Leadership In Early Childhood Education Research Articles

Māori leadership and early childhood educational leadership in Aotearoa: A critical literature review

Abstract Five early childhood teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand explored a range of literature to respond to the question: What does literature tell us about Māori leadership and how are our findings relevant to leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Aotearoa? The process of finding and reviewing literature sources about Māori leadership led us to think critically about how Māori values, concepts, and customs have been diminished or sustained in fields such as education and business. ECE in Aotearoa is shaped by the bicultural curriculum Te Whāriki and underpinned by obligations to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Although education and leadership structures and processes in Aotearoa are overwhelmingly produced within Westernised perspectives, ECE curriculum and practice foregrounds Māori ways of knowing, being, and doing. Through the literature review process, we shared insights and critical discussions that enriched our perceptions of leadership by and for Māori, and of relevance to ECE leadership through shared values. The literature reviewed provided examples from education and business settings where Māori leadership grounded in values of whanaungatanga/reciprocal relationality originating in Māori traditional beliefs and societal structures has been sustained, remembered, and reclaimed through processes of navigating and negotiating present-day colonised contexts. Literature also provided examples of official programmes and policies that seek to acknowledge and enhance Māori leadership in education.

Enhancing understanding of broad-based pedagogical leadership in Finnish early childhood education through cultural artifacts

This ethnographic case study examines the artifacts of the leadership culture of one Finnish early childhood education (ECE) center and how they appear from the perspective of broad-based pedagogical leadership. Qualitative content analysis with a directed approach was guided by Pasquale Gagliardi’s and Mary Hatch’s definitions of artifacts. In addition, artifacts were analyzed through broad-based pedagogical leadership. Based on the analysis, thirteen activities, six verbal expressions, and thirteen objects of leadership culture were found in the data. Most of the artifacts were indirect pedagogical leadership, and some had several purposes due to staff interpretations. The interpretations varied both between the leaders and the staff but also within the staff. The findings indicate that symbolic leadership is present in many leadership situations and that a lack of knowledge about the symbolic and cultural dimensions of leadership can undermine leaders’ good intentions. The results of the study can be utilized in practical work in leading organizational cultures and in structuring pedagogical leadership in ECE. Additionally, the research has theoretical implications by enriching leadership research in ECE and enhancing the concept of broad-based pedagogical leadership, which can be used in leadership training programs in the field of education.

Leadership in early childhood education: case studies of Indonesian public kindergartens

ABSTRACT Leadership studies in early childhood education (ECE) have increased throughout the world. However, there has been only a limited amount of research conducted on this topic in Southeast Asia. The purpose of the research reported in this article was to examine early childhood leadership at the kindergarten level in Indonesia. This is an exploratory study of multiple cases in Indonesia, involving semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. The participants were interviewed online in four regions: the capital (Jakarta), the central part (Bali), the western part (North Sumatra) and the eastern part (South Sulawesi), an example of maximum variation sampling. There were 10 participants in each case study kindergarten, heads, teachers, teaching assistants, administrative assistants, parents and local education officers. The research shows that leadership of ECE in Indonesia is problematic, beginning with the selection process for principals, which is dominated by political considerations. Heads also appeared to be overburdened with administrative duties, such as managing budgets, updating teacher and student data, and managing assets. Therefore, they have less time to engage in other Leadership activities, such as professional leadership and parental involvement. The findings contribute to a better understanding of kindergarten leadership in Indonesia.

A micro-political exploration of the resignation of Hong Kong experienced kindergarten principals amidst preschool education coordinator turnover

The early childhood education system in Hong Kong operates within a corporate governance framework. However, there is a lack of research on the interaction between principalship and corporate governance in kindergartens and childcare centres. This study aims to address this gap by examining how a preschool education coordinator (PEC), working under corporate governance principles in a non-governmental organization (NGO), influenced the resignation decisions of principals. Using micro-political theory, this study examines power dynamics, conflicts, and decision-making processes that led to principals’ resignations. This phenomenological case study utilized a focus group discussion with three principals who had resigned from the NGO. Through thematic analysis, three key themes emerged from the study: changing governance and accountability, conflicting educational values and beliefs between the preschool education coordinator and the principals, and contrasting leadership behaviours and styles. The findings of this study have significant implications for the local community, as well as offering valuable insights that can inform and benefit international audiences interested in early childhood education leadership development and human resources management. As early childhood education systems worldwide grapple with similar challenges, understanding the relationship between corporate governance and principalship can help devise strategies for enhancing organizational effectiveness and ensuring principal retention.

A Balancing Act: Navigating Policy as Street-Level Bureaucrats. A Study of Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education in Norway

A Balancing Act: Navigating Policy as Street-Level Bureaucrats. A Study of Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education in Norway

BOOK REVIEW: SOCIAL LEADERSHIP IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: AN INTRODUCTION

Social leadership in early childhood education and care refers to the ability of educators to guide and promote positive social behaviors in young children, as well as create a supportive learning environment that fosters cooperation and empathy. It involves using a range of strategies and techniques to help children develop social skills, self-regulation, and emotional intelligence. Social leadership in early childhood education and care is an essential factor in supporting positive social and emotional development in young children in the UK. According to a study by Breslin and colleagues (2019), effective social leadership involves creating a supportive and inclusive learning environment, promoting positive social behaviors, and using evidence-based strategies to help children develop social skills and emotional intelligence. The study emphasizes the importance of social leadership in improving children’s academic and social outcomes, as well as their long-term well-being. Moreover, the research suggests that social leadership can be especially beneficial in supporting the development of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Caring leadership in early childhood education in Chile: tensions from a highly gendered context

