Stärkt pedagogiskt ledarskap : Rektorer granskar sin egen praktik

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study is to generate knowledge about principals´ pedagogical leadership practice. Furthermore, the study aims at generate knowledge of what is happening in a joint action research practice when principals explore a pedagogical leadership. In the study the theory of practice architectures interacts with the choice of methodological orientation and is used to analyse the results. The study is embedded in the Nordic action research tradition. Partnership between universities and practitioners is seen as an important arena for professional development. The results are of importance to the principals who daily work to improve their schools. The students' learning and development appear to be an important and almost obvious component of the principal´s pedagogical leadership practice. The principal's pedagogical leadership is defined as an indirect leadership in which the principal focuses on arranging the conditions for the teachers so that they are given the opportunity to improve their teaching. A pedagogical leader is not just talking about changes, he/she also calls for concrete actions in the school's internal work. The principals´ pedagogical leadership can be described as orchestrating the surrounding arrangement in such a way that they enable a learning and collaborative practice at the school. Part of this orchestration is about supporting forms of cooperation so that good norms and a development-promoting culture are established. The study shows how trustworthy relationships in the groups were absolutely necessary for the participants to be able to change their understanding of the pedagogical leadership. The changes in the joint action research practice have been described as three stages: the establishment stage, the testing stage and the critical stage, where the names of the stages characterize what happened in the groups during different periods of time in the change process. A critical and emancipatory approach was developed in the process.