Abstract
Novice principals can easily recall how and why they became principals. Although transitioning from teacher to school principal is often experienced as daunting, few studies have examined the career trajectories of principals, either before or after becoming a principal. This qualitative empirical interview study investigates the life-span career trajectories of 14 novice principals in Sweden by investigating their pre-entry and entry stages to principalship. Their career trajectories are influenced by structural factors and aspects of their agency. The results show that their concerns pass several stages and that they either have applied to become a principal because they see value in being a principal per se, or they apply ‘away from being a teacher’, that is, to become a principal because teaching has become too stressful. Two paths were revealed, the first path approaches principalship as a practice and the second path approaches principalship as a project.
Introduction
Most principals become a principal mid-career and experience this as a daunting process (Arar, 2018; Crow, 2006; Northfield, 2013; Spillane and Lowenhaupt, 2019). However, little is known about the career trajectories of principals either before or after becoming a principal: challenges and needs, who enters and leaves their posts and why (Earley and Weindling, 2004; Kılınç and Gümüş, 2021; Montecinos et al., 2022; Murphy, 2023). In this journal, Thompson and Stokes (2023) recently illustrate the career pathways of female principals in Australian secondary schools, concluding that their system is disadvantageous for women and that broadly taking on middle leadership roles seems like their common pathway, but can take over 20 years in the role of a teacher to get there. This study contributes to this discussion focusing on Sweden.
In Sweden, there is no obligation to be either qualified or experienced as a teacher to become a principal. Moreover, during the 1980s, the Swedish state financed a revitalization of the school leadership profession through recruitment circles where a specific goal was to increase the proportion of women (Pont et al., 2009, 157). Today, an overwhelming majority of school leaders in Swedish compulsory schools are women (Swedish National Agency for Education [SNAE], 2020). However, we yet do not know much about the trajectory of becoming a principal in Sweden, but we do know that novice principals tend to only work for a short time as principals. After three years, nearly 40 percent of the principals already had left the profession and after five years almost 60 percent had quit. Of these, only one in three remained at all in the school system (SNAE, 2020). These principals have just finished their 3-year mandatory in-service education to principals that they conduct in parallel with their work (Jerdborg, 2022, 2024). When those selected and trained to be principals do not stay on to develop expertise but resign and move on, this means severe losses in competence that affect the schools and the school system. Moreover, recruiting and educating new cohorts of principals every third to fifth year entails great economic costs and overall, this phenomenon reveals some sort of system failure that needs to be addressed. As a consequence, the Swedish government in the spring of 2024 appointed an inquiry that will review principals’ conditions for leading the work at their school, both in terms of the scope of the principal's assignment, and the qualification requirements to be allowed to work as principal (Dir., 2024, 48).
Stevenson (2006) argues that research needs to investigate what factors shape principals’ career trajectories while moving towards and into principalship because focusing on the early phase of principalship can reveal why and how individuals become principals which can bring clues to why they remain or leave the profession. Investigating principal pathways also reveals the priorities of education systems and the types of leadership promoted (Gunter, 2004). That is, to advance our knowledge of the pre-entry and entry stages of principalship, the push and pull factors across countries should be investigated (Montecinos et al., 2022). Furthermore, Davis and Bowers (2019) argue that understanding the career pathways of principals requires investigating micro, meso, and policy in combination since pathways are experienced subjectively, and guided by professional norms, policy incentives, and policy restrictions.
Although studies have focused on the pathways of principals (e.g., Bolívar and Moreno, 2006; Murphy, 2023; Spillane and Lowenhaupt, 2019; Sugrue, 2015), many aspects remain understudied (Murphy, 2023). What we do know is that the recruitment basis for educational professions has changed over a long period, both in Sweden and internationally. In this way, more women have become principals. In compulsory schools, women are now in the majority in Sweden, more often with a background in preschools or EduCare (Rapp et al., 2011). This study investigates the career trajectories of newly appointed compulsory school principals in Sweden by investigating their pre-entry and entry stages of becoming a principal, focusing on the principals’ professional experiences and their trajectory to the principalship. The aim of the study is to investigate if, and if so, how the Swedish education system nurtures ‘new generations’ of principals in terms of successors and what motivates individuals to enter the position of principal. The focus is not on any specific generation as such (Arsenault, 2004) but on what implicitly spurs wanting to take on a position as principal. Three research questions guide this study: (1) When, how and what motivates and prompt individuals to become a principal? (2) How can these motivating and prompting factors be understood? (3) What professional and personal experiences do principals assess as critical for their career journey? Zooming in on what motivates individuals to enter the position of principal, and investigating how this in all can be understood means uncovering the black box of experiencing system structures, that is, zooming out from micro to macro. Here, ‘the Swedish education system’ comprises all educational providers and persons involved in these that individuals encounter as students or as employed and are investigated retrospectively through the career journeys of the principals.
The next section briefly describes how the Swedish education system develops principals and how previous research engages the themes described above.
