Much of today’s public debate concerning Swedish school is about poor results and what steps and political actions should be taken to improve them. The Education Act sets clear requirements for systematic quality assurance at all levels of the school system. Some research and development in recent years has been conducted on school level. However, few studies have addressed the owner’s responsibility concerning interpretation and organization of the systematic quality work. Schools Inspectorate's reports points to significant weaknesses in quality work at a large number of schools as well as municipalities/ school-owners. The owner’s quality work – when it works - should be a prerequisite for schools to continuously improve their performance and quality "with established experience and on scientific basis ". I have therefore in this paper chosen to study quality work at owner level. Another interesting perspective in context of the public school debate, is about the question to which degree the political level currently "owns" the school debate concerning issues that in the first place is not politically goal-related but are implementation issues that are probably best performed and managed by professionals and supported in school research. Previous studies have also highlighted the problem of the dual responsibility between central and local government in which local governments (under the Local Government Act) sometimes come into conflict with the objectives of the national curriculum . There are also significant differences in size between Swedish municipalities/school-owners that compromise the statutory right to "equal education" for all students in Sweden. My findings in this paper shows an interesting correlation between organized quality work at owner level, and a long term development of school results. The paper also identifies previously highlighted problems concerning unclear roles and lack of confidence as critical factors for organizing a professional quality work that provides long term results.

The pedagogista is a new professional role in Swedish preschools. Some people question the role, which originates from Italy, since it is believed to carry out a pedagogical leadership that belongs to the head of the preschool according to the curriculum and the Education Act. Consequently, there is cause for examining what pedagogical leadership means in an organization with a pedagogista. However, re- search has shown the success of distributed leadership within schools. Hence, it ́s interesting to find out whether the pedagogical leadership of the pedagogista could be understood as distributed leadership and what that would implicate. The purpose of this thesis is to explain and understand the pedagogical leadership of the pedagogista. The purpose has been examined from three perspectives: Where in the organization does the pedagogista belong? How is the pedagogista ́s mission defined? How is the pedagogical leadership distributed between the pedagogista and the head of the preschool? The methods used for gathering empirical data have been three. First of all, seven pedagogistas and their respective heads have been interviewed. Secondly, the teach- ers at the schools in question have answered an inquiry. Finally, the written mission statements of the pedagogistas have been analysed. The results show that the pedagogista has a middle role between the head and the teachers. This middle role requires professional flexibility as well as loyalty towards all parties. Furthermore, the pedagogista ́s mission is, in short, to support and lead the teachers ́ learning, as well as to support both the teachers ́ and the head ́s systematic work on quality. The leadership of the heads resembles a transformational leadership, while the pedagogista clearly has an instructional leadership, which could very well be defined as distributed pedagogical leadership. The conclusion is, however, that the mission of the pedagogista is indistinct. It would probably gain from being more distinctly expressed by the head, as well as systematically followed up. The acknowledgement of the pedagogista ́s leadership could be a key to increasing the legitimacy of the pedagogista.