Teacher leadership modes and practices in a Swedish context – a case study

As the limitations of individual leadership have become evident, distributed leadership has attracted increased interest. Since the early 1980s, school principals in Sweden have distributed responsibility for improving pedagogical practices to teacher leaders, and the legal scope for such delegation has further expanded since 2010. Nevertheless, sustainable school improvement has been elusive. This article presents findings from an empirical study that examined modes of teacher leadership in the Swedish context. Three teacher leadership modes were identified from observations and interviews in three case schools: coordinating, change-focused and learning-facilitating. The analysis indicates that the leadership perspective (individual or systemic) strongly affects the leadership mode, competences and positioning of teacher leaders, and ultimately the ability of teacher leaders to promote pedagogical development. However, teacher culture is also important. Thus, the findings suggest that school leaders should consider how teacher leadership is framed in their organisations to improve conditions for school improvement. The article provides in-depth descriptions of teacher leadership modes outside Anglo-Saxon school settings, which have been predominantly explored in previous teacher leadership studies.