This study explores novice principals’ professional confidence within the context of Sweden’s National Principal Training Programme (NPTP). The significance of professional confidence, an area that has been relatively underexplored within educational leadership research, is elemental for fostering effective school leadership. (pdf)

This paper offers a comparative analysis of how Australasian principals navigated a period of compounding crises. Building on our previous research, this study examines the longer-term impacts and lessons learned from crises experiences. (pdf)

Scholarship studying the role of educational leadership and inclusion for students with disabilities has paid little attention to the role of district-level special education leaders (DSELs). This qualitative case study examines how DSELs attempt to foster more inclusive schools and the leadership challenges they face. (pdf)

This research employed a random-effects model and examined the moderator role of leadership type through meta-regression to explore the comparative relationship between several school leadership styles and teachers’ job satisfaction. (pdf)

This study examines the evolution of educational leadership in Sweden from a traditional model toward collaborative approaches as principals and deputy principals form new school leadership teams. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected through interviews and observations within six leadership teams. (pdf)

En bredare och mer nyanserad bild av den svenska skolans svårigheter och möjligheter, där även rektorer, lärare och elever får komma till tals. Det efterlyser två forskare vid Linnéuniversitetet som har studerat tv-serierna Vem mördade skolan? och Det svenska skolexperimentet.

Systematic quality work, SQW, has become a large part of principals’ work in preschools. This study investigates principals’ priorities in SQW in preschools and identifies measures they implement to reach quality and improvement goals.

School leader turnover affects school stability, staff cohesion, and student outcomes. While stress and workload are well-documented factors, fewer studies examine school-specific conditions influencing leaders’ decisions to leave. Through qualitative interviews with former school leaders, this study identifies two key themes: fragmentation and pressure, encompassing institutional and organizational conditions, as well as operational and leadership demands. (pdf)

Distributed leadership (DL) has gained importance in educational leadership research, especially in Western (mainly Anglo-American) contexts. This study explores DL’s conceptualization and enactment in the Muslim world through a meta-synthesis of existing qualitative studies, addressing the need for broader cultural perspectives. (pdf)

School governance is a contested concept due to ongoing disagreements over its meaning and application, particularly in education sub-fields like leadership, management, and administration (ELMA). Aware of global efforts to differentiate ELMA’s knowledge base, this paper critically reviews school governance literature from 2000 to 2023. (pdf)

Contemporary currents in school leadership increasingly focus on collaboration and participation. In Sweden, notions of “communal pedagogical leadership” emphasize teachers’ roles in shaping the desired school, introducing Collaborative Professional Learning (CPL) as an organizational necessity. This article provides a governmentality analysis of CPL manuals from 2019 to 2022, exploring the rationalities employed in its framework…

This study systematically evaluated applicant packs for 59 Secondary Headteacher roles and found evidence to suggest recruitment materials constitute an institutional mechanism that could contribute to sustaining gender inequality in UK Headship.