The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the superintendent within the school's steering chain, where he is in both the political and the professional activity systems, while at the same time he is in between the two (Svedberg, 2014; Nihlfors, 2003). How does that fact affect the superintendent’s role? How does he navigate between these two systems, where there are different laws that in different ways govern the school's work, which can also be contradictory?
The questions asked are the following:
· How does the superintendent relate to his role between two different activity systems: the political and the professional?
· What contradictions arise in, and between, the political and the professional activity systems?
The study is based on a activity theory perspective where politics and the profession each constitute an activity system. In the political activity system the object is economy, and the result to be achieved is a balanced budget. In the professional system the object is the student, and the student’s goal fulfillment is the goal.
The method used is the single case study, and the collection of empirical data is done through observations of board meetings and meetings of the administrative management, interviews with the superintendent, and document analysis.
In the analysis of the result, activity theory is used as an analysis tool.
The results show that conflicts arise both within the respective activity systems and between them. The superintendent in the study shows awareness that he, in his assignment, has to relate to the conflicts it entails to be between politics and profession, economics and the students’ results.
The results of the study add to previous research by identifying conflicts, but also by giving a suggestion on how the superintendent, who is the subject of the two systems, can play a key role.