Contextualizing Sweden
In Sweden, municipal and independent school organizers engage principals for employment, relating to that the principal position is regulated by national governing documents. The practice of decentralized employment processes has become common in many countries. In the Nordic countries, local authorities mainly decide on headmaster appointments, as is also the case in Scotland, Hungary and Chile. In many other European countries, the decision is even more decentralized, made at school, by the school board (Pont et al., 2009). Having ‘pedagogical insight through education and experience’ is a formal employment requirement in Sweden (Prop., 1989/90:41). Educational insight is gained through pedagogical education at the university level. Such education does not have to lead to a pedagogical profession such as teaching. Experience is not required to be from the educational sector. That is, the recruitment of principals can include candidates who are neither teachers nor have practical experience in teaching (Swedish Schools Inspectorate [SSI], 2014; SNAE, 2021). This is quite unusual, as most countries besides Sweden and the Netherlands have teacher qualification and teaching experience as eligibility criteria for a principal position (Pont et al., 2009). This makes Sweden an interesting context to investigate principal trajectories. However, statistical information shows that most individuals who become school principals in Sweden have formerly worked as a teacher and hold a pedagogical, i.e., often a teacher, university degree (SNAE, 2023). For compulsory school principals, 82 percent of those aged 30–39, and 90 percent of those aged 50–65, hold a pedagogical university degree (SNAE, 2023). As the selection and appointment processes of principals are not specifically formalized beyond ordinary rules and regulations applying to the whole labour market, we do not know much about this process in Sweden (Pont et al., 2009).
In Sweden, there is no requirement for preparatory principal training to gain an appointment as a principal. However, a new preparatory programme has been launched by the Swedish National Agency for Education (SNAE, 2021). This programme is voluntary and has a qualification criteria of teacher licence. This implies that a teacher licence is going to be a criterion for principalship shortly in Sweden. Newly appointed principals must complete the National Principal Training Programme (NPTP), a 3-year in-service programme, made mandatory in 2010, provided by universities on behalf of the SNAE within their first four years of working as a principal. It takes approximately 20 percent of principals’ working time for three years to complete the NPTP (Jerdborg, 2022). This programme is mandatory for principals but voluntary for assistant principals. The procedure with no initial training and a mandatory in-service programme is unique for Sweden, providing an interesting case for study and exploring newly appointed principals’ recollections of their career trajectories.
The Swedish education system is predominantly public. Both municipal schools and independent schools are financed by the public. In schools, teachers are most often organized in teams led by a teacher. This function can be termed in diverse ways, but a collective name is ‘middle leader’. About a decade ago, a reform was launched in Sweden, providing state-regulated formal middle leading positions, termed first-teacher. Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic (2019) found that teachers who applied for such a position reported their motivation to be a blend of curiosity, need for professional development, being recognized as skilful, and persuasion. Once taking on their position, they experienced both internal and external rewards as well as opportunities and challenges. The ones who maintained their roles experienced professional satisfaction because their work functioned as support for the sake of others (students, colleagues and school leaders). External rewards in terms of professional recognition and a higher salary were also mentioned. Moreover, Alvehus et al. (2019) show that the first teacher reform influences the work of principals since principals use middle leaders in their leadership practices. Further, some school providers in Sweden engage assistant principals. This often depends on the size of a school and how the municipal or independent school provider organizes their work. In many Swedish compulsory schools, there are no other formal positions among the pedagogical workforce but teacher, eventual first teacher and the principal. Most compulsory school students in Sweden, aged 7–16, attend municipal schools. In these schools, about 3470 principals are engaged as leaders (SNAE, 2023).
Principal pathways and career trajectories
Montecinos et al. (2022) conclude that research questions about pathways to principalship vary over time in response to broader questions about educational quality, social attitudes, issues of equity, and conceptual shifts in how school leadership is understood and developed. They found that research has increased its focus on prospective principals since 2000 with the main themes of prospective principal's agency, preparation of prospective principals, and policies shaping access to the principal position (Montecinos et al., 2022). Most often, novice principals have been accredited and socialized into a teaching profession early in their working lives (Ringel et al., 2004). That is, understanding how principals’ careers advance also means understanding teachers’ experiences and motivations as they progress through their careers, eventually becoming principals (Day and Lee, 2011; Stevenson, 2006). However, most teachers are not at all motivated to become principals (Pont et al., 2009). Career trajectories are in general influenced by structural factors and individual agency, both important aspects to consider while shaping career paths (Archer, 2012; Edwards, 2015; Pont et al., 2009; Stevenson, 2006). In many respects, these topics are still under-researched and in Sweden the need for research on these topics is great (Pont et al., 2009).
