Preschool teachers’ leadership : Perceptions of the mission to lead the work in the work team

The aim of the study is to provide knowledge about preeschool teachers' perceptions of their mission to lead the work in the work team. This is being studied by seeking answers to questions about what perceptions preschool teachers have of what the leadership assignment entails and how it is enacted in practice, what conditions they find important to fulfill their mission and whether the assignment is associated with challenges. The study is conducted based on a phenomenographic approach that aims to capture individuals' perceptions of a phenomenon. Data has been collected using qualitative semi-structured interviews and the selection of participants consists of nine active preschool teachers from five preschools in three different municipalities in Central Sweden. The collected data has been processed and analyzed using a phenomenographic analysis model. The result of the study shows that the mission to lead the work in the work team is perceived in a variety of ways as both meaningful and complex. An important conclusion is that the clarified responsibilities of the preschool teacher in many ways appears to be realized in practice. Another shows that the work team is of great importance to what kind of leadership that is made possible.