Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine principals’ experience and sensemaking of collaboration with private companies, focussing on leadership and school improvement. Design/methodology/approach This paper is set against the backdrop of a project where three public Swedish schools collaborated with private companies within their communities. Data were collected over three years and consisted of semi-structured interviews, meeting notes, field observations, field notes and document analysis. A qualitative content analysis was performed using the Atlas.ti 6.2 software tool. Findings The study shows that important sensemaking for the principals in this collaboration between schools and private companies is related to the sense of collective responsibility and involvement, development of improvement culture and trust between key actors, and common improvement initiatives based on mutual interest. Challenges in the collaboration are related to principal changes, a lack of implementation of the collaboration, and that there was no clear vision of external collaboration in two out of three schools. In terms of possibilities, the collaboration was based on the needs of the school, a collaborative culture was developed, and the development/activities were undertaken between involved schools and private companies during the collaboration. Research limitations/implications Inevitably, there are limitations that need to be identified and recognised in this study. First, the small number of cases in this multiple case study, as well as the specific social context, limits the possibility of generalising the findings. Second, the study was not independently selected, and the findings and analyses are linked to national and local contexts, which can be seen as a limitation and strength. Notwithstanding, this study contributes with in-depth information about how a beyond-school collaboration with private companies is practised as well as how involved principals made sense of the collaboration from the perspective of school improvement. Originality/value The originality is the collaboration between schools and private companies. The paper contributes with new knowledge about how principals experience and make sense of this collaboration as a vehicle for school improvement.

中文翻译：

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与私人公司合作，作为改善学校的手段

目的本文的目的是研究校长与私人公司合作的经验和意义，重点是领导能力和学校的改进。设计/方法/方法本文是在一个项目的背景下进行的，瑞典的三所公立学校与社区内的私营公司合作。三年来收集的数据包括半结构化访谈，会议记录，现场观察，现场记录和文件分析。使用Atlas.ti 6.2软件工具进行了定性内容分析。调查结果表明，在学校与私人公司之间的这种合作中，对于校长而言重要的意义理解与集体责任感和参与感，发展文化的发展以及关键角色之间的信任有关，和基于共同利益的共同改进计划。合作中的挑战与校长变更，缺乏合作实施以及三分之二的学校没有明确的外部合作愿景有关。在可能性方面，合作是根据学校的需求为基础的，发展了一种合作文化，并且在合作过程中参与学校和私营公司之间进行了开发/活动。研究的局限性/含意不可避免地，在这项研究中需要确定和认识一些局限性。首先，在这个多案例研究中，只有少数案例，以及特定的社会背景，限制了对调查结果进行概括的可能性。其次，研究不是独立选择的，调查结果和分析与国家和地方情况相关，这可以看作是局限性和优势。尽管如此，这项研究还是提供了有关如何与私人公司进行校外合作以及从学校改善的角度如何让参与的校长理解合作的深入信息。创意/价值创意是学校与私营公司之间的合作。该论文提供了有关校长如何体验和理解这种合作作为学校改善工具的新知识。这项研究有助于深入了解如何与私人公司开展校外合作，以及参与的校长如何从学校改善的角度来理解合作。创意/价值创意是学校与私营公司之间的合作。该论文提供了有关校长如何体验和理解这种合作作为学校改善工具的新知识。这项研究有助于深入了解如何与私人公司开展校外合作，以及参与的校长如何从学校改善的角度来理解合作。创意/价值创意是学校与私营公司之间的合作。该论文提供了有关校长如何体验和理解这种合作作为学校改善工具的新知识。