På väg mot uppdrags- och processdrivna organisationer: Uppföljning av införandet av processledare i förskolor och skolor i Helsingborg

In a previous report, 2013, results from questionnaires and interviews showed how a new middle leader role among preschool teachers and teachers had been implemented 1,5 years after a course focusing on leading processes. The course took place in one school district in the city of Helsingborg, Sweden. The present report tells the story of what has happened within the 13 schools and 13 preschools and with the 62 middle leaders three years after the first report. The middle leaders were originally called process leaders . Their main function was to stimulate and guide their colleagues in developmental work, in close cooperation with principals. They have been working as administrative assistants, mentors to colleagues, leaders of improvement projects and consultants for larger school development. During the years an emphasis on micro tasks together with colleagues, have further developed to include an emphasis on macro tasks for the whole units. The preschools are all still using the process leaders, while nine of the schools have chosen other options. Some schools use first teachers (a government sponsored teacher role) as middle leaders instead. Some schools have stopped using middle leaders all-together since they do not fit principals’ view of an efficient and strict organisation. The staff at half the units do not consider process leaders as useful as before, while the staff at the other half of the units view them as just as or even more useful. Middle leaders are one facet of organisational change in the school district. The introduction of process leaders correspond with an increased tendency for 6 staff to engage in different change projects. This coincides with the organising of a task and process driven organisation for both routine work and development. During interviews at four sites, we noticed and named the emergence of such organisations. Teachers are assigned tasks (communicated with the rest of the staff) directly from the principal. Most preschool teachers and teachers have had tasks within specific areas, in which they are resources for their colleagues. Middle leaders, more often than their colleagues, have coordinating tasks. The four sites show considerable improvements in staff attitudes in relation to cooperation, perceived job relevance of in-service training, developmental projects and evaluation, and most of all support when having problems in class and needing help in order to achieve change. There is also an increase in the perc