Purpose: Schooling is a significant tool for fostering future generations, which, in turn, implies that the curriculum is an ethical document. It mirrors the society's notion of what is valuable, useful and necessary from a societal and individual perspective. The purpose of this paper is to address the Scandinavian curricula's ethical framework,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a follow-up study of two Swedish schools in which, five years previously, the principals had been successful leaders. Had this success been maintained? Design/methodology/approach: Two schools were revisited to enable the authors to interview principals and teachers as well as…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the findings of the follow-up studies of successful school principals in six countries: Australia, Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. Design/methodology/approach: Data were categorized according to stakeholder expectations, the concept and practice of leadership, and the…

Purpose: This paper seeks to describe the Swedish compulsory school system and explore a hypothesis about the relationship between structure, culture and leadership as preconditions for successful principalship. Design/methodology/approach: On the basis of earlier research, argues that a principal's success depends on how he or she alters school…

This paper focuses on the relationship between the national curriculum in Sweden and the training of head teachers. The original responsibility of the principal in the centralized system was to be a guarantor for good quality and to see that the state curriculum was carried out in accordance with the intentions in the law. The head teacher remains…