Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased quality
Systematic quality work (SQW) has become a large part of principals’ work in preschools. This study investigates principals’ priorities in SQW in preschools and identifies measures they implement to reach quality and improvement goals. The collected research data consists of 63 action research repo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
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Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Nordisk Barnehageforskning |
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| Online Access: | https://nordiskbarnehageforskning.no/index.php/nbf/article/view/602 |
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| author | Mikael Segolsson Lene Foss |
| author_facet | Mikael Segolsson Lene Foss |
| author_sort | Mikael Segolsson |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Systematic quality work (SQW) has become a large part of principals’ work in preschools. This study investigates principals’ priorities in SQW in preschools and identifies measures they implement to reach quality and improvement goals. The collected research data consists of 63 action research reports written by the principals as part of an education training program. The researchers investigated these reports through document analysis and thematic content analysis, which generated five themes. The results demonstrate that the majority of the improvement measures prioritized by the principals are implemented according to a top-down principle and that the improvements are primarily about creating the conditions for SQW at a structural level. Furthermore, the results show that the principals develop templates for joint documentation with the aim of supporting the preschool teachers in their work, but also for everyone to document in the same manner. The most interesting result is that few of the principals’ prioritized improvement measures pertained to the national goals in terms of children’s development and learning, suggesting a discrepancy between expected and officially pronounced national goals for improvement measures in preschools and principals’ prioritized actions for enhancements.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-258c11ec32d74dc3bb24bb82d0610a0c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1890-9167 |
| language | Danish |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordisk Barnehageforskning |
| spelling | doaj-art-258c11ec32d74dc3bb24bb82d0610a0c2025-08-20T02:44:24ZdanCappelen Damm Akademisk NOASPNordisk Barnehageforskning1890-91672025-06-0122210.23865/nbf.v22.602Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased qualityMikael Segolsson0Lene Foss1Jönköping University, SwedenJönköping University, Sweden Systematic quality work (SQW) has become a large part of principals’ work in preschools. This study investigates principals’ priorities in SQW in preschools and identifies measures they implement to reach quality and improvement goals. The collected research data consists of 63 action research reports written by the principals as part of an education training program. The researchers investigated these reports through document analysis and thematic content analysis, which generated five themes. The results demonstrate that the majority of the improvement measures prioritized by the principals are implemented according to a top-down principle and that the improvements are primarily about creating the conditions for SQW at a structural level. Furthermore, the results show that the principals develop templates for joint documentation with the aim of supporting the preschool teachers in their work, but also for everyone to document in the same manner. The most interesting result is that few of the principals’ prioritized improvement measures pertained to the national goals in terms of children’s development and learning, suggesting a discrepancy between expected and officially pronounced national goals for improvement measures in preschools and principals’ prioritized actions for enhancements. https://nordiskbarnehageforskning.no/index.php/nbf/article/view/602preschool principalsquality in preschoolsystematic quality workeducational leadership |
| spellingShingle | Mikael Segolsson Lene Foss Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased quality Nordisk Barnehageforskning preschool principals quality in preschool systematic quality work educational leadership |
| title | Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased quality |
| title_full | Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased quality |
| title_fullStr | Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased quality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased quality |
| title_short | Systematic quality work in preschools: Principals’ prioritized improvement measures for increased quality |
| title_sort | systematic quality work in preschools principals prioritized improvement measures for increased quality |
| topic | preschool principals quality in preschool systematic quality work educational leadership |
| url | https://nordiskbarnehageforskning.no/index.php/nbf/article/view/602 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mikaelsegolsson systematicqualityworkinpreschoolsprincipalsprioritizedimprovementmeasuresforincreasedquality AT lenefoss systematicqualityworkinpreschoolsprincipalsprioritizedimprovementmeasuresforincreasedquality |