Career and pathway are sometimes combined to describe a career pathway through a series of occupational stages (e.g., Earley and Weindling, 2007). In regions where principalship is seen as part of the teaching profession, principalship can be a stage of a teacher's career. In other countries, principalship is rather seen as a specific career (e.g., Davis et al., 2017; Ritacco and Bolívar, 2019). Spillane and Lowenhaupt (2019) conclude that all sorts of individuals with all sorts of experiences and abilities become principals. Common motivators are personal fulfilment and a sense of social obligation or responsibility. Moreover, principalship can be a stepping stone or become a means to leave work that no longer provides sufficient challenges. This aligns with Donaldson’s (2007) argument that a lack of developmental challenges is a reason for skilled teachers to leave the profession (and eventually become principals). This means that some individuals actively seek a principal position while others might be convinced by others (Spillane and Lowenhaupt, 2019). Documenting novices as well as veteran principals using a life story approach, Sugrue (2015) concludes that creating appropriate pathways and structures for principals is a necessity for leadership preparation to be embedded in larger systemic efforts. Furthermore, Murphy (2023) concludes that new leaders must have opportunities to engage in qualitative preparatory and developmental experiences because social and cultural processes inherently socialize and form a leader's identity, while Thompson and Stokes (2023) conclude that there are enablers in terms of being strategic and brave, getting support and preparation, as well as challenges in terms of overcoming stereotypes, underestimating one's skills, and for women to overcome gendered expectations. In Sweden, Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic (2019) argue that skilled teachers are often persuaded to leave teaching because of societal views on careers that, for example, view principalship as a more desirable job in education. Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic (2019) propose highlighting career development in terms of gaining continuous knowledge and inspiring challenges throughout working life within any school profession. Moreover, studies of Swedish principals have touched on issues related to careers while investigating other issues. One such study is Nordholm et al. (2023), studying the identities of newly appointed principals, finding that professional identity and career as a teacher shape their projection of what it means to be a school leader. Furthermore, 18 of their 87 respondents reflected on their former engagement in middle leadership as an initial development to become a principal, even though an explicit question about middle leadership was never asked. Middle leadership has been in focus of research in Sweden (e.g., Alvehus et al., 2019; Alvunger, 2015) as well as distributed leadership (e.g., Liljenberg, 2015). These studies did not focus on middle leaders’ roles as part of a principal career trajectory but revealed tensions between middle leaders, teachers, and principals. Alvehus et al. (2019) show that middle leaders affect and stratify the teacher's corps while selected by principals. Thus, this study has the potential to qualify their observations from the perspective of novice principals.
Theoretical and conceptual points of departure
Mid-career is a time when viewing work as a job, a career, or a calling comes into sharper focus. Mantler et al. (2022) explored mid-career work orientations and found that those who approached work as a calling engaged in work more intensely than those who approached work as a mere job. Furthermore, career-oriented workers moved between jobs more frequently, had greater turnover intentions, less work engagement, lower career satisfaction, and were conducting more career comparisons. Montecinos et al. (2022) conclude that career choices of principals result from an interplay of structures and agency but that further research is needed to better understand how principals make sense of their transition to the role. In Archer’s (2000a) view, social objects possess necessary and contingent properties and powers. Necessary properties are essential for the existence of a social object, while contingent properties are circumstantial. As they also relate to other objects, a combination of such objects forms a structure. A school has necessary properties such as a location, teachers and students but these are contingent in terms of separate buildings, characteristics and their motivation to learn. They are also relational. In combination, they form a structure. In this study, structures in the educational sector are approached empirically as studying a social phenomenon needs to approach social relationships within structures. That is, structures emerge from the activities of people, and they only exert any effect when mediated through the activities of people (Archer, 2000b, 465). That is, Archer (2007) provides an analytical dualism which is neither individualist nor structuralist and where humans both form society and are formed by society. This inseparability between structures and agency is regarded as a central conflation. Thus, relationships between personal, social and cultural resources that emerge, develop and become transmitted over time, influencing decision-making and action within the education sector, can be explored. This approach applies well to studying the Swedish context. In this study, societal structures overlap with, but also differ from, social structures as the former must be systemic by nature affecting the structures of society while the latter can be small-scale and local (cf. Lin and Chen, 2016).
In Sweden the pathways to becoming a principal have been informal and with unclear supportive societal infrastructures for a long time, that is, with no clear steps of middle leading or preparatory courses and vague qualification criteria (cf. Ärlestig and Leo, 2023; Huber and Hiltmann, 2010; Liljenberg et al., 2022). Thus, informal social structures and the agency of individual principal candidates and employers are assumed to significantly influence the school system. However, we do not know who or why individuals decide to become principals in Sweden, or what support or challenges they face along the way. More research focusing on these issues would be of great value (Author, 2022). In addition, Sweden as a welfare state regime has for long had ambitions to foster broad structural conditions to affect individuals to participate in adult education, aimed at overcoming both structurally and individually based barriers and promoting broadened recruitment to higher education (Rubenson and Desjardins, 2009). If this is influencing the corps of teachers and principals in the long run is an important national interest, but also to compare internationally.
Dyke et al. (2012) argue that Archer's approach to reflexivity provides a valuable lens with which to understand how education and career pathways are navigated. They found societal discourses and changing opportunities to be linked in a dynamic relationship between individuals and changing circumstances in which reflexivity helped people navigate, activating different modes of reflexivity in different aspects of people's lives. In Archer’s (1995) view, individuals reflect on their social situation through inner dialogue or internal conversation, and form projects to realize their values (Archer, 2003). That is, internal conversations govern agents’ responses to social stability or change.
