The importance of school leaders' work for the development of schools is often highlighted in the research literature. However, school leadership is enacted in a social setting influenced by political, cultural, historical, and economic factors across societal as well as national settings. In Sweden, the turnover rates of school principals are…

This article presents the development and application of a model that can be utilized to compare the autonomy of principals in various historical and national contexts. Drawing on former conceptual work on autonomy in education, the model conceptualizes principal autonomy as two-dimensional. The first dimension is the decision making expected from…

The Swedish education system has undergone an extensive transformation and a new policy context characterised by external control, marketing and managerial accountability is now in place. In previous research, the new context has been presented as something school leaders have to "balance against" democratic professionalism but…

What are the prerequisites for principals' success within a decentralized and deregulated Swedish-policy environment characterized by democratic equity values and neo-liberal practices? Twenty-four secondary school principals identified internal and external factors that promote or inhibit principals' success. The discussion concerns whether the…

Working conditions of school leaders in Sweden are influenced by the state and various interest groups. Results of a study to compare teachers' perceptions of school leaders' work with their formally designated tasks are reported in this paper. Reasons for school leaders' working conditions are also discussed. A mailed questionnaire was completed…