Cultivating the Next Generation: How Teacher Leadership Identity Shapes Aspirational Engagement with Students in Compulsory School

Abstract

A global decline in students’ motivation and academic performance poses a serious threat to future competence supply, particularly in knowledge-driven economies such as Sweden. Despite higher education’s growing importance for economic and social mobility, the number of students pursuing such education continues to fall. This study employs a mixed-methods design using an explanatory sequential approach to explore how teachers’ leadership identity influences their aspirational engagement in shaping students’ beliefs and intentions to pursue higher education and future career opportunities. The results show that teachers who identify strongly with their leadership role exhibit a type of leadership that influences aspirational engagement with students. This, in turn, may promote students’ beliefs in their potential and intentions to pursue higher education through (1) aspirational engagement in individual dialogues with students, (2) aspirational engagement when introducing new subject areas in whole-class communication, and (3) aspirational engagement related to practical work experience (PRAO). This study demonstrates an understanding of the important potential of teachers’ contributions to elevate society’s future competence supply.

1. Introduction

A global challenge, including in Sweden as a knowledge-intensive and innovation-driven country, is ensuring the future supply of competent professionals. The future labor force of any society relies on students’ willingness to invest in higher education. Results from the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) study (OECD, 2023) reveal a concerning global trend: Many students are caught in a cycle of poor performance and declining motivation, leading to further underachievement and disengagement from schooling. One in four 15-year-olds across OECD countries is now classified as low-performing in mathematics, reading, and science, raising concerns about young people’s ability to meet the demands of higher education and future labor markets.

Higher education is central to today’s knowledge-intensive economy, and the purposes and roles of higher education have largely been economic, emphasizing employability and contributions to economic growth (Ashwin, 2020; Chan, 2018; Marginson, 2019). In many countries, universities have been driven toward closer collaboration with the labor market and regional communities to demonstrate higher education’s utility, impact, and efficiency (Brennan et al., 2018; McCowan, 2018). However, beyond its economic dimension, higher education also plays a central role in shaping modern societies by fostering knowledge, innovation, and sustainability (Baker, 2014). Its societal importance underscores the urgency of understanding how to attract and motivate young people to pursue higher education. This challenge becomes even more severe when achieving higher education has increasingly become a key prerequisite for individuals’ economic and social independence, as well as upward mobility. In today’s labor market, young people who do not pursue higher education are often perceived as less attractive candidates for employment (Neugebauer et al., 2025). Although holding a higher education degree does not guarantee employment, it substantially improves one’s employment prospects and plays a crucial role in attaining economic independence (Stans et al., 2025). Thus, the decline in students’ performance and motivation poses a threat to both individual opportunities and the national supply of competent professionals.

As reported in the World Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum, 2013), Sweden’s self-perception as a knowledge-driven society was highlighted as a cornerstone of its international competitiveness, with higher education identified as essential for sustaining innovation and long-term growth. More recent reports confirm that these challenges remain pressing. The Swedish Higher Education Authority’s overview of Swedish higher education and research (Swedish Higher Education Authority, 2023) underscores the continued importance of higher education institutions in providing national skills and supporting innovation capacity. Similarly, the OECD (2021) notes that Swedish universities play a pivotal role in supporting entrepreneurship and regional development, while the Sweden Skills Forecast (Cedefop, 2023) points to growing mismatches between education outcomes and labor market needs. Together, these findings indicate that the structural dependence on knowledge-driven competitiveness identified over a decade ago persists and that the declining achievement levels of 15-year-old students represent a significant risk for Sweden’s long-term development.

Consequently, it becomes vital to understand what motivates students to pursue higher education and how teachers can inspire such motivation through their leadership. Teachers meet their students daily, and research shows that teachers play a decisive role in shaping students’ ambitions, learning engagement, and confidence in their own abilities (Aliu et al., 2024; Shen et al., 2020; Warren, 2021). Students’ motivation and performance are profoundly influenced by teachers, who occupy a unique and powerful position in students’ educational experiences. Moreover, students’ beliefs and intentions are among the most influential determinants of academic performance and later success (Archambault et al., 2009; Guay et al., 2008; Malmström & Öqvist, 2018). Intentions to pursue higher education have been shown to be strong predictors of actual enrollment and persistence in higher education (Józsa et al., 2022). These beliefs and intentions are not formed in isolation but are shaped by the values, expectations, and relational support present in students’ immediate educational environment (Archambault et al., 2009; Guay et al., 2008; Malmström & Öqvist, 2018). Teachers, therefore, play a crucial role in cultivating students’ self-belief and future aspirations, serving as significant figures in shaping how students perceive their capacity and motivation to engage in higher education (e.g., Alcott, 2017; Van den Broeck et al., 2020).

Building on this, the aims of this study are to (1) explore how teachers’ social leadership identity—that is, how strongly teachers identify with their teacher leadership role—influences their aspirational engagement with students and (2) unpack how teachers with high social leadership identity ratings may engage with students to promote students’ self-beliefs in their own potential, encouraging them to pursue higher education and various career pathways. The first aim is addressed through a quantitative analysis guided by a theoretically grounded hypothesis, while the second aim is explored through qualitative interviews that deepen the understanding of this relationship in practice. Using a mixed methods design with an explanatory sequential approach, the quantitative analyses test the relationship between teachers’ social leadership identity and their aspirational engagement with students, while the qualitative findings illuminate how such leadership identity is enacted in practice to strengthen students’ confidence and envision higher education as a realistic and meaningful goal. By combining these empirical approaches, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of teachers’ leadership as a socially embedded practice that supports students’ educational motivation, performance, and aspirations, and it highlights how teachers’ leadership is positioned in relation to broader societal discussions about future competence supply. This study is situated within the context of compulsory schools, which in Sweden comprises the mandatory years of education for children aged 6–15, prior to upper secondary school.

