Leadership in the English classroom in Sweden

Abstract: The concept of teacher leadership plays a crucial role when improving global educational systems. Inthe Swedish education system, teacher leadership is critical to the delivery of the English languageinstructions. However, the types of leadership styles, factors to be considered, the strategies, and rulesused by English teachers to be effective classroom leaders are generally under-researched. Moreover,English language instruction in Sweden is affected by serious issues of concern—such as lack of clearguidelines and inadequate teacher training. In light of these problems, this study aims at identifying thetypes of leadership styles, causes of leadership failure, factors that affect leadership styles, and therules and strategies utilised by teachers to become effective leaders in the Swedish education system.To provide answers to this objective, a qualitative approach that used interviews from four participantswas utilised. The results show that the interviewees were concerned that there appeared to be nospecific teacher leadership in their professional training. In this case, interviewees claimed that thetype of leadership depends on the group of students and prevailing situations. It was also found thatlack of confidence, inconvenience decisions, and not understanding students contributed to leadershipfailure, while understanding and engaging learners, staying positive, being sensitive, and establishing apositive mind-set are the common strategies used by English teachers to become effective leaders.These findings are crucial because they will add value to the existing literature, particularly theliterature on studies that focus on teacher leadership in the Swedish English classroom.