A quality dialogue is a meeting where professionals from different levels of the preschool and school system – from preschool units to governing authorities – discuss the quality, conditions, and development needs of the institution. However, a new thesis from the University of Gothenburg reveals that these dialogues between preschools and governing authorities tend to focus more on control rather than fostering pedagogical development.
– There are so many systemic contradictions within quality dialogues that their original purpose – to improve children’s and students’ education – has been overshadowed, says Marina Karlsson, author of the thesis.
Quality Dialogues in a Municipal Preschool Administration
In her study, Karlsson examined quality dialogues within a municipal preschool administration through detailed observations, document analysis, and interviews with 63 representatives from various professional roles.
Control Instead of Development
The findings indicate that quality dialogues between preschools and governing authorities struggle to fulfill their original intentions. Education managers play a decisive role in these dialogues, exerting significant power over how they are conducted and thereby influencing the systemic contradictions that emerge.
– I was surprised by how marginal a role assistant principals and employees from the administration’s quality department had in these dialogues, says Marina Karlsson.
She observes that, rather than promoting forward-looking development processes, these dialogues function more as retrospective control mechanisms.
Resource-Intensive Meetings With Competing Agendas
A key finding is that competing agendas drive the quality dialogues. Instead of serving as a platform for pedagogical development, the meetings are used for control and performative displays.
The large number of participants from various hierarchical positions, combined with the significant preparatory and follow-up work required for each meeting, raises questions about the effectiveness and purpose of these dialogues. This is particularly important given that nine out of ten school governing bodies in Sweden conduct quality dialogues with preschools and schools.
The Way Forward
Karlsson’s research highlights the need for a clearer, shared purpose:
– To be successful, participants need to design and conduct these dialogues in alignment with a common, well-anchored purpose that genuinely contributes to pedagogical development, she emphasizes.
She hopes that municipalities and independent school organizations will use the insights from her thesis to critically examine and reform their current systems.
– What may initially seem positive and productive is, upon closer examination, highly complex, she concludes.
