Pedagogisk ledning för en pedagogisk verksamhet? – Om den kommunala förskolans ledningsstruktur.

The purpose of this dissertation is to study management structures in public daycare in Sweden. The researcher wants to provide an overview of management structures prior to municipal and governmental regulation, in order to elucidate how administration structures were formed before such regulation was implemented. The purpose is to explain how and why the management structure in Swedish daycare facilities has developed into its current form, and the researcher asks whether the purpose is to enable pedagogical management for pedagogical activities, or whether other factors have influenced the development.

The result of the study shows that the management structure varies from municipality to municipality. Despite the great variation in levels of management, formal titles, and the positions and functions of the employees, there is consistency with regard to the title of the formal manager of the individual daycare facility. The municipalities largely use a management structure with a management responsible for both daycare and schooling. Furthermore, the study shows that the municipalities do not consider creating a uniform structure for the management of daycare facilities as their main objective, but rather they focus on creating a management structure for pedagogical activities from daycare to school. The researcher concludes that the new 2010 Swedish Education Act is a step towards distinguishing daycare management from school management such that there is one manager for daycare and one manager for schools. This creates a special structure for the pedagogical activities at daycare facilities.

A questionnaire was sent to 290 Swedish municipalities and staff employed to administer daycare facilities were invited to take part in the study. A total of 180 municipalities answered the questionnaire, corresponding to a response rate of 62%. Respondents were asked about their specific tasks, allocation of work, geographical and organisational affiliation with daycare facilities etc. Moreover, they were asked about personal details such as age, gender and educational background. The researcher used the SPSS Statistics software to analyse the data material.

Styf, M. (2012). Pedagogisk ledning för en pedagogisk verksamhet? – Om den kommunala förskolans ledningsstruktur. Ph.d.-afhandling. Umeå universitet.