This study is based on data from eight interviews with principals who lead schools in particularly vulnerable areas, where gang crime, exclusion, overcrowding and poverty are commonplace. The research questions are about their own view of their work in relation to the context. The purpose of the study is to deepen the knowledge of principals' work in urban schools. The study has a narrative approach and is examined from a hermeneutic perspective. These stories are analyzed partly individually but also together to examine if patterns or categories appear in the stories. The context emerges and is filtered in this way through the patterns formed by the principals' stories. The context studied is the societal and socio-cultural context. In order to be able to put the principals' stories in a common context, sociological thinking is used. The interview material in the study is analyzed as narrative, i.e. coherent stories. The analysis is done in two stages. The first step to create a narrative from the interview material. These created coherent stories are then analyzed as the second step. That analysis is made in two parts where each part is aimed at answering one of the research questions. The results show that four areas appear in the principals' stories. The first is the clear orientation for increased student outcomes described in the stories. Here, a clear shift from a care focus towards a knowledge focus is described. The second category deals with communication patterns and relationship building, which is described as particularly important based on the context the principals find themselves in and which reappears as a cornerstone in all work. The third category appearing is how organization and governance are used to have an effect on student learning. Here school development efforts and changes in roles within the operation are described, for example expansion of two- and three-teacher systems, team leader organization, cooperation with and between first teachers and development of recess activities. The final category is about the social responsibility that the principals describe and trust in education and in students. Within this category, high expectations of and trust in the students recur in stories. / Den här studien är baserad på data från åtta intervjuer med rektorer som leder skolor i särskilt utsatta områden, där gängkriminalitet, utanförskap, trångboddhet och fattigdom är vardag. Detta med frågeställningar om deras egen bild av sitt arbete i relation till kontexten. Syftet med studien är att fördjupa kunskapen om rektorers arbete i särskilt utsatta områden. Detta görs genom att undersöka rektorers berättelser om sitt arbete i denna specifika kontext. Studien har en narrativ ansats och undersöks ur ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. Dessa berättelser analyseras dels enskilt men även tillsammans för att se om mönster eller kategorier framträder i berättelserna. Kontexten framträder och filtreras på så sätt genom de mönster som bildas av rektorernas berättelser. Den kontext som studeras är den samhällsgemensamma och den sociokulturella kontexten. För att kunna sätta rektorernas berättelser i ett gemensamt sammanhang används ett sociologiskt tänkande. Intervjumaterialet i studien analyseras som narrativ, dvs sammanhängande berättelser. Analysarbetet är gjort i två steg. Det första steget är att skapa narrativ av intervjumaterialet. Därefter analyseras dessa skapade sammanhängande berättelser. Den analysen är gjord i två delar där varje del riktas mot att besvara en av studiens frågeställningar. Resultatet visar att fyra områden framträder i rektorernas berättelser. Den första är den tydliga orientering för höjda kunskapsresultat som beskrivs i berättelserna. Här beskrivs en tydlig förskjutning från ett omsorgsfokus mot ett kunskapsfokus. Den andra kategorin handlar om kommunikationsmönster och relationsbyggande som beskrivs som särskilt viktigt utifrån den kontext rektorerna befinner sig i och återkommer som grundbult i allt arbete. Den tredje kategorien som blir tydlig är hur organisation och styrning används för att ge effekt på elevers lärande. Här finns skolutvecklingsinsatser och förändringar av roller inom verksamheten t ex utbyggnad av två- och trelärarsystem, arbetslagsledarorganisation, samarbetet med och mellan förstelärare samt utveckling av rastverksamhet. Den avslutande kategorin handlar om det samhällsansvar som rektorerna beskriver och tilltro till utbildning och till elever. Inom denna kategori återkommer höga förväntningar på och tilltro till eleverna i berättelser.

befattningsutbildningen för skolledare. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur deltagare i rektorsprogrammet beskriver att professionsutvecklande handledning bidragit till utveckling av deras rektorskap. Den handledning som undersöks har genomförts i lärgrupper med en utbildningsledare som handledare. Studiens empiriska underlag består av kvalitativa intervjuer med skolledare under deras sista år på utbildningen. Habermas teori om kommunikativt handlande används som teoretisk utgångspunkt då ett särskilt intresse riktas mot rektorers kommunikativa förmåga. För att relatera kommunikativ förmåga till rektorskap tillämpas vid analysen även Saarukkas modell för beskrivning av rektorskapet, med fokus på personlig dynamik. Genom analys av studiens resultat är min slutsats att studien bidragit till ökad förståelse kring hur den professionsutvecklande handledningen på olika sätt har bidragit till utveckling av rektorskapet hos de intervjuade deltagarna i rektorsprogrammet. Analysen av skolledarnas beskrivningar visar att erfarenheter från den professionsutvecklande handledningen varit betydelsefulla för tanke och handling i deras praktik. Utsagor indikerar en fördjupad förståelse för vikten av gemensam reflektion samt kraften i frågandet som verktyg för att bredda sitt eget och andras perspektiv vid hantering av komplexa problem. I deras beskrivningar finns också tecken på utveckling inom kommunikativ förmåga, genom ökad självkännedom, större förståelse för andra och bättre förståelse för hur deras ledarskap påverkar kommunikation och interaktion i verksamheten. Studien antyder också att metareflekterande samtal kring professionsutvecklande handledningen i relation till deltagarnas verksamhet, kan bidra ytterligare till transferering från utbildning till rektorskap i praktiken. / This study is about supervision for professional development that forms an element of the Swedish national training program for school leaders. The aim of this study is to investigate how participants in the training program describe that supervision for professional development contributed to the development of their principalship. The supervision under investigation has been carried out in learning groups with an education leader as facilitator. The empirical basis consists of qualitative interviews with school leaders during their last year on the program. Habermas' theory of communicative action is used as a theoretical framework due to a particular interest in school leaders’ communicative skills. In order to relate communicative skills to principalship, the analysis also applies Saarukka's model for describing principalship, with a focus on personal dynamics. Through analysis of the study's results, my conclusion is that the study has contributed to an increased understanding of how the supervision for professional development has contributed in different ways to the development of the principalship of the interviewed participants in the principal's program. The analysis of the school leaders' descriptions shows that experiences from the supervision were significant for thought and action in their practice. Statements indicate a deepened understanding of the importance of joint reflection and the power of questioning as a tool to broaden their own and others' perspectives when dealing with complex problems. Furthermore, there are signs of development in communicative skills, through increased self-awareness, greater understanding of others and better understanding of how their leadership affects communication and interaction in the organisation. Moreover, the study suggests that meta-reflective conversations can contribute to transfer from education to principalship in practice.

