Between Empowerment and Control - The practical implementation of New Public Management and Professional Learning Communities in Canada. A case study

In order to examine which combinations of characteristics create positive educational performance, the author analyzes the implementation of New Public Management (NPM) in combination with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) in Alberta, Canada, on the basis of a best-case analysis. By means of a data and method triangulation, the specific combinations of characteristics as well as support systems are revealed. Furthermore, the combination of NPM and PLC is discussed. It appears that, e.g., elements of competition appertaining to NPM play a lesser role than cooperation of the actors on both the horizontal and the vertical level (PLC), professionalization, or support of the actors.