This volume contributes significantly to the ongoing international and Nordic paradigm shift in educational leadership research. It advocates for going from a contemporary, mainstream functionalist paradigm to a reflexive paradigm, based on educational values and knowledge. The volume is built on the shared basis, that the purpose of education is, and must be, fundamental for school leadership practice. However, that is often forgotten in educational governance and policy. The basis of the argument is, that educational leadership needs to change from focusing on effectiveness and narrowly defined accountability towards focusing on leadership that is contributing to the general education of students. That entails that leadership research need to focus on complex perspectives like context, relations, trust, sense making and social and human values, and less on control, outcomes, accountability and testing. The volume reminds readers about the need to raise awareness of the contexts of education and research, be they political, cultural, economic or ideological. Chapters analyze, discuss and compare research from Nordic educational leadership research systems: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The cross-system insights clarify the fundamental relations between policy/governance and research/practice are and discuss forgotten dependencies and opportunities.

Lejf Moos is a Professor Emeritus in education, educational leadership and governance in the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University. He has studied education, leadership and governance for a number of years and has also published books and journal articles in Danish and English and edited books and journals.

Elisabet Nihlfors is a Professor in Education with focus on leadership and leads the research unit Research in Educational Leadership (REL) at Uppsala university. Her research includes governance of schools, leadership, policymaking and democracy.

Jan Merok Paulsen is a Professor in educational leadership affiliated to Oslo Metropolitan University in Oslo, Norway. His research interests encompass school governance, school leadership, principal training, and leading schools from the middle line of the school's hierarchy. He has co-edited a series of books and has published a number of articles in scientific journals such as International Journal of Educational Management, Journal of Educational Administration and Leadership& Policy in Schools.

Part I: Introduction.- 1. Critical potential of Nordic school leadership research; Lejf Moos, Elisabet Nihlfors, Jan Merok Paulsen.-Part II: Challenges in policy context and reality: Perspectives on research.- 2. Forgetting our intellectual histories and the implications for educational professionals ; Helen M. Gunter.- 3. Local and global? Challenging the social epistemologies of the educational leadership field; Merete Storgaard.-Part III: Dilemmas in school leadership.- 4. The Press for Technical Rationality& Dilemmas of Professional Practice: Managing Education in a Pluralistic Institutional Environment; James Spillane& Jonathan Sun.- 5. Study environments - a neglected leadership concern; Eric Larsson& Pia Skott.- 6. Horizontal structures A fundamental but forgotten perspective for superintendents in school governance?; Cecilia Bjursell& Annika Engström.-Part IV: Data-informed decision making in school leadership.- 7. The struggle for data A ghost goes through the world a data ghost; Finn Wiedemann.- 8. Principals decision-making for organizing the educational organization; Tina Bröms.- 9. Local evaluation practice as a mediating tool; Renata Svedlin.-Part V: Impact on school leadership.- 10. Leadership in upper secondary schools: Exploring new leadership roles and practices; Kristin Helstad& Hedvig Abrahamsen.- 11. The Impact of the University on Upper Secondary Education through academic subjects according to School leaders perceptions; Guðrún Ragnarsdóttir& Jón Torfi Jónasson.- 12. Well-being, based on collective trust and accountability, as a fundamental and often forgotten perspective in school leadership; Ulf Leo, Roger Persson, Inger Arvidsson, Carita Håkansson.-Part VI: Discussion.- 13. Re-centering critical potentials of fundamental but often forgotten perspectives; Lejf Moos, Elisabet Nihlfors, Jan Merok Paulsen.