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of expatriate school leaders in the education system of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study was motivated by a concern regarding the short-term entry of expatriates into the UAE education system, thereby questioning their overall impact in the UAE educational reform. The literature reviews focused on mentoring and leadership within education, and how these related to the UAE educational reform in particular. The empirical investigation used a qualitative, ethnographical case study design. The situated learning theory and the social constructivist theory were used as conceptual frameworks for the study. Purposive and convenient sampling was employed to select five indigenous and five expatriate school leaders as participants for this study. Qualitative data collection was preceded by a pilot study in which an indigenous and an expatriate school leaders were informally interviewed. Individual interviews were thereafter conducted whereby participants were interviewed over a two-week period. The interviews were followed by focus group sessions that were gender specific. Notes were kept and all observations were documented throughout the study. Findings were that, according to the participants’ views, expatriate school leaders seemed to make little impact on current UAE education reform. Their impact was inhibited by dubious motives of many expatriate school leaders working in the UAE; cultural and religious barriers between expatriate and indigenous school leaders; language as a barrier; lack of role modelling; continuous changes in the UAE education system; poor attitudes of some indigenous school leaders; resistance to change; lack of sustainability and poor communication between school leaders and policy makers. Recommendations were provided to enhance the impact of expatriate school leaders within the UAE system. Firstly, expatriate impact could be enhanced through an intensive two-week induction programme and secondly, by means of a partnership development framework to improve the mentoring relationship between expatriate and indigenous school leaders. Ways to overcome the language barrier were also recommended. Additionally, the study provided recommendations for further research. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of principles and ethics that dominate four schools with a Muslim profile, two in Sweden and two in England. The specific objectives of the study are:  to examine educational policies with regard to primary schools with a confessional orientation in Sweden and England; to compare two primary schools with a Muslim profile in Sweden with two such schools in England; and in these four schools to describe and examine the manner in which school heads, teachers and other staff deal with the encounters between the values found in the national curriculum of Sweden and England respectively and the principles and ethics embodied in their private philosophy of life; to describe and examine the views of school heads, teachers and other staff on school leadership and any educational, ideological or personal role model they emulate; to describe and examine the expectations and views of parents with regard to the school with a Muslim profile; and describe the views of the pupils regarding their schools and the norms and values in school and; finally, to examine the attitudes of some local authority politicians in Sweden to MP schools. The findings indicate great difference between the two schools with a Muslim profile in Sweden, on the one hand, and the two schools in England, on the other. The fundamental reason for that lies in the parameters which had been established in these countries as the conditions for being permitted to establish and run a school with a confessional orientation. Since the schools in both countries had conformed to the relevant legislation and framework in their respective countries with regard to such schools, they had therefore consequently developed in different directions. / Partly financed by Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council)

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of expatriate school leaders in the education system of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study was motivated by a concern regarding the short-term entry of expatriates into the UAE education system, thereby questioning their overall impact in the UAE educational reform. The literature reviews focused on mentoring and leadership within education, and how these related to the UAE educational reform in particular. The empirical investigation used a qualitative, ethnographical case study design. The situated learning theory and the social constructivist theory were used as conceptual frameworks for the study. Purposive and convenient sampling was employed to select five indigenous and five expatriate school leaders as participants for this study. Qualitative data collection was preceded by a pilot study in which an indigenous and an expatriate school leaders were informally interviewed. Individual interviews were thereafter conducted whereby participants were interviewed over a two-week period. The interviews were followed by focus group sessions that were gender specific. Notes were kept and all observations were documented throughout the study. Findings were that, according to the participants’ views, expatriate school leaders seemed to make little impact on current UAE education reform. Their impact was inhibited by dubious motives of many expatriate school leaders working in the UAE; cultural and religious barriers between expatriate and indigenous school leaders; language as a barrier; lack of role modelling; continuous changes in the UAE education system; poor attitudes of some indigenous school leaders; resistance to change; lack of sustainability and poor communication between school leaders and policy makers. Recommendations were provided to enhance the impact of expatriate school leaders within the UAE system. Firstly, expatriate impact could be enhanced through an intensive two-week induction programme and secondly, by means of a partnership development framework to improve the mentoring relationship between expatriate and indigenous school leaders. Ways to overcome the language barrier were also recommended. Additionally, the study provided recommendations for further research. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)