Abstract Book of the 9th International Conference on Innovative Research in Education
Year: 2026
[PDF]
Preschool Leadership Strategies in Structurally Disadvantaged Areas Promoting Sustainable School Development
Ulla Dammber
ABSTRACT:
How principals in three preschools in urban, multilingual and multicultural settings in structurally disadvantaged areas led three-year development processes will be described and analyzed. In the projects children´s language and literacy development was targeted to diminish inequity. Three researchers coached the principals, and also worked with all personnel. Field notes from coaching sessions, observations, principals’ written narratives and interviews with staff provided empirical material. Reflexive thematic analyses were used to analyze participants’ views of the projects’ different stages and outcomes. The framework for successful leadership described by Leithwood (2021) informed our analyses. The development work at these preschools is still on-going years after the closure of the studied project, in contrast to many projects where the development ceases when the project is over. Success factors will be elaborated on during the presentation, Context sensitivity stands out as a key word describing the development processes. The leadership strategies were developed by building close relations between personnel, between principals and personnel, but also building relations reaching out to include actors in the community, where parental relations played a significant role. Trust-based leadership evolved over time, where leadership also was distributed including all personnel in their different roles, replacing the chain of command with a control network. Also personnel without formal education was involved in the development work and great efforts emanated in a strengthened knowledge base for all personnel and parents, where text encounters, read-alouds and literacy and language development in both Swedish and the different mother tongues took place.
Keywords: Context-Sensitivity, Distributed Leadership, Parents, Relations, Trust-Based