Embedding school leaders’ professional learning in practice: praxis development through action research in Swedish municipal adult education

This study investigates the professional learning of school leaders in Swedish Municipal Adult Education (SMAE) as they engage in pedagogical leadership through action research. Conducted within a university course, the study explores how leaders address local challenges and foster praxis development by embedding learning in everyday practice. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures, analysis of leaders’ written reports reveals how they re-engaged with practice through problematisation, reconfigured practice arrangements, and enabled teacher agency. Action research emerged as both a methodological and transformative tool, supporting collaborative inquiry and reflective dialogue. Leaders shifted towards facilitative, co-constructed leadership, cultivating professional communities grounded in trust and shared responsibility. The course structure effectively integrated theory and practice, promoting sustainable educational change. While the sample size was limited, the study offers rich, practice-based insights into leadership as a relational and transformative process, contributing to the understanding of professional learning in adult education contexts.