According to Archer (2003), the unique configuration of concerns defines identity. Furthermore, concerns are linked to learning throughout life through discernment (Archer, 2007, 106). Discernment serves to highlight people's concerns without discriminating between them, that is, actual and possible items of concern are considered. Moreover, deliberation means prioritizing, accommodating and subordinating concerns simultaneously, and dedication means realizing projects that could eventually lead to the establishment of a sustainable living style (i.e.,
Archers’ (2003) concept of concerns, projects and practices has formerly been used to investigate how women professors navigate shortcomings and conflicts. Castelao-Huerta (2023) finds out how these women professors modify structures in their careers. Archer (1995) emphasizes that society is shaped and reshaped based on a dynamic interplay between structures and human agency. Thus, individuals are not only socialized by society but also reproduce or transform the social and cultural structures they inhabit (Bhaskar and Archer, 1998). However, reflexivity and awareness make people both limited and free as they approach limitations and possibilities, affecting what becomes possible to achieve (Archer, 1995). Such approaches are of particular interest in this study.
Paralysis of personal powers leads to passive agents – that is, people who do not take a stance but to whom things ‘happen’ (Archer, 2007). Hence, stances are basic orientations of subjects to society that occur as evasive, strategic, or subversive, each representing an overall pattern of response to the totality of structural powers. Archer (2007) constructed a typology from her empirical studies in which individuals had a ‘dominant mode’ of reflexivity playing out as a response to structures. The mode was either communicative, autonomous, meta, or fractured. This means, the stance is a generative mechanism at the personal level with the tendency to regulate relations between people and society constituting the micro-macro link (Archer, 2003). This typology of reflexive types has been criticized as static and incomplete in describing reflexivity in different situations (e.g., Dyke et al., 2012). Dyke et al. (2012) explore Archer’s (2000a, 2007) work as an alternative approach to reflexivity and its mediating role between individual action and social structures. They found the reflexive types as static in Archer's description as Dyke et al. (2012) found that an individual could adopt different modes in different life situations. However, Archer (2007) agrees and redefines types as active components shaped by the individual's awareness to fit their current position in society. Therefore, these types are approached empirically in this study, aligning with Dyke et al.'s (2012) approach, meaning that how types play out in a certain situation needs to be approached empirically. Further, in this study concerns are framed by the emotional dimension of a professional identity as a composite of professional, situated and personal components affecting but not determining agency. The professional component reflects the ideals of a good principal. The personal component is linked to family and social roles, while the situated or socially located component reflects a local school by the conditions, teachers, students and demographics (Crow et al., 2017). This expands the theoretical frame to nuance principal trajectories which are shown in Table 1.
A simplification of theoretical and analytical frame.
Methods and data
This article is based on data from a qualitative study focusing on novice principals in Sweden, participating in the educational programme of NPTP. Being mandatory, this was a useful location for the selection of novice principals. A sampling frame was designed to select principals aligning with external factors of the average compulsory school principal in Sweden regarding gender; even distribution of responsibilities (grades 1–3, 4–6, and 7–9); and leading a municipal (80%) or independent school (20%) (SNAE, 2023). Such a selection was also achieved. Descriptive features are illustrated in Table 2.
Descriptive features of study participants.
The selection meant a variety of compulsory school circumstances were included but not that those included should represent any ‘typicality’ or ‘representativeness’ in themselves (Thomas, 2011). Rather they were selected as an example of being a novice principal. The principals were informed about the study and asked to participate. They were also informed about the possibility of withdrawal at any point. Fourteen principals who aligned with the selection criteria and confirmed to participate were selected and gave their written consent.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the sites of the NPTP and their workplace. Interviewing the principals twice meant that they could further reflect on their professional and personal experiences critical for their career journey and re-construct their trajectories as they tell and re-tell their stories. All interviews were conducted during their third and final year in the NPTP. The three years of participation in the NPTP is viewed as their induction period to principal, meaning the principals are viewed as novices during this period as they are obligated to begin in the NPTP within one year after gaining a position as principal. In their third year, they all gained some distance from their former trajectory to enable reflection. The first interview started with an open-ended question prompting a life history narrative. Based on their narration, follow-up and semi-structured interview questions were asked. The second interview was introduced by letting the principals reflect on and write their professional priorities on Post-it Notes followed by two rounds to develop their thoughts on these matters as their reflections about priorities may be linked to their motivation and engagement. Thereafter, other semi-structured questions were asked, for example, the principals described their thoughts about their future professional life and career, as well as whether they could imagine working as a teacher in the future. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim manually. For this article, the interview data were used to explore the pre-entry and entry stages of becoming a principal, focusing on experiences of their professional background and their trajectory to the principalship.
Data analyses
The analyses are based on the 28 interviews constituting 14 individual cases, but across-case comparisons were also conducted. The analyses followed an abductive approach (Levin-Rozalis, 2010) embracing the steps of condensation, display and conclusion (Miles et al., 2014). This meant being context-sensitive, although, a structure was formed by the theoretical constructs of concerns, projects and practices, linked to the emotional dimension of a principal's professional identity as a composite of professional, situated and personal components (Crow et al., 2017). The interview transcriptions provided important aspects to deepen the understanding of who, why and when a person enters the principal position. Data condensation made clear that the principals had described their early career concerns explicitly and their shaping of early projects before narrating their later concerns and later projects. Considering alternative ways of making sense of these themes, Archer’s (2007, 2012) theorizing helped make sense of the findings.
