Factors facilitating and obstructing a school development project

• Published in: Education Inquiry Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 428 - 446
• Main Authors: Damber, Ulla, Hermansson, Carina, Andersson, Birgit, Jendis, Mareike
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Umea Routledge 2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Affordances; Barriers; Cohesion; Collaboration; Communication (Thought Transfer); Educational Policy; enactment perspective; Foreign Countries; Language; Language Planning; Language policy; Leadership; Multilingualism; Native Language; Policy Formation; Program Implementation; school development; School Personnel; Swedish language; Teachers; Sweden
• ISSN: 2000-4508; 2000-4508
• DOI: 10.1080/20004508.2021.1929751

This study describes and critically discusses a development project designed to create and enact a local language policy at a Swedish multilingual school, its context, content and implementation dimensions. The collaborative construction of a school language policy is a complex process, with tensions that need to be resolved. By describing the processes involved in the language policy project we examine the factors that facilitated and obstructed the enactment of the language policy. The data include 25 interviews with school headteachers and staff members, 15 observations of teachers and school-age educare teachers, field notes, and audio recordings of research circles. Drawing on insights from the enactment framework, the analysis reveals three important themes with respect to the enactment processes: continuity, cohesion, and inclusion. Factors such as communication and leadership, but also external factors, were found to influence outcomes of the project, illuminating an interwoven web of contexts and facets for understanding the enactment of the language policy. These factors influencing outcomes of the project will be discussed in the light of implications for the enactment of the school language policy project.