| Summary: | Social, political and technological developments bring about change in the global society. However, it is often argued that education does not develop as rapidly and in line with these changes. This study explores how school leaders perceive their roles, power, and agency when leading change at the upper secondary school level in Iceland. School leaders’ perceptions of the interactions between actors and social structures that may facilitate or constrain change are elucidated. The study also identifies what school leaders consider to be the most significant challenges regarding educational change. Twenty-one school leaders in nine upper secondary schools in Iceland were interviewed. Two or three school leaders were selected to be interviewed in each school in relation to the management structure the school. Schools had been selected through stratified sampling based on the school types. The data is discussed in the light of theories on institutions and organisations, institutional and organisational leadership, different response categories for macro-level demands for change, and policy enactment. The findings show complex patterns of interactions between various actors and social structures that impact change across system boundaries of the upper secondary school level in Iceland. The predominant governing culture of upper secondary schooling fell within the institutional characteristics of education. Most of the actors were seen to protect the traditions, values, and norms in the field of education although some of them were seen to support change. The institutional governance plays a significant role in constraining change. Nevertheless, some macro-level and meso-level actors trickled the processes of deinstitutionalisation after external or internal crisis or because of other innovative ideas generated within or between the selected upper secondary schools. In this way, new ideas often travelled horizontally throughout the organisational field of the upper secondary education. The most significant challenge ...
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