2. Background

2.1. Teacher Leadership as Identity

Within education, teacher leadership has received growing attention due to its central role in improving teaching and learning for the benefit of students (Pan et al., 2023; Wenner & Campbell, 2017; York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Following Danielson (2006) and Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009), we identify teachers’ leadership as the mobilization of their available attributes to influence students at the ground level during daily school activities, both inside and outside the classroom and beyond. This broad definition recognizes multiple forms of influence on teaching, learning, and students’ motivation and performance. In this study, we focus on teacher leadership enacted at the student level within classroom interactions.

A range of leadership approaches has been identified among teachers (Maheshwari, 2022; Malmström & Öqvist, 2025; Printy & Liu, 2021), including students’ perceptions of teacher leadership (Öqvist & Malmström, 2016). Less attention has been focused on teachers’ own voices and how they themselves understand and identify with their leadership role as teachers. At the same time, research demonstrates that a strong leadership identity is positively associated with leadership behavior (Epitropaki et al., 2017). Other research (Barth et al., 2023) highlights the need to explore teachers’ self-identity with respect to their leadership role and how this is expressed in their efforts to, for example, support students’ academic potential. For this study, such identity-driven leadership may offer an important lens for understanding how teachers’ leadership is positioned in relation to broader discussions about future competence needs. Indeed, empirical evidence suggests that teachers who identify as leaders tend to cultivate classroom environments characterized by shared goals, collective efficacy, and inclusive norms (Blazar & Kraft, 2017; Goddard et al., 2004). From this perspective, leadership identity may help explain how teachers come to recognize students not only as learners but also as members of aspirational future groups: for example, university students, professionals, or community contributors. In this study, such processes are understood as ways through which teachers may reinforce students’ sense of belonging, thereby supporting their confidence in their abilities and their intentions to pursue higher education or career trajectories.

Teachers’ leadership identity is a self-referential understanding of the self in a situation and how to act accordingly, meaning that identity is expressed through actions reflecting internalized self-beliefs (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). In research, teacher leadership has also been understood both as practice and as an identity. In its practical dimension, it encompasses the activities and behaviors teachers enact in their professional roles, including student motivation, academic achievement, curriculum development, management, and collaboration (Fernández & López, 2023; Wenner & Campbell, 2017; York-Barr & Duke, 2004). This practice-oriented view focuses on engaging in behaviors associated with leadership (Malmström & Öqvist, 2025; Öqvist & Malmström, 2016), influencing colleagues (Fairman & Mackenzie, 2015), or educational and didactical skills (Warren, 2021). However, research also suggests that such practices presuppose a sense of leadership within the teacher: that is, developing effective leadership begins with teachers’ understanding of themselves as leaders and of their leadership identity (Miscenko et al., 2017; Wenner & Campbell, 2018). Such an understanding arises when individual teachers categorize their self-image in relation to other teachers’ leadership (Stets & Burke, 2000). From an individual perspective, teacher leadership identity involves internalizing what it means to be a leader as a teacher, images that guide actions and shape practice. Thus, whether teachers engage in leadership practices depends largely on the degree to which they identify with the teacher leadership role; strong identification fosters engagement, while weak identification may inhibit it (Miscenko et al., 2017).

Teacher leadership identity relates to teachers’ self-concept and how this self-image is enacted in interaction with students (Sinha & Hanuscin, 2017). Self-identity is therefore closely connected to agentic practices through which individuals create, sustain, and adapt the sense of who they are (Liu et al., 2021). Research consistently demonstrates that behavior follows from identity, as individuals act in ways that align with how they see themselves (Bunjak et al., 2024; Hogg, 2001). In this way, self-identity functions as a precursor to behavior (Pratt et al., 2006), where individuals act in ways consistent with their internalized identities, which provides a sense of purpose and belonging that guides behavior (Skilton et al., 2024). For teachers, identifying as a leader influences how they interact, communicate, and make decisions in classrooms.

Despite increased recognition of the importance of identity, limited research has explored how teachers’ self-identification as leaders relates to leadership activities that address broader educational and societal goals, such as fostering students’ aspirations for higher education and participating in work roles in society. In this study, we argue that teachers who identify strongly with their teacher leadership role are more likely to engage in aspirational engagement that supports students’ future educational and career choices, empowering students to believe in their own potential and envision meaningful career pathways forward. For teachers, identifying strongly with the teacher leadership role informs not only how they see themselves (“Who am I, and what does someone like me do in this context?”) but also how they interpret their responsibilities toward students. Such teacher leadership identity may strengthen teachers’ motivation to influence students’ educational pathways through interactions that signal to students that they are capable, valued, and legitimate participants in academic and professional communities. In this way, teachers may serve as identity agents who shape students’ emerging self-categorizations, helping them answer the questions, “Who am I, and who can I become?”

