‘You have this pressure from above’: Exploring provision of educational support within tensions of organisational and professional logics

This article explores how provision of educational support is influenced by tensions between organisational and professional logics in two Swedish lower secondary schools. Based on extensive fieldwork over three academic semesters, including interviews and observations, findings make visible how the dominance of organisational logics hinder equitable provision of educational support. Findings are analysed with the theoretical framework of organisational and professional logics , using the concepts of time poverty, ethical stress, and empaperment to highlight the implications of the tensions between organisational and professional logics. Documentation is made instrumental for purposes of accountability rather than enhanced teaching, leading teachers to spend time on reporting tasks they have a hard time making meaningful. In response, school staff simplify or defer tasks, which can result in illusional support – support that is documented but not meaningfully enacted. This aggravates ethical stress and time poverty at the same time as it undermines equitable access to educational support, particularly disadvantaging pupils from migrated families. The concluding discussion addresses that the dominance of organisational logics compromises both educational equity and professional practice, and that the domination of organisational logics – if persistent – can mitigate efforts or reforms intended to improve the situation for teachers and pupils in schools.