Research Article CurrentChallengesinSchoolLeadershipinEstoniaandFinland:A Multiple-Case Study among Exemplary Principals Kirsi Tirri , 1 Eve Eisenschmidt , 2 Katrin Poom-Valickis , 2 and Elina Kuusisto 1,3 1 Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 5A, Helsinki 00014, Finland 2 School of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University, Narva Rd 25, Tallinn 10120, Estonia 3 Faculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University, P.O. Box 700, Tampere 33014, Finland Correspondence should be addressed to Kirsi Tirri; kirsi.tirri@helsinki.fi Received 21 May 2020; Revised 23 September 2020; Accepted 20 March 2021; Published 27 March 2021 Academic Editor: Ahmed Rachid Copyright © 2021 Kirsi Tirri et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. e purpose of this study was to find out what current challenges successful principals in Estonia and Finland identify in developing their schools. e strategies used in dealing with these challenges were also analyzed within the framework of “growth- mindset pedagogy” as an educational approach to school leadership. e principals were interviewed, and the resulting data were analyzed by means of both inductive and deductive content analysis. e similarities among and differences between principals from Estonia and Finland were compared and discussed in the context of high-achievement-oriented but culturally different educational systems. According to the results, the challenges are similar in both countries, relating to the principals’ professional development, as well as developments in the curriculum and the learning community. e Estonian principals identified more challenges related to developments in the learning community than their Finnish peers, although in both countries they tended to use strategies related to growth-mindset pedagogy in dealing with them. Preparation and development programs for principals should pay more attention to their mindset and their views on teaching and learning, which may have a strong impact on the whole school community. 1. Introduction Schools all over the world nowadays need to respond to rapid societal changes, constantly analyzed contexts, and everyday challenges, as well as implementing new practices. Principals play an important role, creating an environment that facilitates teacher learning and school improvement [1–3]. Our aim in this study is to investigate the leadership challenges currently faced by four exemplary principals from Estonia and Finland. We know from previous research and policy documents that one such challenge relates to working in multicultural schools. Finland represents the OECD av- erage in terms of the numbers of school pupils with an immigrant background (17%), whereas Estonia ranks lower with just one percent [4]. Previous research on current challenges in schools has focused mainly on teachers (cf. [5–8]). e new national curricula in Estonia and Finland emphasize the importance of learning communities and school autonomy, allowing the powerful role of leaders to emerge [9, 10]. Current leadership research focuses on different styles, emphasizing shared or learning-centered leadership, with an emphasis on the learning process [1, 11]. However, there has been little research on the personality traits of school leaders, or on their personal competence to engage in effective leadership [12]. Moreover, there is a lack of evidence regarding the mindset behind their thinking. In the following, therefore, we analyze the challenges principals experience in their everyday work and their learning-related mindsets that trigger their thinking while resolving them. 2. Theoretical Background 2.1. Context of the Leadership in Estonia and Finland. Estonia and Finland provide interesting contexts in order to study school leadership given that they are associated with Hindawi Education Research International Volume 2021, Article ID 8855927, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8855927