Abstract The aim of our study was that from a Preschool Manager’s perspective to describe, analyze and understand the function of special education and the Special Education Teacher’s profession within preschools. We conducted twelve interviews with Preschool Managers in two northern Swedish municipalities. From a theoretical base, we used both the relational and categorical perspectives. All answers from these interviews have been analyzed from these perspectives. The result showed that the majority of Preschool Managers considered that, above all, the contribution made by special education was in the form of additional competence – the Special Education Teacher. Furthermore, the results showed that the Special Education Teacher was considered to have the skills to further develop the preschool operations by mentoring other teachers. The mentoring could contribute to the development of working methods directed to the entire group of children thereby facilitating working with individual children in need of special support. In some preschools, the Special Education Teacher was principly used to address and fix an individual child’s problems. Even though the Preschool Managers described the Special Education Teacher as an everyday developer, the result however showed that the Special Education Teacher was most often used to directly intervene with individual children. The result also showed that a good cooperation between Preschool Managers and Special Education Teachers strengthened the special education function within the preschool. Keywords: Special education teachers, preschool, preschool managers, special education

Due to a major generational renewal within the public sector, a large number of managers are anticipated to be recruited in the near future. Management in public sector is often separated from management in private sector, since public businesses has special demands to consider. The public management is also distinguished due to the fact that they have responsibility over a larger number of employees than managers within other branches of industry. During the last few decades, the public sector has reformed and taken on a more corporate like structure, which has transformed the public leadership. Previous research on public leadership and general leaderships theories has shown that management is more successful if the manager is able to interface with its employees. To favour the leadership it is important for managers to be aware of the employees’ expectations and demands. These facts make it interesting to study which expectations that lies on managers within the public sector. Due to this, this study aims to create an image of how preschool management is perceived by public preschool employees and to elucidate employees’ expectations of future public managers. Our central questions are:• From a preschool employees perspective, what does it entail to be a preschool manager within the public sector?•    What are preschool employees expectations of their future preschool managers? To answer these questions, interviews were held with six preschool teachers from two different preschools in Örebro kommun. The results showed to some extent similar perceptions and expectations on preschool managers, but the empirics also revealed great differences in some standings. The conclusions drawn from the study is that employees have distinct expectations on their managers, especially considering distinctness and the ability to listen. / Genom ett aktuellt generationsskifte inom offentlig sektor förväntas ett stort antal nya chefer, bland annat inom förskolan, tillsättas. Att vara chef inom offentlig sektor skiljs ofta från att vara chef inom privat sektor, då offentliga verksamheter har en annan kravbild över sig än vad privata verksamheter har. Det offentliga chefskapet särskiljs även då dessa chefer i regel är ansvariga över ett större antal anställda än chefer inom andra branscher. Under de senaste årtiondena har den offentliga sektorn reformerats mot en mer företagslik struktur, vilket förändrat det offentliga ledarskapet. Tidigare forskning inom offentligt ledarskap samt inom generell ledarskapsteori har konstaterat att det är lättare att vara framgångsrik i sitt ledarskap om man som chef har ett lyckat samspel med sina medarbetare. Att som chef känna till vilka krav och förväntningar som finns från medarbetarnas sida kan också underlätta för ledarskapet. Detta gör det intressant att studera vilka förväntningar som finns på chefskapet inom offentlig sektor. Därmed syftar denna studie till att skapa en bild av hur förskolechefsrollen uppfattas av offentligt anställda förskollärare och belysa deras förväntningar på framtida förskolechefer. Frågeställningar:•    Vad innebär förskolechefsrollen ur en förskollärares perspektiv?•    Vilka förväntningar har förskollärare på sina framtida förskolechefer? För att besvara dessa frågeställningar intervjuades sex stycken förskollärare från två olika förskolor inom Örebro kommun. Resultatet visade till viss del på liknande uppfattningar och förväntningar på förskolechefer, men visade också på stora skillnader i vissa avseenden. De slutsatser som kunde dras var att det finns tydliga förväntningar på chefen från medarbetarnas sida, särskilt vad gäller lyhördhet och tydlighet.