The educational system in Sweden, as well as in other European countries, has undergone major organizational changes the last decades. We have witnessed a transformation from a centralized homogeneous system to a decentralized heterogeneous system in which local political authorities as well as school professionals have been granted a higher degree of discretion or autonomy. This change has major implications for the professional identity of school principals (Jacobsson & Sahlin-Andersson 1995). In the centralized system, the professional identity of school principals was closely associated with the school and its educative goal. In the decentralized system, where greater emphasis has been put on schools as independent organizational entities, their professional role is more and more being associated with that of a manager. The transforming professional identity of school principals has been traced to the activities of their professional associations at the national level (Tillberg 2003; Hallerström 2006). However, we know less about how individual principals themselves view their professional role. The first purpose of the paper is to study the professional identity of school principals at the local level. The paper reports findings from case studies in two Swedish municipalities. Interviews have been conducted with local politicians, bureaucrats and principals. Preliminary results show significant differences between principals in the two cases. In one municipality the principals first and foremost orient themselves towards the schools and the teachers whereas they, in the other municipality, are oriented towards the political and administrative system to a higher degree. To account for these differences, the second purpose of the paper is to develop a theoretical argument based on the organizational literature in general and the literature on the role of professionals in organizations in particular (Scott 1966; Blau & Scott 2004, 1962). The way we organize or structure activities to reach a certain goal, for instance in education, will have implications for the role conceptions and behaviors of the actors in the organization. Since educational systems are highly political systems (Jarl 2008; Jarl, Kjellgren & Quennerstedt 2008; Wirt & Kirst 2005; Blase & Anderson 1995), it is reasonable to assume that the professional identity of principals is constructed in relation to the organization of the political process in the municipality. Preliminary results show differences between the municipalities in terms of the organization of the political process and, more specific, the relations between politicians, bureaucrats and professional actors. One of the municipalities is found to have a strong organizational culture: the actors share a basic understanding about their specific roles and how they should relate to each other and, also, they act according to it. In the other municipality the organizational culture is weaker. Even though the actors have a common idea about their roles and relations, they do not act according to it. Finally, the identity of the principals varies with the organizational culture: In the municipality where there is a strong organizational culture, principals are oriented or loyal to the political and administrative system. In the municipality where the organizational culture is weaker, their loyalty rests mainly with the school and the teachers.

Case studies in two Swedish municipalities. The data in the study consists of in-depth interviews with school principals, local politicians that are members of the education board in the two municipalities and bureaucrats in the educational sector in the two municipalities. In total about 40 interviews were conducted. The data also consists of formal documents from the two municipalities, such as protocols from meetings in the education board and policy documents.

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