Linda Jervik Steen, doktorand i statsvenskap, Umeå Universitet. Olof Johansson, senior professor i statsvetenskap, Umeå universitet.

This chapter looks at who superintendents in Sweden are – what roles they have, what they do, whom they contact, what positions they hold and their everyday work. We have gathered all of this information through many years of data collection from various surveys sent out to superintendents, school leaders, and chairs and members of school boards. Superintendents' roles differ both within Sweden as well as across borders with our neighboring Nordic countries. Superintendents as a group seem enthusiastic about educational matters, the development of schools and the educational sector, but they sometimes feel distracted by budgets and financial matters, as well as by political issues with their superiors and boards.

The school law has strengthened the rights for the pupils and parents not only through the possibility to choose the school but also to test decisions taken by the law in court. The state inspection has a great number of possibilities to act against schools that don’t fulfill the law.

When the principal needed support, they gave their demands to the school owner. We call this “under-pressure”. Often the demands are about resources. These negotiations affect the relations between the principal and the school owner, as well as between principals, teachers, and parents who have often been involved.

The strong and direct state regulation of the schools, together with a separate system for the allocation of money between states and municipalities, seems to have strengthened the relation between the state and the school and weakened the relation between the schools and the municipality (Nihlfors E, Johansson O, Rektor – en stark länk i styrningen av skolan [The school principal-a strong linkage in school governing]. SNS Förlag, Stockholm, 2013).

At the same time, well-educated, dedicated board members with an interest in education work as spare-time politicians and want to make a difference. The communication with the principals is not frequent, and they heavily rely on the information from the superintendent. Also the board members look to the national level and trust the state inspection more than they trust their own evaluations.