2.2. Teachers’ Aspirational Engagement with Their Students’ Future Education and Career

Building on the notion of teacher leadership as identity, we conceptualize aspirational engagement as how teachers enact their leadership identity to strengthen students’ confidence, future orientation, and perceptions of higher education as attainable. This form of leadership centers on relational practices, such as how teachers talk with, encourage, and guide students toward seeing themselves as capable learners with meaningful roles in society. Previous research has identified several beliefs influencing students’ attitudes toward higher education, including expectations of improved employability, financial benefits, and the social experience of university life (Mori, 2005; Souitaris et al., 2007). Conversely, negative attitudes may stem from beliefs that higher education offers limited career advantages, fails to provide practical skills relevant to the real world, or a general lack of desire to continue formal education (Mori, 2005).

Research also shows that teachers’ leadership is central to students’ academic performances and motivation (Aliu et al., 2024; Shen et al., 2020; Warren, 2021; Öqvist & Malmström, 2016, 2018). Johnston et al. (2021), for example, demonstrated that teachers who communicate high academic expectations through classroom interactions instill confidence in students, impacting their academic outcomes. However, less research has examined teachers’ leadership in shaping students’ self-beliefs about their potential for higher education and career opportunities. Within specific disciplines, studies have shown that teachers can influence students’ attitudes and intentions, such as how exposure to business ethics education influences students’ attitudes toward future professional conduct (Baden, 2014) and how participation in entrepreneurship education enhances students’ attitudes and intentions to establish new ventures (Rauch & Hulsink, 2015). These examples demonstrate that teachers can influence students’ beliefs and attitudes towards future education and career choices. Therefore, as Dos Santos’ (2021) study indicates, it seems important to have teachers with the vision of educating the next generation as their priority when joining the education and teaching profession. Indeed, a study by Luo et al. (2022) provides additional evidence, showing that having STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teachers as mentors is positively related to female students’ attainment of STEM degrees and participation in high school activities, which is associated with a greater likelihood of completing a STEM degree. Together, these studies highlight what we refer to as teachers’ “Aspirational engagement”: the activities teachers engage in when interacting with students to develop beliefs about themselves and their potential educational and career opportunities. This perspective emphasizes how teachers, through their leadership practices and identity, can support students in envisioning higher education as an attainable and meaningful part of their future. We therefore hypothesize the following:

Hypothesis 1. 

Teachers with stronger teacher leadership identity are more likely to engage in aspirational engagement with their students.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Research Design and Procedure

This study employs a mixed-methods design using an explanatory sequential approach (Creswell & Clark, 2017), combining quantitative and qualitative data collection in two steps. The first step includes a survey administered to teachers with the main purpose of exploring teachers’ social leadership identity and their aspirational engagement with students. In the second step, teachers were identified through the survey results, and their teacher’s social leadership identity was measured as a composite of the 18 items. Based on this measurement, we identified 10 teachers for interviews, and they are all in the top 5%, scoring highest on social leadership identity as a teacher. This identification was used to select interviewees with the highest scores on teacher social leadership identity in order to explore how this identity influences their aspirational engagement with students in practice.

3.2. Ethical Considerations

Our research adhered to the ethical principles of the Swedish Research Council (The Swedish Research Council, 2017). All survey and interview responses were treated confidentially. Data were collected and stored in a manner that ensured participants’ anonymity and the protection of their identities. Participants were informed about the voluntary nature of this study, the confidentiality of their responses, and their right to withdraw at any time without providing a reason. Informed consent was obtained from all teachers who participated in the interviews prior to data collection. They were assured that their identities would be protected, and pseudonyms were used in the presentation of the results to protect anonymity.

3.3. The First Step: Survey

In the first step, we drew on a quantitative dataset obtained from a survey administered to teachers across 24 Swedish elementary schools. A random sample of elementary schools in Sweden was used to reduce selection bias and enhance representativeness. All teachers at these schools were subsequently invited to take part in this study. To protect anonymity, no identifying information regarding specific schools or municipalities is reported. A total of 199 valid responses were received (169 from women and 28 from men) from a target population of 613 teachers, yielding a response rate of 32.5%. Moreover, the gender distribution of respondents reflected the national composition of elementary school teachers in Sweden (Statistics Sweden, 2024). The responses were also fairly evenly distributed across the three elementary school stages: 26.5% of participants taught years 1–3, 23.5% taught years 4–6, and 30% taught years 7–9. These figures are consistent with national distributions.

For the non-response analysis, nine partially completed surveys were returned with brief explanations for non-participation. The reasons cited included lack of time, a general reluctance to participate in surveys, or the respondent was no longer employed at the school. In addition, a wave analysis was conducted by comparing early and late respondents, with late respondents serving as proxies for non-respondents. Independent sample t-tests revealed no significant differences between early and late respondents in terms of teaching level, certification status, gender, or any of the key study variables: self-efficacy, social support, motivation, and leadership behavior.

Data collection began with initial contact with school principals to inform them about this study and obtain permission to conduct the survey. Paper questionnaires were then distributed manually to each teacher via their personal physical school mailboxes. Each questionnaire packet included detailed instructions for completion, information about this study’s purpose, ethical considerations, and a stamped return envelope. Upon completion, teachers sealed the surveys in the envelopes provided and returned them either through the school’s outgoing mail or by posting them directly in a mailbox. Teachers were also informed that they might be invited to participate in a follow-up interview. Those who did not wish to be contacted were instructed to indicate this by marking a cross on the outside of the return envelope.

