The Swedish preschool has formal leaders who are responsible for coordinating, leading and developing the preschool's activities. The formal leaders are principals. The assignment is governed by laws, regulations and varying responsibilities. The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about preschool principals' perceptions of their mission as formal leaders. A qualitative interview study has been conducted with five preschool principals. This have been analyzed based on a lifeworld phenomenological theory. The results show that the leadership task is varied and that pedagogical leadership is one of the overall tasks. It also emerges from the interviews that there is often not enough time for pedagogical leadership. There are several different challenges that principals face in the implementation of the assignment, which are sometimes limiting. The main challenges highlighted are time, finances, conflicts, and well-being. The principals say that they have different methods for their leadership, but that they are also guided by different situations and conditions. Significant factors for feeling safe and being able to carry out their assignment, according to the principals, are surrounding support functions and people such as colleagues, managers, administrators, special educators, etc. The principals also highlight their own visions for how various changes in the activities could have contributed to a positive development of the preschool's activities. The study's conclusion is that preschool principals' tasks as formal leaders are complex and varied. Principals need certain conditions to be able to carry out their task and meet the challenges that exist. This includes greater conditions for pedagogical leadership and related support functions. The study also points to further research on shared leadership as a solution to principals' high workloads.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kau-98514 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Assedal, Jolinn |
| Publisher | Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för pedagogiska studier (from 2013) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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