In the condensation stage of analyses, data were ‘moulded’ to codes that could represent them: professional background, educational background, middle leadership assignments, the employment process, career deliberations and personal dovetailing. The analytical concepts of structure and agency were guiding the analyses. Structure was approached by focusing on how structural aspects influenced individuals in terms of their conditioning powers and agency was approached by focusing on resistance or acceptance of conditioning powers playing out as motivating factors, actions and critical experiences.
The display stage revealed previous professional lives and transition to the principalship. Moreover, the display stage compiled and organized the concerns with engagement into an overview mode in a matrix (Table 3). In the conclusion phase, thick descriptions and in-depth illustrations were constructed to reveal the results. Quotations were selected to illustrate the typical forming of projects, that is, even as projects were formed individually and were related to a certain context, there still were general patterns found when these were compared over cases. The quotations were also selected to show deliberations. Deliberation encompasses how people evaluate their projects in the light of their circumstances (Archer, 2007, 34). In all, quotations illustrate the interplay between societal structures and individual agency and the power at play that accounts for differences functioning as examples of an overall pattern. By their selection eventual outliers were reduced, meaning the data were checked for representativeness, ‘unpatterns’ and negative evidence. All names included in quotes or tables are fictitious.
Former career and teacher qualification of principals.
The key factors were condensed to context (contributed by the socio-cultural structure) and concern (contributed by active agents). They were related and together they generated a mode of reflexivity capable of exercising both internal and external causal powers (Archer, 2003). The conclusion drawing was made through the narration and is displayed in a matrix (Tables 4 and 5). Three components of emotional identity – professional, situated and personal (Crow et al., 2017) – were used to explore the balancing act in the dedication phase (Archer, 2007). A simplification of the analytical frame is presented in Table 1.
Principals’ pathways to principalship–their assignments to middle leadership functions.
Results and analysis
The results revealed three phases of concerns and each of these are first presented. Second, agency and structure are engaged with, through the study findings of essential concerns, stances and two distinct ways of approaching principalship.
Three phases of concerns
Describing their former concerns seemed fundamentally important to the interviewees. That is, they narrated their career development, describing important discernments, considerations and deliberations throughout their working lives, explaining why they chose one occupation over other possible ones during their professional life and career. The analysis reveals three distinct phases of concerns and projects in terms of prior concerns, pre-entry concerns, and entry concerns (to a principal's practice) (Figure 1).
The three phases of concerns and projects in the principals’ career narratives.
All principals in this study had both a teacher's license and teaching experience. However, nine of the fourteen principals also referred to an occupational background other than teaching. This indicates that there have been decisive and important deliberations and dedications earlier in their professional lives. In the following section, the prior concerns phase and the pre-entry concerns phase are explored.
Prior concerns phase
Prior phase concerns and the project of becoming a teacher
Not all principals in the study chose the teaching profession as their early career. Their former career along with their project to qualify as a teacher is visualized in Table 3.
That is, at some point in their working lives they chose to become a teacher. This can be termed a value-based concern: the desire to contribute to society, to students and the teaching profession in general. Furthermore, it could also be the result of striving towards one's values and ideals: I didn’t know who I wanted to become professionally and dropped out of high school to work in the service sector. My mom told me that she thought I should become a teacher. And I said, well I shouldn’t. However, in my mid-twenties, I was out of work and began to try to figure out what to become. I went to Komvux [secondary education for adults] to study for a high school diploma. The Komvux teachers made me understand I had more ability than I ever thought, which became a very important insight for me. Out of that, I decided to become a teacher. Beginning the following year, I began to study all the subjects I needed to enter teaching college. I was a qualified teacher when I was thirty-two. (Therese)
As these individuals reflected on their social situation, they eventually started to form projects to realize their concerns. Furthermore, their projects led to forming some sort of dedication to becoming a teacher. Their transformation into qualifying as a teacher was based on diverse personal concerns, for example, a need to change one's situation: I got educated late in life and became a qualified teacher when I was forty. Before that, I worked as a marketing assistant and transport manager. After I had my children, I felt that I was not on the right track occupationally. I went to Folk High School [independent adult education college] for a year. Their vocational guidance counsellor helped me find out and realize an old dream of working in a school as a teacher. I managed to get into the teacher training program. When I was qualified, I worked as a teacher at a junior high for nine years. (Annelie) I didn’t go straight into teacher training but had three years of vocational training to become a hairdresser. I worked as a hairdresser, as a self-employed person and in regular employment for a few years but had to change my occupational course because of allergies. I decided to go back to university and train to become a teacher. (Anette)
These kinds of making their way to become teachers eventually led to solid dedication and the establishment of sustainable teaching practices. Most (13) principals had worked for a long time as a teacher (9–20 years), in the subjects and areas they qualified for and most often stayed for a long in the same school: I have worked at a small village school, and there I have worked for 20 years. (Åsa) I had been working as a teacher in the same school for sixteen years and had a very good reputation there. We had developed a way of working together that was very beneficial. (Marina)
The following section explores why these individuals developed concerns and projects that led them away from their teacher course and into their pre-entry concern phase.
