Sustainable Pedagogical Leadership in Finnish Early Childhood Education (ECE): An Evaluation by ECE Professionals

Abstract

According to previous research, the leadership in early childhood education (ECE) needs to be strengthened and improved by building sustainable structures. The aim of the current research was to investigate how ECE professionals evaluate its leadership. The context of the study was a development project called Sustainable leadership in ECE conducted in two municipalities in Finland. The purpose of the project was to investigate and create a sustainable structure for ECE leadership with the aim of strengthening pedagogical leadership. The participants were 110 ECE professionals, comprising experts, directors, teachers, and nurses. The research was based on responses to an electronic questionnaire about the quality of ECE leadership built around six themes: leadership of the organisation, Human resource management, Structure of the organisation, Pedagogical leadership, Knowledge management and work well-being, and Leadership of self. The results indicate that only in the pedagogical leadership theme were there statistically significant differences between the groups of professionals. Having high professional status and being highly qualified seem to enhance the ability of professionals to reflect critically on pedagogical leadership and to have more demanding attitudes about the quality of pedagogical leadership.