Successful Principalship – The Swedish Case

Purpose:In this article we present the general situation in the Swedish compulsory school system and explore hypothesis about the relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for successful principalship. We outline, on the basis of earlier research, arguments that a successful principalship depend on how principals acts on structure and culture with a purpose to contribute to changes that should lead to successful schools. A successful school is defined in Swedish law and policy documents as a school that show high performance both in academic and social goals Methodology: Four different schools were chosen as successful schools. All schools have increased their academic results the last four years. If the social goals are reached, will be an empirical question in our analysis. The principals have been working in the schools for at least four years and are perceived by our informants as being successful principals Findings: The findings support our hypothesis that successful principals contribute to the success in reaching academic and social goals of their schools by their strategic work with changes of structure and culture. The principals act on structure and culture with a clear link to the opinions and culture in the school district. We find that a school can be viewed as successful of parents, students and teachers even if the social goals are not fulfilled. In conclusion, to be able to understand and work with the culture and structure of the school district, is vital for successful principalship