Enligt Skollagen ska skolledaren leda den pedagogiska verksamheten. Den här studien utreder hur fyra skolledare arbetar för att främja matematiskt begåvade elever. Studien utreder vidare om de fyra skolorna har en gemensam strategi för att identifiera matematiskt begåvade elever. Studien utreder dessutom om det finns en gemensam strategi på varje skola för att stimulera de eleverna med vidareutvecklande arbetsmetoder. Rektorerna får även ta ställning till en handlingsplan för särbegåvade elever som SKL (Sveriges kommuner och landsting) har tagit fram i samarbete med sju av Sveriges kommuner. Det som framkommer i resultat och analys är att ingen av de intervjuade rektorerna har en klar bild av hur de identifierar matematiskt begåvade elever. Tre rektorer nämner intellektuella förmågor och en rektor pratar om höga betyg. Alla fyra rektorer förespråkar främjandet av matematiskt begåvade elever och har lämnat det största ansvaret till pedagogerna. Dock framkommer i studien att rektorerna är osäkra på att skolan klarar av att leva upp till främjandet av begåvade elever och önskar dessutom ett mer utvecklat arbete med de här eleverna i framtida skola. Ingen utav de fyra skolorna i studien har en gemensam strategi för hur de identifierar matematisk begåvning och inte heller en gemensam arbetsmetod för att stimulera dessa elever. Skolorna använder dock den enskilde läraren, specialpedagoger, tester, matematikgrupper samt nivågruppering, för att identifiera samt stimulera matematiskt begåvade elever. Studien visar att brister i det pedagogiska ledarskapet ofta rör sig om okunskap, tidspress samt om en ekonomisk aspekt, något som rektor själv ofta inte styr över. / According to the Education Act, school leaders should lead the educational activities. This study investigates how four school leaders working to promote mathematically gifted students. The study also investigates if those four schools are having a common strategy to identify mathematically gifted students and if there is a common strategy at each school to encourage the students toward further development using stimulating work methods. Principals also get to see an action for gifted students that SKL (Sveriges kommuner och landsting) has developed in cooperation with seven of Sweden's municipalities. What shows in the results and analysis is that none of the interviewed principals have a clear picture of how they identify mathematically gifted students. Three principals mentioned abilities and one principal talks about good grades. All four principals advocating the promotion of mathematically gifted students and has left the biggest responsibility for the teacher. It also shows in the study that the principals are unsure that the school is even able to live up to the promotion of gifted students and wishes for a more developed method of working with these students in the future. None of the four schools in the study have a common approach to how they identify mathematical talent and no united method for stimulating these students. However, schools do use the individual teacher, special education teachers, tests, math groups and level group, to identify and stimulate mathematically gifted students. The study also shows that shortcomings in educational leadership has often been due to many reasons, such as: lack of knowledge, time pressure and an economic aspect, something that the principals often don’t control by him or herself.

The thesis is about principals of small schools with composite classes. The aim is to explore activity areas of principals of small schools in Ústecký region. Questionnaire survey was used to explore the principal activities and their specifics. The results showed that the principals mostly deal with areas related to administrative, pedagogical process, communication and economic agenda. Administrative activities are rated by principals as their least favourite activity. The pedagogical process and focus on pupils is the highest priority for the principals however they would like to have more time for this activity. The work of small schools' principals can be specified by family environment of the school and close contact with teachers, pupils and parents. And more, there are specific conditions for pedagogical activity in the classes, principals are usually overloaded and they need to be versatile.

The overall aim of the study is to show, from an ethnographic point of view, the what, why and how of events in the daily life of the principals studied. The ambition is to try to understand the meaning of being a principal and the complex situation in which they op-erate. Some questions raised are: What do the principals’ working days look like? What constitutes the foundations of school leadership? What characterizes the context (the cul-tures) in which they work? Has gender any significance for school leadership? Earlier knowledge about leadership is mainly based on studies of male leaders, and or-ganizations are often considered as gender neutral. These circumstances make it urgent to study leadership from a gender perspective. Using an explorative, ethnographic approach with participant observations and recorded interviews seven principals were studied. Most of the data was collected during one and a half years of fieldwork, where the work of one female principal was observed. The result shows that leadership is a complex phenomenon. Relationships are seen as an essential aspect, and most of the daily work is accomplished through meetings and conver-sations with other people. The study illuminates how “a real principal” is constructed through relationships between many different individuals and groups. In this variety of sub-cultures different values and norms of behaviour are found. Schools can thus be regarded as multicultural organizations. Daily the principal has to try to understand, be aware of, and handle this cultural diversity. Partly as a consequence of this, emotions are constantly pre-sent in principals’ daily work. Principals have to deal with their own feelings as well as those of others. Contours of a gender contract are outlined, where cultural understandings of women and men become evident, and which the principals have to relate to.