Current Challenges in School Leadership in Estonia and Finland: A Multiple-Case Study among Exemplary Principals

Table 1

Background information about the principals and their schools.

	Raul	Kadri	Jaakko	Timo
Nationality	Estonian	Estonian	Finnish	Finnish
School location	Tallinn	Tartu	Helsinki	Helsinki
Gender	Male	Female	Male	Male
Age	40	44	52	49
Education	2 MA degrees: MA (teacher education); MA (educational management)	PhD in education; part-time work in a university teacher-training program	MA (education)	PhD in education, work in university, and docent
Work experience as a principal	9	7	11 (earlier 14 years as a vice-principal)	23
Educational level of the school the principal was heading	Basic education (grades 1–9) and general upper-secondary education (grades 10–12)	Basic education (grades 1–9)	Basic education (grades 1–9)	Basic education (grades 1–9) and general upper-secondary education (grades 10–12)
School size and context	ca 900 students in a multicultural and low SES area	ca 908 students in an average SES area	ca 1,000 students in a multicultural and low SES area	ca 1,500 students in an average and high SES area