Pre-entry concerns phase
Middle leadership as a professional project
As we now know, most of the principals (13) in the study had worked many years (9–20) as a teacher. There are few exceptions – e.g., one principal (Anette) worked for several years in the state-regulated employment service after qualifying as a teacher. However, most often they stayed for a long time as a teacher in their school. Before transitioning to the principalship, the principals began a pre-entry phase characterized by discernment of situated, professional and personal concerns, which shaped their professional projects: I came to work as a team leader and first teacher at my school, and [I] started lecturing for an IT company as well, working with digital teaching materials. (Katarina) There were huge shortcomings in IT issues at my school, so I offered to help and do a lot of administrative and IT-based things. (Martin) What has led me to the principalship is probably that I have taken on administrative tasks for the last ten years because the principal at the school was the principal of two schools. And if we wanted to make it work, we had to take responsibility. I found it to be fun and stimulating, and it worked well to combine teaching with some administrative work. Eventually, it led me to apply for the first teacher position. (Åsa)
All principals except one had taken on some form of middle leadership (i.e., formal and/or informal) in their pre-entry stage. In that role, they created new experiences and insights and began to detach themselves from their previous teacher identity. Moreover, in this phase, several had taken or had been recruited to take a pre-entry preparatory course on school leadership: I thought it was interesting to be able to reach the students further than just standing in the classroom as I felt like I wanted more. I got the chance to read the Teacher Lift and got the opportunity to take a recruitment training course for school leaders. (Alexina) The principal thought six or seven years ago that I should take the “leader of the future” course at the municipality, but I wasn’t quite ready for it, so I didn’t apply. But it probably raised some thoughts and the fact that she saw this leadership side in me back then had an impact. Plus, I liked this thing about organizing and administering. (Åsa)
The principals’ middle leadership projects in their pre-entry phase are summarized in Table 4. A few of the assignments to a middle leadership function are positioned at the local educational authorities (LEA), while the other middle leadership functions are situated at schools. Most middle leadership functions are split, for example, 50 percent as a teacher and 50 percent as a school developer.
Applying to or applying from
Several principals desired to have a position where they could influence the school's development, however, they believed they could not influence school development in their middle leadership assignment. Some of the principals wanted to contribute to the school by focusing on new professional tasks: I love organization and development and I think that's why I’ve leaped from being a teacher to becoming a principal. I have been a teacher and worked with students, but I wanted something else, i.e., personnel and development and how it is connected. I have also worked as a mathematics [curriculum] developer for a few years, which means I have insights from previous education and experiences. (Monica)
That is, their professional concerns about making use of their professional skills through many years of experiences made them apply for new tasks (other levels) to change their professional situation. However, some principals were applying At the time, I had started to feel a little sad about teaching as well. I felt I had exhausted most of it. And it kind of didn’t become that interesting anymore. And I was not the best teacher, I found myself better at other things. (Martin)
Other reasons described were burnout, loss of energy and interest in teaching, unable to face the demands of teaching, and experiencing a lack of good organization and management. Becoming a principal was experienced as a solution to these problems. That is, their personal concerns to change their intertwined personal-situated-professional situation made them apply I became a team leader and place representative of the principal when he was away. This took a lot of me, [but I] like development–think it is fantastic fun to develop yourself, together with others. I also applied to the teachers’ lift to qualify to teach more subjects. You could do so when the new school law came [into effect] in 2011. Then the school's administrative coordinator quit, and I thought I should do it. Because I was a little tired of teaching and felt that I needed something else, I became a coordinator at the school. (Therese) I worked as a teacher for nine years–until I crashed. I was transferred to the development department in my municipality and came to work as a development manager there instead. (Annelie)
In the pre-entry stage of principalship, these participants shaped their situated projects of middle leadership and assisting in administrative issues (micropolitics) to take care of their pre-entry concerns (Table 5). Table five concludes and illuminates concerns, projects and practices in the prior and pre-entry stages of principalship and connects these to the emotional identity dimension by specifying connections to personal, professional and situated components making clear how they spread and differ through the two phases in terms of concerns. Moreover, how concerns are becoming generative mechanisms when activating structure in terms of dissatisfaction, promoting the development of projects to resolve dissatisfaction, and eventually leading to the establishment of a new practice is also illustrated.
Concerns and projects in the prior and pre-entry stages of principalship.
Entering concerns phase
The transition to principal
The transition to principal is explored in terms of why individuals apply for a principal position. In Sweden, there is no structured path to becoming a principal. Consequently, the trajectories principals take differ. For some, becoming a principal ‘happens’, whereas for others becoming a principal is a long-term, goal-oriented project: I was the coordinator and helped the principal. Eventually, the principal moved to work in a nearby school, and the superintendent asked me if I was prepared to step up and take the principal's position. And I wasn’t really; it wasn’t obvious to me to accept partly because I would become the boss of my former colleagues and partly because I understood that being principal is a complex profession. I had a weekend to decide. (Therese) I’ve always said I’d like to work as a principal, which is quite a provocative thing to say as a teacher, apparently. Many people reacted to it. I wanted to have proper professional knowledge beforehand though. I thought I had that when I had almost fifteen years in the profession [as a teacher]. Not until then [did] I start looking for some jobs around where I live. And then I got the chance in X municipality. (Jonas)
As shown, becoming a principal can either be a passive or active pursuit.