3.3.1. Measurement Instrument

The questionnaire primarily employed a seven-point Likert-type scale, following the recommendation of Matell and Jacoby (1972). The measurement instrument was developed based on previously validated scales (Chandler & Lyon, 2001). Prior to full deployment, the questionnaire was pretested to minimize item failure, improve clarity, and ensure both convergent and content validity (Alpar & Spitzer, 1989).

3.3.2. Independent Variable: Teachers’ Self-Identity

Teachers’ self-identity was measured as a composite of 18 items, originally developed and validated by Cameron (2004). The items cover the three theoretical constructs of social identity theory, with 5 items for ingroup ties, 4 items for ingroup effect, and 9 items for centrality. Cronbach’s alpha reached an acceptable level (α = 0.871).

3.3.3. Dependent Variable: Teachers’ Aspirational Engagement

We used four items to capture our dependent variable, “Teachers’ aspirational engagement”, which refers to teachers’ engagement in students’ future education and career opportunities. These items are original and included the following: to what extent do you use time in school to (i) talk with your students about their potential future higher education; (ii) encourage your students to apply to higher education; (iii) provide an image of career opportunities that higher education may offer; and (iv) communicate images of what it is like being a university student. Cronbach’s alpha reached a high and acceptable level (α = 0.934).

3.3.4. Control Variables

To clarify the relationship between dependent and independent variables, we included a total of eight control variables that have been identified in previous behavioral research as particularly influential. First, teacher gender was controlled for, as socialization into gender-role-congruent behavior may affect leadership styles and behaviors (Lyness & Heilman, 2006). Gender was coded as a dummy variable, with women assigned a value of 1 and men assigned a value of 2. Second, we accounted for teachers’ education level, which was coded as 0 for no formal qualification, 1 for a completed teacher education degree, and 2 for a completed teacher education degree with an additional master’s degree in special pedagogy. The teachers’ educational level was controlled for, as educational level may affect leadership behavior (Bosma et al., 2004), such as aspirational engagement. Third, we controlled teachers’ perceived stress. Stress was included, as prior research has consistently shown that stress, particularly when arising from ambiguous role expectations, conflicting demands, or role overload, can significantly affect individuals’ performance in their assigned roles (e.g., Verma et al., 2002; Örtqvist & Wincent, 2006), including teachers’ leadership performance (Örtqvist et al., 2016). Teachers’ stress was assessed using a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree). The construct was measured as a composite of five items, demonstrating satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.811). The measurement approach was adapted from previous research carried out by Panigyrakis and Glynn (1992) and Veloutsou and Panigyrakis (2004). Fourth, we measured teachers’ perceptions of pupil characteristics using items derived from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) (Watson et al., 1988). Specifically, we selected 11 positive and 11 negative items to capture teachers’ perceptions of positive and negative pupil attributes, respectively, because previous studies have shown the influence of emotional perceptions on behavior (Murnieks et al., 2014). Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they observed or experienced each characteristic or mood among their pupils using a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (to a very large extent). Prior research has established the psychometric robustness of the PANAS scale for assessing both positive and negative affective characteristics (e.g., Schmukle et al., 2002). Accordingly, positive and negative pupil characteristics were operationalized as composite indices based on these respective item sets. Fifth, we also controlled how teachers perceive their students in terms of stress, as a substantial body of research addresses the impact of academic stress, examination anxiety, and consequences for students’ learning and mental health (e.g., Verma et al., 2002). The pressure to achieve acceptable grades generates significant anxiety, particularly among students who struggle to meet the performance standards required for higher education (Lee & Larson, 2000), which likely relates to how receptive students are toward teachers’ aspirational engagement. We used three items to capture teachers’ perceptions of students’ stress levels in general, students’ stress levels when being absent due to illness, and students’ investment in schoolwork. We asked the following: To what extent do you perceive that students (i) are worried about missing class when they are absent, e.g., due to illness; (ii) are stressed about their schoolwork; and (iii) invest all their efforts in their schoolwork.

3.3.5. Analysis

Data analysis was carried out in two primary phases: (1) preliminary analyses, including descriptive statistics and correlation testing, and (2) a linear regression model. In the first phase, correlations among the key variables were examined to assess initial relationships and identify potential multicollinearity using Spearman’s rank-order correlation. Second, we tested the model through linear regression analyses (Hair et al., 1998). We present the equations according to a procedure to confirm the influences of teachers’ social leadership identity on teachers’ aspirational engagement. Two models were used to test these influences.

Model 1: Model 1 is a baseline model with control variables: TEACHER ASPIRATIONAL ENGAGEMENT = β₀ + β₁GENDER + β₂TEACHER EXAM + β₃TEACHER ROLE STRESS + β₄POSITIVE PUPIL CHARACTERIZATION + β₅NEGATIVE PUPIL CHARACTERIZATION + β₆PUPILS WORRYING ABOUT MISSING CLASS WHEN SICK + β₇PUPILS INVEST ALL IN THEIR SCHOOLWORK + β₈STUDENTS STRESS + ε.

