Relationships and interactions between school owners and school principals: A case study of a Norwegian school district programme

The literature has revealed that high-performing districts establish collaborative working relations with school leaders as a part of the strategy to improve student achievement. This study was designed to investigate the relationships and interactions that school owners and principals in municipalities with high-performing school results employ at the district level in a part of rural Norway. The district subjected to the study was characterized by small municipalities with a few school administrative units, which can be a challenging context for school owners’ involvement and interaction with principals. The research design involved a collective case study and draws on data from surveys, interviews and local school policy documents. The findings suggest that the proximity between neighbouring professional actors seems to be important, and that rural school district actors should build systemic competence and a purposefully tailored infrastructure to reinforce interactions and relationships with the subordinated principals. Further, the findings highlight the advantage of collaborative governance across municipal boundaries and the significance of a trust-based professional network for inter-organizational learning to flourish.