Abstract
In this paper, the authors argue that the link between expectations, health and well-being is a fundamental and often forgotten perspective in school leadership. The principals’ work situations contain many possibilities that may evoke unclear, or negative outcome expectations, which may trigger the physiological stress response and associated feelings of stress and discomfort. These expectations are companioned with signs of an imbalance between personal resources and the challenges faced, preventing the principals from achieving their full potential for both their own benefit and that of the organization. A contributing factor to the orchestration of the principals’ stressful expectations is the introduction of more layers of leadership. This has led to a clash between different forms of accountability; distrust and uncertainty about what mandate, responsibility and accountability the principals have in their schools and, in the process, created a feeling of inadequacy among the principals.
The study is based on nine group interviews conducted in three cities. It seems like a healthy and well-functioning balance between different external expectations, challenges, resources, trust, control and different forms of accountability are health-promoting factors. Well-being will certainly be an important factor in recruiting new principals in the near future.
Keywords
- Expectations
- Principals
- Well-being
- Leadership
- Trust
- Accountability
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Leo, U., Persson, R., Arvidsson, I., Håkansson, C. (2020). External Expectations and Well-Being, Fundamental and Forgotten Perspectives in School Leadership: A Study on New Leadership Roles, Trust and Accountability. In: Moos, L., Nihlfors, E., Paulsen, J.M. (eds) Re-centering the Critical Potential of Nordic School Leadership Research. Educational Governance Research, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55027-1_12
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