Model 2: Model 2 is a model for evaluating the possible linear effects of teachers’ social leadership identity: TEACHER ASPIRATIONAL ENGAGEMENT = β₀ + β₁GENDER + β₂TEACHER EXAM + β₃TEACHER ROLE STRESS + β₄POSITIVE PUPIL CHARACTERIZATION + β₅NEGATIVE PUPIL CHARACTERIZATION + β₆PUPILS WORRYING ABOUT MISSING CLASS WHEN SICK + β₇PUPILS INVEST ALL IN THEIR SCHOOLWORK + β₈STUDENTS STRESS + β₉TEACHERS’ SOCIAL LEADERSHIP IDENTITY + ε.

3.4. The Second Step: Interviews

3.4.1. Interview Instrument

As a second step, qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 teachers (8 women and 2 men) who are the top 5% of the sample, scoring the highest on social leadership identity (average scores between 6.67 and 7 on the 7-point scale of the composite measure for teachers’ social leadership identity). Their teaching experience ranged from eight to twenty years, and they worked in elementary school stages 4–6 and 7–9. An interview guide was developed with open-ended questions to enable teachers to speak freely and reduce the risk of researcher preconceptions. Follow-up and clarifying questions were used when needed to encourage elaboration and ensure clarity without steering the responses. Interviews were conducted either face-to-face or online. Each interview lasted approximately 45 min, was audio-recorded with informed consent, and later transcribed verbatim. As Silverman (2021) emphasizes, such recordings facilitate a systematic identification of patterns in participants’ narratives, thereby deepening the understanding of teachers’ experiences. As Silverman (2021) notes, qualitative interviews offer participants the opportunity to describe and reflect on their experiences in their own words while allowing researchers to delve deeper into shared insights. In this study, the interviews provided insights into how teachers who strongly identify with their professional teacher leadership role enact leadership practices aimed at fostering students’ confidence, strengthening their sense of capability, and encouraging them to envision career pathways, including intentions to pursue higher education.

3.4.2. Analysis

Following Krippendorff (2018), a content analysis was used to identify patterns in the teachers’ narratives, with a particular focus on both the content and the contextual meaning of their descriptions. The aim of the analysis was to examine how strongly teachers identify with their teacher leadership role and how this identification influences their experienced aspirational engagement with students in practice. According to Kohlbacher (2006), this meant directing the analysis toward how specific phenomena, such as teacher leadership identity and aspirational engagement, were expressed in the teachers’ narratives. Inspired by Hsieh and Shannon (2005), the analysis was carried out in four steps. First, all interviews were transcribed. Second, teachers’ responses were organized under the respective interview questions. Third, to explore how aspirational engagement was expressed in teachers’ narratives, the analysis was guided by questions such as the following: What experiences do teachers identify as central to their leadership aimed at supporting students’ future educational and career aspirations? These questions guided the identification of patterns across the data, which were grouped into three initial categories: (1) individual dialogues with students, (2) introducing new subject areas to the whole class, and (3) practical work experience (PRAO). Fourth, the initial categories were, inspired by Creswell and Poth (2016), further abstracted into broader themes through an iterative process between the empirical data and the theoretical framework. This meant analyzing the three categories in dialogue with social identity theory, following analytical questions such as the following: How do teachers describe where their leadership role becomes central in supporting students’ intentions to pursue higher education? In what ways do teachers describe that their sense of belonging to teacher leadership role motivates aspirational engagement with students? How do teachers’ identification as leaders influence how they encourage students to envision future higher education and career pathways? Through this iterative abstraction, the three initial categories were developed into three overarching dimensions of aspirational engagement: (1) aspirational engagement in individual dialogues with students; (2) aspirational engagement when introducing new subject areas to the whole class; and (3) aspirational engagement related to practical work experience (PRAO). Although these dimensions reflect the structure of the initial categories, they represent a higher level of abstraction that captures the identity processes underpinning teachers’ leadership in practice. According to Gibbert et al. (2008), quotations from the teachers’ narratives are presented in the results to illustrate and substantiate the analytical interpretations, ensuring construct validity.

4. Results

The results are presented in two subsections: Survey and Interviews.

4.1. Survey

4.1.1. Correlation Results

Table 1. Correlation matrix.

	Mean	Std. dev	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1. Teacher social identity leadership	5.485	0.879
2. Gender	1.140	0.350	−0.138
3. Teacher exam	1.110	0.629	−0.105	0.024
4. Teacher role stress	3.821	1.213	−0.173 *	−0.079	−0.007
5. Positive pupil characterization	4.782	0.866	0.285 **	−0.159 *	−0.144 *	−0.018
6. Negative pupil characterization	2.761	1.036	−0.198 **	0.144 *	0.101	0.183	−0.708 **
7. Pupils worrying about missing class when sick	3.580	1.788	0.031	0.100	−0.080	0.188	0.114	0.046
8. Pupils invest all in their schoolwork	4.510	1.451	0.162 *	−0.145 *	−0.122	0.139	0.479	−0.294 **	0.288 **
9. Students stress	3.960	1.681	−0.033	0.122	0.132	0.184 *	−0.132	0.224	0.276 **	0.084
10. Teachers’ aspirational engagement	3.191	1.779	0.188 *	0.098	−0.045	0.030	−0.023	0.090	0.196 **	0.158 **	0.263 **

* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, n = 192.

shows the descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) of the studied variables and the correlations among the tested variables. Table 1 provides some initial support for the theoretical model, as several of the relationships are significant and related in the theoretically modeled direction. The correlations indicate that teachers’ social identity correlates positively and significantly with teachers’ aspirational engagement (0.188; p < 0.05). The control variables, such as students’ stress in terms of worrying about missing class (0.196; p < 0.01), stress in general (0.158; p < 0.01), and investment in schoolwork (0.263; p < 0.01), all correlate positively and significantly with teachers’ aspirational engagement.