Approaching agency and structure
Essential concerns and resolving concerns by entering a new phase
Both value-based and personal concerns from the prior phase are resolved by entering a new phase. However, with time, new concerns arise in terms of situated, personal and professional concerns. Each phase seems to resolve some concerns while bringing on new ones. However, individual value-based concerns seem to be present throughout all phases even when meeting different kinds of structures along the way. Therefore, because these concerns might affect choices, they need to be considered. As individuals gain new skills and experiences, they desire to make use of these, most often through caring for a certain context (Figure 2).
Concerns affecting agency.
The overall pattern of response to the totality of structural powers could be termed stances, ventured as a generative mechanism at the personal level regulating relations between people and society. Stances in the study can be described as follows.
Stances as a response to structural powers
In the study, stances can be summoned as either to
How then can the influence of agency and social structure be understood in light of becoming a principal? This is in focus in the following.
Stances as a response to structural powers.
Note: The components were assessed in the analyses either as weak, neutral, or strong in terms of how they were activated by the principals in each phase.
Two ways of approaching principalship: practice or project
This study shows that even constraints (barriers) could lead to a teacher applying for a leadership position. However, even when perceived as promoters (enablers), these structures still did not lead to the establishment of long-term stable middle leadership practices. Rather, they resulted in teachers taking on middle leadership as a project. As projects tend to be time-limited and constitute a stepping stone in a career pathway, middle leadership assignments helped teachers move towards a principal position.
The results show two main paths for these novice principals: those who through their agency strive to become a principal and those who try to resolve their concerns by applying
Two ways of approaching principalship: as a practice or as a project.
Discussion
The first research question asks when, how and what motivates and prompt individuals to become a principal. The results show that the principals’ concerns started in their youth, passing through several stages before specifically embracing the idea of becoming a principal. Items of concern are one's ideals, various professional concerns such as beliefs in making use of gained professional skills, contextual considerations in wanting to help in their specific school or community, reaching a higher status, earning a higher salary, and realizing a professional identity. These are important findings as we formerly lacked research on Swedish principals’ former career trajectories (cf. Nordholm et al., 2023; Pont et al., 2009). Further, the results show strong and varied sets of supportive social structures in the prior phase as displayed in Table 6, making up for the weak professional dimension in this phase. In the pre-entry phase, there are still strong and varied sets of supportive structures (cf. Liljenberg et al., 2022; Rubenson and Desjardins, 2009). Also, the three dimensions of identity – professional, situated and personal are strong (Crow et al., 2017). However, a couple of structures are experienced as constraining and might result in new concerns, that is, for example, middle leaders finding no supportive structures to enable them to pursue their middle leading. In total, agency can thrive on experiencing structures as enabling all the way towards becoming a principal, an important addition to our knowledge on becoming a principal in the Swedish context.
The second research question asked how the motivating and prompting factors can be understood. First, the results indicate that principalship can be understood as part of the teaching profession in Sweden and as a motivating factor in a teacher's career, even though a principal in Sweden neither needs to be an educated teacher nor have teacher experience (SSI, 2014). This does not imply that all teachers are motivated to become principals (e.g., Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic, 2019; Pont et al., 2009), nor that all principals are former teachers (SNAE, 2020). However, the principals in this study formed their trajectory out of their teachership. All principals in the study were certified and experienced teachers before becoming principals. One principal explicitly stated he needed several years of experience ‘on the floor’ before applying to be a principal (cf. Davis et al., 2017; Ringel et al., 2004; Ritacco and Bolívar, 2019). In contrast to what Ringel et al. (2004) found, this study shows that in Sweden teachers were not always socialized into the teaching profession early in their working lives. Rather, teaching can be a career choice made later, even in mid-career. In Sweden, such career adjustments are supported by social structures which are illustrated by the results (cf. Rubenson and Desjardins, 2009).
