Local Education Authorities as sensemakers of systematic quality work

This study investigates how Local Education Authority (LEA) officials make sense of systematic quality work (SQW), with a particular focus on their intermediate position between national policymakers and local school actors. By examining this often-overlooked role, the study explores what LEA officials do when interpreting, constructing and enacting SQW. The analysis draws on a three‑year study conducted in five Swedish municipalities and is based on semi‑structured interviews with LEA officials and participant observations of SQW meetings. The findings show the important role that LEA officials have as organizational sensemakers of SQW. The LEA officials translate broad and aspirational national SQW policies into meaningful and contextually relevant practices by narrating local SQW models. This proves particularly challenging due to the national policies limited practical guidance. Using Weick’s theory of sensemaking and Czarniawska’s narrative organizational approach, the study identifies three key processes through which LEA officials make sense of national SQW policies: professional, narrative and rational sensemaking in efforts to reduce the complexity of SQW and offer organizational meaning and identity.