Public schools in democratic countries have been crucial in transmitting democratic and moral values to each generation of children and youth. Given the increasing political polarization, social division, and authoritarian policies of various leaders, democratic countries must protect the freedoms enjoyed by their citizens.

Our paper focuses on public schools in Sweden, Spain, and the United States (specifically the state of Tcxas), all of which are considered democratic nations, each with a unique national, historical social, and political context which is necessarily reflected in their public schools.  Although public schools in all three countries are acknowledged as critical to the maintenance of their democratic societies, unlike Spain, political support for these schools has been gradually decreasing in Sweden and the United States (Minkin, 2024). The degree to which the core mission of public schools in maintaining the democratic societies in which they are located, varies considerably across our three countries.  In Sweden and the U.S. (and Texas in particular), enrollment in public schools is decreasing as support for alternatives to public schools, such as vouchers for private schools, and corporate-backed charter schools continue to grow in popularity. (Summers, Mehta & Riddle, 2024). Although Spain guarantees universal access to education for all children, 6 to 16 years of age, and there is strong political support for inclusive schools that promote social justice and democracy, these standards are not strictly enforced in private-subsidized schools.  These schools receive less funding than public schools; consequently, they demand fees from families, which excludes some children from low-income families from enrolling in these schools. (Gortazar et al., 2024).

Public education in all three countries lacks the resources required to meet the complex needs of the children and families they serve.  Faced with insufficient levels of funding and constrained by bureaucratic demands related to accountability, educators report increasingly high levels of stress and frustration.  The number of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers arriving in Sweden, Spain, and Texas has grown in the past decade and brought new challenges to the public schools with respect to cultural, linguistic, and religious differences. (Domingo Coll & Bernad Cavero, 2019; Mahía & Medina, 2022)(OCDE, 2024).  In addition to proving an inclusive education for children with a broad range of special needs, educators are expected to attend to issues of gender equality.  Faced with a lack of support for doing their work, the number of teachers and school leaders in all three countries who are leaving the profession has grown substantially in the last five years (Diliberti & Schwartz (2023).

Guided by the premise that democracy requires a thriving, free public education system, we explore the challenges faced by the administrators of these schools, guided by the following research questions:

a)     What are the similarities and differences in the challenges that public school administrators are currently facing in each of the three countries with respect to providing a democratic and fair education to their students?

b)    What are the implications of these challenges for public school administrators and the democratic societies they are supposed to support?

c)     How are public school administrators responding to these challenges?

Our research is informed by the literature on three aspects of principal identity: 

1) principal leadership identity (e.g. Crow, Day and Møller, 2017; Cruz-Gonzalez, Rodrigues and Segovia, 2019; Robertson, 2017)

 2) The influence of ethics and values on principal identity (e.g. Begley & Johansson, 2003; Kafa & Pashiardis, 2019)

3) principal identity with respect to social justice action and advocacy (e.g. Curle, 1972; Ryan 2007; Shields, 2004)

Begley, Paul & Johansson, Olof, (2003) Eds. The Ethical Dimensions of School Leadership. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Crow, Gary, Day, Christopher & Møller, Jorunn (2017). Framing research on school principals’ identity. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 20(3), 265–277. Cruz-González, C.; Rodriguez, C. & Segovia, J. (2019). A systematic review of principals’ leadership identity from 1993 to 2019, Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 49(1). https://doi-org.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/10.1177/1741143219896 Curle, A. (1972). Mystics and Militants: A Study of Awareness, Identity and Social Action. Tavistock Publications. Diliberti, M. & H. Schwartz (2023). Educator turover has markedly increased, but districts have taken actions to boost teacher ranks: Selected findings from the Sixth American School District Panel Survey. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA956-14.html Domingo Coll, J., & Bernad Cavero, O. (2019). Inmigración, territorio y escuela: un triángulo no equilátero. European Journal of Child Development, Education and Psychopathology, 7(2), 209. https://doi.org/10.30552/ejpad.v7i2.122 Gortazar, L., Martinez, A., & Bonal, X. (2024). El coste de acceso a la escuela concertada en España. Kafa, A., & Pashiardis, P. (2019). Exploring school principals’ personal identities in Cyprus from a values perspective. The International Journal of Educational Management, 33(5), 886-902. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-03-2018-0102 Mahía, R., & Medina, E. (2022). Informe sobre la Integración de los estudiantes extranjeros en el sistema educativo español. https://www.inclusion.gob.es/oberaxe/es/publicaciones/documentos/documento_0153.htm Minkin, R. (2024). About half of Americans say public K-12 education is going in the wrong direction. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/04/about-half-of-americans-say-public-k-12-education-is-going-in-the-wrong-direction/ OCDE (2024). International Migration Outlook 2024. OECD, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/50b0353e-en Robertson, Sylvia (2017). Transformation of professional identity in an experienced primary school principal: A New Zealand case study. Educational Management Administration and Leadership 45(5), 774–789. Ryan, J. (2007). Dialogue, identity and inclusion: Administrators as mediators in diverse school contexts. Journal of School Leadership, 17, 340–369. Shields, C. (2004). Dialogic Leadership for Social Justice: Overcoming Pathologies of Silence. Educational Administration Quarterly 40 (1), 109-132. Summers, J., Mehta, J. & K. Riddle (2024). American public schools face an existential enrollment crisis. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/27/nx-s1-5090188/american-public-schools-face-an-existential-enrollment-crisis#:~:text=Enrollment%20in%20public%20schools%20has,programs%20in%20Republican%2Dleaning%20states.