Leadership for sustainability and democracy – critical action learning and the implementation of ESD in preschools in Sweden

Claudia Gillberg

Action Learning: Research and Practice, 2025, vol. 22, issue 2, 176-195

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical CAL project, HOLD ON, which developed leadership towards social, economic and ecological sustainability. The latter became a target area in the 2018 reform of the Swedish preschool’s national curriculum, Lpfo18. A Whole School Approach (WSA) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) theories align with CAL’s potential for positive change through cycles of reflection and action, helping pedagogical leaders to identify concerns of a systemic nature as well as areas of improvement at the micro-level. CAL enables leaders to create prerequisites that are conducive to sustainability, for example, encouraging initiative-taking, and establishing a Development Group characterised by participatory decision-making processes. Empirical data emphasise care and reciprocity as sustainable and democratic values and practices, such as vegetable growing with maximum involvement from the children. A strengthened ability to address power imbalances through CAL boosts leadership development while it also empowers children to develop agency. CAL functions as a bridge builder towards shared visions of democracy and sustainability. Heads of Preschools must negotiate ‘in the best interest of the children’ with organisations outside of preschool to continuously create favourable conditions for preschool’s social, economic and ecological sustainability and other target areas. MSpecific sustainability projects in their most minute details can empower preschool teachers and children, contributing to long-term democratic and action competence grounded in social, economic and ecological sustainability despite the paradigmatic tension between ecological sustainability and economic sustainability.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2025.2510799

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