Who qualifies for vacant principal positions in Sweden? Enabling trajectories to principalship

School principals are vital to schools, yet many countries struggle to attract school leaders. As a result, leadership succession planning has become increasingly important. As official job descriptions shed light on role expectations, this study uses official job descriptions from 98 job advertisements to provide an overview of pathways to principalship in Sweden. Five types of qualifications leading to principalship were identified. The main pathway involves a broad set of criteria, including a relevant university degree and prior experience as a (school) leader. Through the lens of legitimate peripheral participation, assistant principalship is seen as an inbound trajectory to becoming a full insider, while a role as teacher leader (i.e., ‘first teacher’) is considered a boundary practice. A specially qualified principal type is on an outbound trajectory towards other roles. By mapping these pathways, this study provides material that can inform policy and structural discussions.