This thesis investigates the importance of the work community and its social organisation and the role it has for the participants' ability to learn and to form a professional identity as pedagogical leaders. Furthermore, the thesis wants to investigate if it matters to the directors’ learning how the principal (municipality or private company) organises for learning. The empirical material for the study comes mainly from semi-structured interviews with participants in the directors’ programme and close colleagues. An expression for the working community in a workplace is a community of practice. Learning and social interaction are about negotiation of meaning, making sense in everyday life. All four interviewed participants have contexts with features of communities of practice. In a few cases, it is clear that the context is about educational leadership, in a practice that is designed in collaboration with colleagues. Although there are significant differences in both the scope and the structure of supporting structures between the two investigated private contexts, it becomes clear that their structure leads to learning. The lack of structure in municipal schools leaves their directors with little access to guidance for their learning and identity development.

Enligt skollagen ska rektorn vara huvudansvarig för sin skolverksamhet. I uppdraget ingår administrativa uppgifter och pedagogiskt ledarskap, vilket innebär att rektorn har två skilda logiker att hantera, managerialism och professionalism. Den kvalitativa undersökningen fokuserar därmed på hur det pedagogiska ledarskapet ska utövas parallellt med administrativa uppgifter där ekonomiska styrförutsättningar skiljer kommunala och fristående verksamheter åt. Pedagogiskt ledarskap ska leda till goda studieresultat hos eleverna och anses därför som viktigt. Direkt forskning om rektorns delade ledarskap har inte skett inom skolvärden men däremot inom sjukvården som har flera likheter till skolverksamhetens organisation. Inom sjukvården har professionalism och managerialism, i en så kallad hybridroll, ansetts svår för en person att klara, vilket är detsamma för rektorn. Utifrån detta undersöktes ifall det var möjligt för två personer att dela lika på rollen som rektor, ett så kallat samledarskap. Dock går det inte enligt lag att genomföra då varje skolverksamhet endast får ha en ordinarie rektor. Inslag av samledarskap kan däremot appliceras som en lösning för rektorn, genom att exempelvis delegera uppgifter till en biträdande rektor.I och med att ledningsgrupperna ser olika ut samt har olika styrförutsättningar har även utfallet blivit olika i de olika skolformerna. Inom den kommunala skolverksamheten har rektorn kunnat utöva mer pedagogiskt ledarskap då det i regel funnits en eller flera biträdande rektorer att samarbeta med och delegera administrativa uppgifter till. Detta tillskillnad från rektorer i fristående skolverksamheter som generellt är ensamma i ledningsgruppen. I de fall då rektorn är ensam i ledningen borde det därför vara bra att se över möjligheter för att tillsätta en biträdande rektor i ledningsgruppen för att verka som avlastning. Tillsättande av en biträdande rektor skulle underlätta rektorns arbete men då de fristående skolverksamheterna har ett bestående krav på att inte överskrida budgeten begränsas möjligheten att i varje enskilt fall tillsätta en biträdande rektor. / According to the Swedish school law, the principal is in charge for the school organization. The task includes administrative tasks and pedagogical leadership, which means that the headmaster has two distinct logics to deal with, managerialism and professionalism. The qualitative methodology study is focusing on the pedagogical leadership that must be exercised in parallel with administrative tasks where economic regulatory conditions are significant and differ between public and independent school activities. Pedagogical leadership should lead to good outcomes for the students and is therefore considered important. There has been no direct research concerning the principal's shared leadership within the school system but a lot of research within healthcare can be applied in this area since healthcare has several similarities to the school organization. A so-called hybrid role has within healthcare been considered difficult for one person to manage. In this role, professionalism and managerialism are combined which can be linked to the principal’s role where both logics have to be handled by one person. Based on this this study will examine whether it is possible for two people to share the role of the principal equally, a so-called shared leadership. However, it is not required by law to implement this solution when every school organization may only have one regular principal. Elements of shared leadership can, however, be applied as a solution for the principal, for example by delegating tasks to an assistant principal.Since the management teams are controlled differently the outcome has been various in diverse school systems. The principal of the public school has been able to practice more pedagogical leadership since there normally exist one or several assistant principals to whom they can delegate administrative tasks. This is different from principals in independent school organizations, which generally are alone in the management team. In cases where the principal is alone in the leadership, it should be useful to see whether there are opportunities to appoint an assistant principal to join the management team to ease the burden. The appointment of an assistant principal would facilitate the principals' work, but because of the independent schools’ permanent requirement not to exceed the budget, the possibility is limited to assign an assistant principal in each individual case.This study is written in Swedish

The purpose of this study has been to investigate the views of five teachers on their own leadership, and on the way they make it work in the classroom. The method was a qualitative investigation consisting of separate interviews with five elementary school teachers from three different schools in the southern part of Stockholm. The results showed that a good pedagogic leadership, successful with the pupils, can be characterised as at the same time democratic and "situation adjustable". This includes the ability to formulate the rules of conduct clearly, to take decisions and to create a good working atmosphere in the classroom, so that the pupils can feel secure, and be able to learn and develop. That however, cannot be accomplished if the teacher only maintains a negative communication, reminding the pupils of what is forbidden. A majority of the interviewed teachers emphasised the importance of positive feedback, and maintaining the work motivation of the pupils was seen as an important aspect of leadership in the classroom. A good leadership is furthermore characterised by the flexibility of the teacher in adapting to different situations and to the maturity of the pupil or group. Flexibility in adjusting the level of the lesson, and of the tasks given to the individual pupils or groups, is also an aspect of leadership. The results finally showed that the teacher should try to maintain a good personal relationship not just to the pupil but also with the parents. This makes it easier for the teacher to influence the pupils and engage them in a better performance in the classroom, scholastically as well as in terms of conduct.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka begreppet rektorns pedagogiska ledarskap och hur begreppet uppfattas av rektorer och lärare. Studiens forskningsfrågor handlar om att kartlägga och jämföra uppfattningarna om begreppet Rektorns pedagogiska ledarskap. Forskning visar att rektorns pedagogiska ledarskap har en betydelse för skolans resultat. Metoden i undersökningen har varit enkät. Det var 53 respondenter som har svarat på enkäten. Enkäten skickades till 3 olika skolor. Informanterna valdes ut från samma skolor, för att de skulle utgå från samma verksamhet. Två versioner av enkäten formades men med samma frågor. Den ena versionen var riktad mot rektorer och den andra mot lärare. det var formuleringarna som skilde dem åt. Frågorna var gjorde som påståenden som respondenten skulle svara på. Resultatet visar att det kollegiala samtalet och lärande har en viktig funktion, visar både tidigare forskning och resultatet i studien. Dessutom är det viktigt att rektor skapar förutsättningar för ett tydligt kommunikationsstrukturer. / The purpose with this study is to analyze principal´s pedagogical leadership and how principals and teachers interpret it. The studies research questions were about surveying and comparing the understanding of the term rektorns pedagogiska ledarskap. Research shows analyze principal´s pedagogical leadership is important for school results. The surveys method has been a poll.  There were 53 respondents who have answered the survey. The survey was sent to three different schools. The informants were chosen from the same schools, because they were supposed to work on the same function. Two versions of the survey were made, but with the same questions. One version was directed to principals and the other was directed to teachers. The difference between the two polls was the formulations. The questions were constructed as statements, which the respondents were supposed to take a stand to. The result shows that the collegial conversation and learning have an important function, showing both previous research and the outcome of the study. Besides, it is important that the principal creates the conditions for a clear communication structure.