Kvinnliga skolledares ledarstil i svensk grundskola

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to chart the situation of women principals. By the time the in-vestigation was made the whole amount of women principals in compulsory school was about 16 percent (90/91). Of 235 contacted women, 204 were serving as principals. 173 responded which means 85 percent. The study shows that responsibility rationality are important in women principals' work. They look after the well-being of their staff and pupils. 90 percent underscore the psychosocial environment, i.e. caring for pupils and staff. They solve conflicts mostly without prestige. And they have sensitivity to feelings, atmosphere and care about others. Over two thirds emphasize social relationships. On the other hand tasks like requiring technical rationality as supervising and distributing work, administration and physical environment are regarded as of less importance. But in reality these tasks take more and more time. This is confirmed by principals who have more than five years' experience. This situation is caused by straitened finances in the municipalities and the resultant moneysaving measures. To be as much pedagogic leader as possible they are trying to do administrative tasks at other times, e.g. immediately following the end of the school day or during evenings and weekends. Another problem is that many economic and administrative issues require meetings with controlling authorities, which leads to the principal not being in the school, and that is viewed negatively by the teachers. The problem is that everyday routines have the upper hand and issues which are time thefts. The leadership levels show that women principals are most in upper levels as transformation, initiation and support. A more professional leader is acting in these levels. The management styles are the persuasive (salesmanship). They use also the delegating style when the principals demonstrate that they have confidence in their coworkers. The principals have been analysed by four competencies. The study affirms that most of the women principals have outstanding personal and great social competencies. This is combined with ideological competence. Their strategic competence is somewhat uncertain.