The Importance of School Principals in Building Teacher and Student Well-Being and Promoting Academic and Social Learning: The Norwegian Case

Despite that decades of research on successful principals has provided analyses of what constitutes success in different contexts, there is still a need for research considering the complexity of context when performing leadership. This chapter presents an investigation on how a Norwegian principal in an upper secondary school leads the leadership team, the teachers, and the students in creating and experiencing a successful school. The purpose of this chapter is to position the Norwegian school principal’s role within a broader template by investigating contextual human behavior in relation to student well-being and academic achievement. The aim is to increase knowledge of what constitutes a successful principal’s practice in the Norwegian education context. A deeper understanding of success takes into account the interdependency between the different leadership levels in the school. This case study nuances the role of middle leaders and demonstrates the complexity involved within the daily strategic practices of leading schools, whereas tensions between the strong principal and the middle leaders can develop.