Leadership in the classroom : democratic or authoritarian

The aim is to examine how teachers view their leadership, how leadership is used and developed, and what kind of perceptions teachers have of leadership and how it is important to their students. My questions are: In what ways can the teachers develop their leadership? In what ways can the teachers make use of leadership in the classroom? What do the teachers in the study consider to be a good leadership? What do the teachers inte the study think of their leadership and its´ importance to students? The study uses a qualitative research method and consists of interviews with four teachers working in a school south of Stockholm. The results of the study shows that teachers´ leadership in the classroom has a significance for students´ learning and development. The teachers´style of leadership should not be static and should be adapted to students´development level. The results also shows that teachers´ leadership in the classroom is about various tasks. The conclusions are that the teacher in her/his leadership needs to be democratic and allow students to affect the activities in the classroom, but also use an authoritarian leadership to get an effective classroom