‘Nobody left behind’: barriers to engagement in early years digitally mediated leadership development

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research pinpoints the barriers UK early years (EY) leaders face in accessing digitally mediated leadership development. Furthermore, we consider initiatives to disrupt digital exclusion and ensure more equitable access to professional learning opportunities. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed an upsurge in the use of digitally mediated professional learning in the UK EY sector. While digital mediation has proven useful in delivering EY leadership development programmes, this article considers who has access to these programmes and who is left behind. Through an inductive thematic analysis applied to 24 qualitative case studies with UK EY training providers, underpinned by the multilevel intersectionality model created by Núñez (2014), we consider how digital exclusion operates through socioeconomic status, geography and race within the sector. Based on this, we emphasise the need for the sector to disrupt these inequities by enacting bottom-up and top-down initiatives to foster digital inclusion across EY.