Second, the findings show that becoming a principal can either be understood as something just happening (Nordholm et al., 2023) or as a long-term, goal-oriented project. Concerning motivating and prompting factors, the career step of becoming a principal is either approached as the individual wants more than seems possible to achieve in middle-leadership positions (cf. Donaldson, 2007; Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic, 2019) or experiences teaching as too complex and energy consuming. That is, either they are applying
Moreover, the third research question asked what professional and personal experiences principals assess as critical for their career journey. Two paths to becoming a principal were explicitly identified, i.e., approaching principalship as a practice or as a project. Archer (2003) concludes that the deliberation phase formerly was built into society, but today is shouldered reflexively by the subjects. In this study, individuals on their way to becoming a principal shoulder both the possibility of becoming a principal as well as being ‘forced’ to leave the teaching profession because ‘one should strive upwards’ (cf. Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic, 2019). However, this study finds that societal structures (e.g., introducing middle leadership positions of various kinds), affect agency and evoke action, and consequently become assessed as critical experiences in career journeys by the principals. In this study, these structures evoked the possibility of becoming a principal (cf. Rubenson and Desjardins, 2009). However, some actively planned and acted to become a principal, whereas others looked at becoming a principal as an exciting project, other than teaching (Nordholm et al., 2023). This might not affect their future practices, but there is quite a risk that those who view principalship as a project will not stay in that practice for long (cf. Archer, 2003; Mantler et al., 2022; Pont et al., 2009). Future research should investigate this possibility. In Nordholm et al.'s (2023) study, middle leadership experience was found to inspire to take on a leader-identity, i.e.,
This study aligns with Stevenson (2006) in that it is important to understand teachers’ experiences and motivations as they progress through their careers and eventually become principals. The study also aligns with Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic’s (2019) results that a blend of curiosity, need for professional development, being recognized as skilful, personal specific values, and persuasion as well as professional recognition and a higher salary function as personal motivation for leaving the teaching profession. However, this study adds to their finding by studying principal former career trajectories and not only those of teachers. Moreover, like Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic (2019), this study found that social pressure regarding career advancement influenced career decisions, in their study to become a first teacher, this study adds to their finding by showing this also applies to pursuing principalship. These results contribute to the knowledge field of school leadership by clearly showing that some structures (e.g., structures that support lifelong learning) influence whether individuals decide to pursue becoming a teacher or even a principal with the Swedish setting as a formidable example (cf. Rapp et al., 2011; Rubenson and Desjardins, 2009). This study shows that constraints (barriers) could lead to a teacher applying for a leadership position (cf. Rubenson and Desjardins, 2009). However, even when perceived as prompting (enablers), these structures still did not lead to the establishment of long-term stable middle leadership practices but resulted in teachers taking on middle leadership as if it were a project. Thus, middle leadership assignments prompted moves towards a principal position. The social discourse of personal fulfilment, possibilities for further studies, as well as personal support are also societal structures in Sweden that prompt career agency and action (cf. Alvehus et al., 2019; Alvunger, 2015; Archer, 2012). This study shows that within the teaching profession, structures encourage teachers to stay in their schools for extensive periods (Thompson and Stokes, 2023). Their original ideas of contributing to society still thrive but become directed towards their school, students and colleagues, i.e., take a situated character (cf. Hirsh and Bergmo-Prvulovic, 2019; Liljenberg, 2015). This study contributes by nuancing former studies, showing that individual value-based concerns seem to be present throughout all phases even when meeting different kinds of structures along the way. Thus, these need to be specifically considered while shaping principal pathways as these concerns might affect choices (Liljenberg et al., 2022; Sugrue, 2015). Future studies should investigate why and how teachers’ situated concerns last (or are abandoned) while they jump the stepping stones on their career pathway (cf. Spillane and Lowenhaupt, 2019).
This study uses interviews to explore narrated career stories of novice principals, a strategy that provides rich qualitative data. However, this approach also has limitations, for example by only including a limited number of principals and following their journey by their recollections. It would also be interesting to specifically investigate trajectories to principalship for individuals who were not formerly teachers. Future studies could contribute by taking such an approach. Moreover, a study design where a spread between urban and rural principals as well as between small and large school organizations would be relevant and is proposed as a future direction for research. Future studies could preferably use a longitudinal design and complement by using external data on principal career trajectories if such data could be produced. Yet, the study contributes to the international literature by illustrating how principals in Sweden navigated their pathway, showing that structures that support lifelong learning influence individuals to pursue becoming a teacher or even a principal which is important. However, further studies should investigate who and why leave their job after only a short time as a principal (SNAE, 2020).
Conclusion
This study investigates career trajectories of newly appointed principals in Sweden to find out if, and if so, how the Swedish education system nurtures ‘new generations’ of principals in terms of successors and what motivates individuals to enter the position of principal. This study contributes to previous research on principals’ careers by showing how structures promoting career pathways empower agency to resolve their concerns all the way to principalship. That is, in the Swedish system, individual agency nurtures individuals to become a principal. In addition, this study illustrates how the principals approached and became attracted to principalship either as a practice or a project, using Archers’ concepts of concerns, projects and practices, a theoretical frame that preferably can be used to study career pathways. However, this study found that some principals view their work as a short-term career project, an issue that warrants further study.
Recommendations for stakeholders
These results are of practical relevance for stakeholders and practitioners in that schools and school organizers must promote sustainable principal practices by shaping supportive structures for their principals. In addition, the findings implicate the importance of promoting principalship as practice. Thus, this study emphasizes that a clear structure/path is needed to become a principal and that the motive, both for becoming a principal and for recruiting principals, cannot simply be a need to escape from being a teacher. Instead, insight is needed about the importance of developing a sustainable and skilled professional practice as a principal. Moreover, policymakers should help find routes where teachers still can use their skills and experience so that they do not have to jump into principalship to get satisfactory use of their skills, as principalship as a short-term career project needs to be counteracted.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
