This paper takes its point of departure in the concept of controversial issues (CI) and which CI principals in Sweden encounter and has to deal with. Defining CI in schools is topics or issues that evoke strong, conflicting opinions and perspectives among students, educators, parents and the community (Council of Europe, 2017). These issues touch upon societal, political, ethical and/or moral debates. Examples of CI in school can be climate change, equity, sexuality or migration (Larsson & Lindström, 2020). As a principal in Sweden, one main objective is to provide equal education to all citizens to achieve social and academic goals within a safe environment. The Swedish curriculum emphasizes that schools should be built on democratic values (Skolverket, 2022). Further, it is the principal’s responsibility to build a structure and culture that addresses issues such as bullying and promotes respectful behavior. Schools are expected to actively combat bullying, racism, gender inequality and other forms of discriminatory behavior or attitudes (SFS, 2010). Hence, it is one of the Swedish principals’ main tasks to handle issues that can be considered controversial based on the definition above. In that sense, principals can be understood as key actors in relation to CI in schools. However, research on school leaders and CI is scarce, primarily focusing on CI in a classroom setting and how teachers deal with these topics from a pedagogical and didactical point of view (Bauista et. al. 2018, Larsson & Larsson, 2021).

The theoretical framework used in this article has a holistic approach rooted in organizational theory. The model used is a modification of an organizational model developed by Jacobsen & Thorsvik (2021).  The model contains three areas; societal topics, formal features and informal features which will be used to understand the nature of the principals perceived CI.

When defining societal topics, it can be described as on a higher level than the other two areas and contains all conditions outside of an organization that impact school practice. This broad definition includes actors important to the organization, such as providers of services and products. Additionally, other societal developments and conditions affect organizational prerequisites. These might be difficult to interpret and identify; examples might be cultural and economic development related to policy at different societal levels such as local, national or international (Jacobsen & Thorsvik, 2021). Formal features describe an organization’s purpose and aim, formulated through goals and strategies and the formal organizational structure. Structure also relates to the internal environment, such as expectations and roles (Hoy & Miskel, 2008) and the structural framework might both enable and limit action alternatives for principals (Ahlberg, 2001). Informal features can be related to organizational culture which can be difficult to define and is sometimes understood as an invisible aspect of organizations. One way of describing culture is that it refers to beliefs, thoughts and understanding shared by a specific group. At the core of culture lie values which we learn and are socialized into. In a broader perspective, this applies to society at large and, more relevant to this article, within the organizations we operate in (Hofstede 1991). Organizational culture thus guides peoples actions and how they relate to their surroundings in connection with the activity or organization they belong to (Alvesson & Björkman 1992).

The aim of this article is to map different aspects of controversial issues that Swedish principals encounter in their profession. To meet this aim two research questions have been constructed.

1. What controversial issues does principal describe that relate to societal topics?
2. What controversial issues does principal describe that relate to the formal and informal features of their organization?

The data for this study is based on 29 semi-structured interviews (Patton, 2015) with principals. The participating principals operate in various contextual environments, including different socioeconomic contexts, rural/urban settings etc. Some of the interviewed principals have been in leadership positions for a long time, while others were relatively new to their roles. In selecting participants for the study, we aimed for diversity to capture statements from principals working in different contexts and with varying conditions. Five researchers associated with a research project called CVIL (ControVersial Issues in Leadership) conducted the interviews. One main question in the interview guide were: What controversial issues are most important to you right now as a principal? It is this question we pay extra attention to in this article in order to map different aspects of controversial issues that Swedish principals encounter in their profession. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data was analyzed in two steps. In the first step we used a conventional content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Creswell, 2007), focusing on thematizing the controversial issues raised by the principals to subsequently analyze their characteristics. In this first step we did not base our analysis on theoretical definitions of controversial issues. Thus, what the principals perceived as controversial is considered controversial in this article. Five of the participants in the research group read the interviews exploratory and created themes based on the principals’ answers. In the second step we mapped the principals’ statements using Jacobsen and Thorsviks (2021) model that contains the three areas; societal topics, formal features and informal features in order to understand the nature of the CI that principals must deal with in their leadership practice.

When analyzing the data with help of the three features presented in Jacobsen and Thorsviks (2021) model it is evident that some themes and perceptions does not fit with the model. Some themes are overlapping, and others might not fit with the model at all, which calls for an expanded analysis. However, a majority of codes were relatable to the areas of the model. In number of detected codes: • Informal features 53 • Societal topics 49 • Formal features 28 The tentative results show a preponderance of controversial issues rooted in informal features of the organization and societal topics. Informal features are issues, expressed by principals, concerning differences in pedagogical approach among staff, fraught relationships between guardians, students and teachers and controversies concerning basic norms and values. Issues concerning societal topics include, for example, gang related crimes, school and living segregation and freedom of speech and opinion. The least prevalent category concerns formal features and includes who controls the need of school development, economy and issues linked to the size of child and student groups. In our data we have principals from grades K-12 which makes it possible to analyze if principals at different levels of the educational ladder perceive different forms of controversial issues. For instance, we know, from earlier studies in the project, that principals in preschools perceive CI related to what can be described as formal features as challenging for them in their leadership (Rantala et. al. 2024). An area that is the least prominent looking at perceptions among all principals in this overarching study which indicates that the CI is perceived different in different settings and contexts.

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