4.1.2. Regression Results

Our baseline model, Model 1, as reported in

Table 2. Regression analysis. Dependent variable: Teachers’ aspirational engagement.

	Base Model (M1)		Independent Effects (M2)
	B	Standard Errors	B	Standard Errors
Constant	0.628	1.628	−1.899	1.772
Gender	0.440	0.396	0.123	0.392
Teacher exam	−0.239	0.518	0.004	0.511
Teacher role stress	−0.129	0.116	−0.038	0.116
Positive pupil characterization	−0.041	0.233	−0.093	0.229
Negative pupil characterization	0.234	0.181	0.103	0.177
Pupils worrying about missing class when sick	0.118	0.081	0.123	0.078
Pupils invest all in their schoolwork	0.226 *	0.109	0.154 *	0.107
Students stress	0.221 *	0.085	0.193 *	0.083
Teacher social identity leadership			0.260 **	0.155
R2	0.136 **		0.199 ***
Adjusted R2	0.093 **		0.153 ***

* p < 0.05. ** p < 0.01. *** p < 0.001; n = 192.

, is used to evaluate the framework. The baseline model reports the influence of the control variables on teachers’ aspirational engagement. Model 1 suggests a positive linear relationship between “pupils invest all in their schoolwork” and teachers’ aspirational engagement (B = 0.226, p < 0.05), and positive linear relationships were observed between student stress and teachers’ aspirational engagement (B = 0.221, p < 0.05). The adjusted R² is significant and explains variance to 0.093 (p < 0.01).

Model 2 includes teachers’ social leadership identity in addition to the control variables in order to test possible linear effects. The results in Model 2 support the theoretical model because the significant positive influence of teachers’ social leadership identity on teachers’ aspirational engagement is represented by a linear positive relationship (B = 0.260, p < 0.01). The model is highly significant and reaches an adjusted R² of 0.153 (p < 0.01), which is a clear improvement compared to the baseline model. This means that our results support Hypothesis 1, by showing the influence of the teachers’ social leadership identity on teachers’ aspirational engagement with students, as suggested by social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1989).

4.2. Interviews

The results from the interviews illustrate how teachers who identify strongly with their teachership role exhibit a leadership that influences aspirational engagement with students, promoting students’ beliefs in their potential and intentions to pursue higher education. Teachers’ leadership identity shapes how they act, communicate, and interact with students. It provides a sense of purpose and belonging that manifests in various forms of aspirational engagement, including efforts to inspire students’ confidence in their own abilities and encourage them to envision future educational and career pathways. The results are presented in three themes: (1) aspirational engagement in individual dialogues with students; (2) aspirational engagement when introducing new subject areas in whole-class communication; and (3) aspirational engagement related to practical work experience (PRAO). These three themes illustrate how teachers’ leadership is deeply rooted in their teacher leadership identity and in the understanding of education as socially meaningful.

4.2.1. Aspirational Engagement in Individual Dialogues with Students

In one-to-one conversations, teachers’ leadership identity is expressed through a strong sense of responsibility for supporting students’ development and future opportunities. They see their work as more than only teaching a subject; it is about motivating and supporting students’ growth as individuals and as future members of society. Through these dialogues, teachers use their leadership to strengthen students’ confidence and their understanding of the value of education and motivate them to pursue future goals. Victoria, a stage 7–9 teacher, explained the following:

I believe that all students have different abilities, and it’s my job to highlight these and help each student see and believe in their own capacity. When I talk with students, I emphasize their potential and their opportunities for higher education. I see this also as important in relation to the needs of society where higher education is important.

(Victoria, teacher in stage 7–9)

Here, the teacher’s identification with their leadership role includes a broader societal mission. Leadership is expressed as empowerment, with teachers helping students understand how their abilities and capacity for growth connect to broader societal goals, such as competence supply and future professional roles. This includes making students aware of their potential and the opportunities that higher education can offer. By helping them recognize these opportunities, the teacher supports both individual empowerment and the broader societal need for future competence supply. While teachers stressed the importance of helping students recognize their potential and future opportunities, they also described how such conversations often involve challenging students’ doubts and preconceptions about higher education. Robert, a stage 7–9 teacher, expressed the following:

Sometimes when I talk to students about higher education, they have some fixed ideas that higher education is difficult and something they doubt they can manage. But I usually tell them that they can achieve anything if they want to, society needs them and I believe in them.

(Robert, teacher in stage 7–9)

Robert shows how teachers use their leadership to reduce students’ doubts and reframe their understanding of what higher education can mean for them. By telling students that society needs them, Robert connects aspects of students’ individual growth, such as their self-belief that they can achieve anything, to a wider social mission. Such engagement reveals how their teacher leadership identity encompasses a commitment to helping students understand their place in society and their value for society’s future competence needs. Their leadership reflects strong identification with their teacher leadership identity and a sense of responsibility for contributing to society through higher education. Beyond encouraging students to believe in their abilities and future possibilities, the teachers also reflected on what it means for themselves to be a teacher who models this leadership. Their leadership was described not only as motivating students but also as shaping who they aspire to be as teachers. Ingela, a stage 4–6 teacher, described the following:

Many times, I meet students who don’t see what they can, are capable of and how they can develop this. I want to be a role model, and when they look back on their school years, I want them to think, ‘Wow, she was one of those teachers who saw my capacity, believed in me, and was one of the reasons I now stand here. That’s also the kind of person I want to be.’

