Legal regulation and professional norms in schools

Abstract

Protection of children’s rights is a legitimate concern in school administration and practice. Since few school leaders are trained lawyers, this raises questions about how principals and teachers apply the law. The purpose of the study is to expand our understanding of how legal regulations are transformed into professional action on a local level. We focus on students’ right to a good psychosocial environment. We examine how school leaders and teachers work to develop a good psychosocial environment for all students. An analytical distinction between organisational and occupational professionality provides the theoretical framework for the discussion of results. The analysis indicates that when principals and teachers act in what they consider to be the child’s best interest, they rely more on their own ethical and pragmatic judgements than on legal regulations. This may have consequences for the extent to which students’ legal rights are protected.