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This paper is designed to contribute to the discussion on how to conceptualise and study contextual influence in local school development. We propose a theoretical framework and an empirical illustration to supplement former research on rural school research. Focusing on what the school perceives as important in its community may explain why schools are different, based on the concept that the place where the school is located has its own expectation structures. This interaction between school and place creates the concept of the school programme, representing the role of teacher expectations within the school and the teachers' encounter with the expectation structures of the specific place. The empirical illustration originates from a project called "Learning Regions," funded by the Research Council of Norway. By comparing schools across municipalities, we have identified some common experiences based on the presented theoretical concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“New” school inspections are essential parts of “evidence-based governance” concepts and have been implemented by many European countries as a major strategy to assure and improve the effectiveness and quality of their education systems. However, national inspection systems vary in their composition and in their contextual features. Using online survey data from approximately 2300 principals in 7 European countries, the paper explores the role of “accountability pressure” as an element for understanding the operation of inspection systems. The results indicate that principals who feel more “accountability pressure” are more attentive to the quality expectations communicated by inspections, more sensitive to stakeholders’ reactions to inspection results, and more active with respect to improvement activities. However, also the number of unintended consequences is increasing with pressure. Inspection systems in different countries are seen by school leaders as applying differential degrees of “accountability pressure”, which is reflected in system-specific amounts of improvement activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]