(Ingela, teacher in stage 4–6)

Ingelas’ reflection illustrates how leadership serves as a way for teachers to enact and reaffirm their own teacher leadership identity. The vision of being a role model reveals how identification with the profession shapes both how they lead others and how they understand themselves. Leadership, in this sense, is not only directed toward students’ development but also toward maintaining a sense of professional purpose and belonging.

4.2.2. Aspirational Engagement When Introducing New Subject Areas to a Whole Class

Teachers described how their teacher leadership identity shapes the manner in which they introduce new topics and learning areas to a whole class. When carrying this out, leadership is used to connect learning to students’ future aspirations and to demonstrate how knowledge is relevant beyond schoolwork. In doing so, teachers position themselves as representatives of education’s broader purpose, which is to prepare students for participation in higher education, working life, and society. Teachers explained that connecting the subject to a wider context often increases students’ engagement and motivation. Alexander, a stage 7–9 teacher, expressed the following:

When I lift up what we have worked on in class into a larger context, for example by describing when and how knowledge in the subject can be useful for attending higher education or future careers, and by discussing its benefits with them, I experience a little bit higher engagement and interest among the students. I try to work with anchoring the subject in practical relevance and usefulness.

(Alexander, teacher in stage 7–9)

Alexander illustrates how teachers’ leadership identity is expressed through communication that renders learning relevant and meaningful. By linking subject content to higher education and future careers, teachers encourage students to see their current studies as connected to future possibilities. At the same time, this way of leading reflects teachers’ own identification with their educational and societal leadership role, which is to help students understand the value of learning for their future education, careers, and role in society. Teachers also described situations where students expressed resistance or questioned the value of learning. Their leadership, in these moments, was described as responding to students’ doubts while helping them find meaning in the subject matter. Linda, a stage 7–9 teacher, described the following:

It’s not uncommon to hear students say, ‘This is boring, why do we need to learn this, keep repeating things about the human body?’ Then I usually stop and say that I can understand that it might feel that way, and it’s okay to think so, but there’s value in knowing this. If you want to work with people, like a doctor, nurse, or physiotherapist, for example, you need to understand how the body works and what it looks like. And I can see that they’re like, ‘Hmm, okay… we hadn’t thought about that’.

(Linda, teacher in stage 7–9)

Here, leadership involves acknowledging students’ experiences while reframing the content to show its relevance for future goals and society’s need for competence. Linda’s description also reveals how such dialogue can shift students’ perspectives as they begin to recognize the value of what they are learning. By making these connections, Linda transforms disengagement into reflection and renewed interest. This demonstrates how their leadership not only supports students’ learning but also expresses a sense of professional purpose rooted in their identification with the teacher leadership role and its responsibility in contributing to society through education.

4.2.3. Aspirational Engagement Related to Practical Work Experience (PRAO)

Teachers’ leadership identity was also expressed in how they approached practical work experience (PRAO), the mandatory work-experience period for students in grades 8 and 9 of Swedish compulsory school. The purpose of PRAO is to help students gain insight into work life and prepare them for future higher education and career choices. For teachers, this period represents an important opportunity to make the connections between education, work life, and society’s future competence needs visible. PRAO was described as both an individual and collective reference point for discussing students’ future possibilities and the meaning of higher education. Before placement, teacher-initiated dialogues aimed at encouraging students to think about future careers. These dialogues combined individual guidance with collective discussion about the value of higher education and the relevance of different professions. Camilla, a stage 7–9 teacher, explained the following:

Before they go out on PRAO, I encourage all students to challenge themselves and take the opportunity to try something in which they are genuinely interested. For those I can see who have the ability and interest, I push a bit more, encouraging them to search for placements where higher education is required. For others, the focus is on getting them to take that first step, to try a job and gain experience. The important thing is that everyone moves forward from where they are.

(Camilla, teacher in stage 7–9)

Teachers’ leadership in these situations involves a combination of support and challenge that pinpoints responsibility for occupations and belief in students’ potential. Their leadership was enacted through differentiated encouragement, pushing each student to take the next step. In this manner, leadership was expressed as a commitment to supporting all students in envisioning their future possibilities and viewing higher education as attainable and meaningful. This shows how teachers view their role as preparing every student for participation in working life and higher education as part of the teacher leadership role’s contribution to society’s future competence supply. After PRAO, through both whole-class and smaller group discussions, students reflected on what they had learned and connected those experiences to education and society. Emma, a stage 7–9 teacher, expressed the following:

After PRAO, we have group discussions about what they learned. When they talk with each other, they hear that others had similar experiences or discovered jobs they hadn’t thought about which have raised their interest. It becomes a collective reflection that helps them see the bigger picture.

(Emma, teacher in stage 7–9).

In these follow-up discussions, leadership was described as leading students’ reflections and helping them make sense of their experiences together. By following up PRAO in group discussions in relation to the big picture, society’s need for competence, Emma shows how she reaffirmed her identification with the broader purpose of the teacher leadership role. She reflects a view of education as preparation for both individual possibilities and collective contribution to society.

