Preschool teachers´ mission to lead the work team´s joint work - in policy and practice

In 2018, the specific responsibility for preschool teachers was emphasized in policy focusing on the responsibility to lead the work team’s joint task with teaching, in order to increase the pedagogical quality of preschool education.

This means that preschool teachers now have a formal mission to lead the joint work taking place in work teams with mixed professional categories, which differs from the previously strong tradition that the work team leads the work together.

There is a lack of Swedish research regarding preschool teachers´ leadership and how the principal organizes for this.

The project aims to contribute knowledge about how this policy change has been put into practice; specifically how preschool teachers and principals interpret, negotiate and enact the policy change regarding preschool teachers´ leadership in their own preschool practice. The project runs for three years (2024-2026), including two studies.

In study 1, a national survey is conducted in order to map and identify preschool teachers´ and principals´ perceptions of preschool teachers´ mission to lead the work team´s joint work in practice and the principal´s organization of conditions for this assignment.

Study 2 examines how preschool teachers interpret, negotiate and exercise their mission to lead the work team´s joint work in practice. How principals interpret and implement this assignment is also examined. Data production consists mainly of observations of various team meetings.