The research topic concerns specific conditions and forms of leadership from the perspective of Swedish folk high school[1] principals. It is part of a larger project that also includes cultural school leaders with the same aim to explore leadership.

The theoretical framework used in this study is discourse theory (Potter, 1996) for survey data and the narrative approach for interview data (Polkinghorne, 1995; Elliott, 2005). The research design includes semi-structured web surveys and group interviews via Zoom conducted in 2023-24. Out of 156 folk high school principals, 65 responded to the survey, giving a response rate of 41.67 percent. Seven of these participated in group interviews, totaling 1,5 hours split into two groups. The survey questions were both multiple-choice and open-ended, for example: “most important mission of the folk high school,” “what potential opportunities and obstacles do you experience in your job?” or “what support do you have?” The group interview questions delved deeper into the survey questions, such as: “what are  [1]  also called adult education college 

the conditions for leading the folk high school? " “how much control can the folk high school tolerate?” and “what is the most important future issue?”

Some findings from the survey show, for example, that participants as a person had the largest number of responses on the question about the most important mission with open-ended answers highlighting subthemes like “grow as a person,” “influence one’s life situation and contribute to social development,” and “understand one’s abilities and resources.” The next most important mission was education, which included aspects like “a second chance” and “giving people a different school form that suits them better.” Democracy is the third most important mission according to the respondents, with subthemes such as: "to create meetings and educate for strengthened democracy based on local conditions" 

"equality, contributing to solutions to common societal challenges" or “the pedagogical work is democracy work in sharing of experiences and transformation."

A preliminary conclusion is emerging of a leadership that does not primarily see the folk high school as an institution qualifying its participants for a profession but seeing it as a place with an education and pedagogy that have existential concerns (Biesta, 2020; Reindal, 2020), and where participants can develop in a life perspective. It requires freedom and trust from those involved to lead and create conditions to grow as a subject in a time where control and budget cuts affect the folk high school’s possibilities of continuity and even survival.

The relevance to Nordic educational research is considered high since the folk high school is a specific school form with its origins in the Nordic countries. There is a lack of comprehensive research specifically focused on the leadership of folk high schools, at the same time, the situation of the school form is being questioned, and the schools are losing financial support despite being sought for and needed as an alternative form of education. Empirical research is more than ever of importance.