5. Discussion

The aims of this study were to (1) explore how teachers’ social leadership identity—that is, how strongly teachers identify with their teacher leadership role—influences their aspirational engagement with students and (2) unpack how teachers with high social leadership identity ratings may engage with students to promote students’ self-beliefs in their own potential, encouraging them to pursue higher education and various career pathways. Addressing the first aim of this study, the quantitative findings showed that teachers’ leadership identity significantly associates with their aspirational engagement, supporting the assumptions of social identity theory that strong identification with a social role increases the likelihood of behaviors aligned with that role (e.g., Skilton et al., 2024; Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1989). Turning to the second aim, the qualitative findings illustrate how teacher leadership identity is enacted in teachers’ interactions with students through three overarching forms of aspirational engagement: individual dialogues with students, whole-class communication when introducing new subject areas, and activities related to practical work experience (PRAO). Across these forms, teachers positioned themselves not only as leaders responsible for students’ learning but also for cultivating students’ beliefs in their own potential, encouraging them to envision themselves in future higher education and imagining their future possible career pathways. By carrying this out, they link everyday classroom interactions to broader societal discussions about future competence supply. Taken together, these qualitative findings provide empirical substance to the quantitative finding that teacher leadership identity links to aspirational engagement by showing what such engagement may look like when driven by a strong teacher leadership identity.

A key contribution of this study is demonstrating teacher leadership identity as the driver of aspirational engagement; it can be viewed as a central mechanism through which teachers’ aspirational engagement emerges. While prior research distinguishes between leadership as identity (Sinha & Hanuscin, 2017) and leadership as practice (Fernández & López, 2023; Wenner & Campbell, 2017; York-Barr & Duke, 2004), few studies have empirically linked identity to specific student-directed practices that aim to build future aspirations. In relation to the first aim, our mixed-methods design shows that teachers who strongly identify with their leadership role act in ways consistent with the identity processes described by social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1989): they interpret situations through the lens of their teacher leadership identity, and they shape their leadership practices that respond and affirm this identity. In relation to the second aim, these practices became evident across all three overarching forms of aspirational engagement: individual dialogues with students, whole-class communication when introducing new subject areas, and activities related to practical work experience (PRAO), where aspirational engagement appeared as an expression of identity-driven leadership. The teachers used communication, relational work, and contextual framing of content to shape students’ self-beliefs about their future educational and career possibilities. In line with social identity theory’s assumption that identity provides a sense of purpose and belonging (Skilton et al., 2024), teachers repeatedly described their leadership as grounded in a professional mission to “prepare the next generation” and contribute to society’s future competence needs. Thus, this study extends social identity theory into the domain of teachers’ leadership in compulsory schools by illustrating how leadership identity shapes everyday interactions with students.

While previous research has shown that teachers influence students’ motivation and performance (Aliu et al., 2024; Shen et al., 2020; Warren, 2021) and demonstrated the importance of students’ beliefs and intentions for their educational achievement and attainment (Archambault et al., 2009; Guay et al., 2008; Malmström & Öqvist, 2018), the role of teacher leadership in shaping students’ aspirations for higher education and their future educational and career pathways has remained comparatively underexplored. Addressing the second aim of this study, our findings show that teachers (1) explicitly work to help students’ to overcome their doubts and preconceptions about higher education, reframing it as attainable and worthwhile; (2) intentionally connect content to professions and societal needs, strengthening students’ understanding of the relevance of learning; and (3) encourage students to envision themselves in higher education, making aspiration-building part of their professional purpose. By highlighting these observations, this study demonstrates that aspirational engagement is not a random variation between teachers but is linked to how they understand themselves as teacher–leaders.

Finally, teachers can be viewed as important contributors to discussions about society’s future competence supply, particularly against the backdrop of declining student outcomes (OECD, 2023) and national challenges related to future competence needs (Cedefop, 2023; Swedish Higher Education Authority, 2023). This study suggests that teachers may play an important role in motivating young people to consider higher education. Teachers with a strong teacher leadership identity viewed their leadership not merely as facilitating learning but also as preparing students for participation in society and the future supply of skilled professionals. Their identification with the teacher leadership role provides an important foundation for how such leadership may be understood and enacted in practice. Implications for practice include integrating the development of teachers’ leadership identity into teacher education and ensuring that professional development supports teachers in enacting aspirational engagement. It is also important that such leadership identity integration is supported and recognized by principals as a core part of teachers’ leadership and not treated as only an add-on.

Limitations and Future Research

Similarly to other studies, our study has limitations. One limitation concerns the sample size, particularly in the qualitative part of our research. Future research should examine whether similar patterns emerge across different regions, school forms, school contexts, and cultural and institutional contexts. Given the cross-sectional and context-specific nature of the present study, longitudinal research is needed to explore whether teachers’ aspirational engagement is associated with measurable changes in students’ educational choices and higher education enrolment. Such designs would be necessary to examine potential long-term outcomes that cannot be addressed within the scope of the present study. Another limitation is the exclusive reliance on teachers’ self-reports. The absence of student perspectives or educational outcomes means that students’ educational intentions regarding higher education and subsequent educational pathways cannot be empirically assessed within the present study. Finally, the qualitative sample was restricted to teachers with very high teacher leadership identity scores, which limits opportunities for comparative insight across different identity profiles.