Utbildning borde spela roll – om förskollärares uppdrag att leda

The study addresses the new responsibilities assigned to Swedish kindergarten teachers in 2018, where they took on a key role in the management of the pedagogical work in kindergarten. The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of their leadership role in relation to tasks that are part of the collective work at their workplace.

The results show that both professional experience and equality are initially highlighted as decisive factors for the leadership role. The importance of kindergarten teacher education is also highlighted as being key to the task of leading educational work in kindergarten. The study concludes that kindergarten teachers need different support structures in order to effectively exercise their leadership in practice. An important part of this is that coordinators clearly communicate the kindergarten teachers’ mandate to lead, ensuring that all employees at the workplace are informed about it.

The study is based on four hours of qualitative focus group interviews, in which a total of 18 kindergarten teachers participated. The interviews were then analysed using positioning theory.

Skånfors, L. & Ungerberg, K. (2023). Utbildning borde spela roll – om förskollärares uppdrag att leda. Nordisk barnehageforskning, 20(4), 151–169.