ABSTRACT Educational leadership at early childhood education (ECE) has been extensively studied. However, evidence from Chile is still scarce. As with many parts of the world, the ECE workforce is very female-heavy and Chile is no exception to this. This situation presents an intriguing context for leadership studies as particularities of a gendered role for women as leaders in Chile has not been a matter of analysis. Leadership in ECE includes a sense of vocation or ‘passion’ for children’s care, development, and learning, called caring leadership. This concept highlights an ethical component, interpersonal relations and a concern for the well-being. This article presents the findings of a three-year study involving 12 women leaders in ECE who established a Professional Learning Community. They were interviewed throughout the research. Findings reveal three tensions. Firstly, leadership is associated with a maternal role, perpetuating gender stereotypes. The second tension addresses the dynamics of personal connections within ECE teams in terms of asymmetry or horizontality. The third tension arises from the significance of caring as a crucial aspect of working in ECE education. These tensions underscore the need for a critical analysis of leadership in ECE, as gender considerations may overlook the complexity of the leaders’ role.

Exploring Effective Leadership in Early Childhood Education

Exploring Effective Leadership in Early Childhood Education

Educational leadership in early childhood education: Participant vulnerability and a ‘rule of care’

There is considerable literature describing the use of Change Laboratory as a simultaneous research and intervention methodology in workplace settings. However, there is limited literature describing Change Laboratory from the researcher-facilitator perspective. This paper examines the ethical dimensions of Change Laboratory from this perspective and specifically how a ‘rule of care’ became a conscious rule. The context is a series of Change Laboratories implemented with Centre Directors and Educational Leaders from early childhood education and care centres in Darwin and Melbourne, Australia. Based on our analysis we attribute the emergence of this rule to a particular vulnerability of the participants: that they were all recruited from centres that had been publicly designated as Working Towards National Quality Standard requirements for quality early childhood education and care practices. We present evidence of this ‘rule of care’ in our work as researcher-facilitators from our data. We conclude that attention to a ‘rule of care’ is necessary to support transformation, particularly for vulnerable participants such as Educational Leaders.

“I am the pilot, but i need a committed crew”: Researching early childhood education and care leadership by using the actantial model of power

Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is changing globally. We investigated ECEC leadership and leaders’ interpretations of power and its realization between leaders and followers, a little researched topic in the field. Our theoretical framework consists of ECEC contextual knowledge and prior research attached with Michel Foucault’s and Mary Parker Follet’s perceptions of power as positive, relational and discursive microphenomenon. Our essay data ( N = 46) was written by ECEC center leaders before participating in educational leaders in-service training. The method of analysis was Greimas’ actantial analysis (1979), which enabled us to build two actantial models of leaders’ perspectives and relation to power. Findings indicate that power is a leader-centered, unstructured and hiding concept needing conscious reframing and integration of positional and non-positional leader roles in the community.

Leadership in early childhood education: Cross-cultural case studies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Using a cross-cultural comparative study approach, this study analyses and compares the leadership discourses revealed through interviews with early childhood education (ECE) leaders in Finland and Singapore. The interviews were conducted both before the COVID-19 outbreaks in 2018 and during the pandemic in 2021. Conducted as focus group discussions, the data were analysed using discursive analysis. Finnish ECE leaders’ identified discourses that revealed ‘pedagogically focused leadership’ and the ‘desire for distributed pedagogical leadership’. In Singapore, the interviews highlighted discourses related to ‘community spirit emerging from challenges’ and the ‘deepening of management demands’. An overall analysis of the discourses showed that COVID-19 resulted in changes in leadership discourses revealing that leadership was characterised with ‘leading from a distance’ and an ‘emphasis on instructions and regulations’. Despite the challenges, leaders continue to place an importance on pedagogy in their practice. The study also showed that although cultural differences in leadership discourses were identified, time as a factor, remains significant as a crucial aspect for leadership in both countries.

INCLUSION ISSUES IN ECCE: TEACHER LEADERSHIP FROM A CRITICAL EDUCATION POINT OF VIEW

Early childhood education plays an important role in forming a solid foundation for child development. In this context, teacher leadership is a key factor in addressing inclusion issues in ECCE. This study aims to explore teacher leadership from the point of view of critical education in addressing the issue of inclusion in early childhood education units. The critical education approach emphasizes the development of critical and creative thinking skills in children, as well as their ability to ask questions and solve problems. Through literature review and conceptual analysis, this research reveals the close relationship between critical education and teacher leadership in early childhood education. The implications of critical education on teacher leadership can be seen in several aspects. First, critical education influences teachers' leadership mindsets and attitudes, encouraging them to become reflective, analytical, and innovative leaders and applying participatory leadership principles. Second, critical education influences the practice and learning strategies applied by teachers, by expanding discussion spaces, encouraging collaboration, and stimulating critical reflection in children. This research makes an important contribution to our understanding of the importance of critical education and teacher leadership in early childhood education. The implications of this research are expected to provide insights for curriculum development and learning strategies, as well as training and professional development for early childhood education teachers. In the face of complex future challenges, critical education-oriented early childhood education and strong teacher leadership will provide a solid foundation for holistic and sustainable child development to address inclusion issues.

Social Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care: An Introduction

Social Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care: An Introduction

Team leadership profiles in Finnish early childhood education centres – Teachers’ experiences of team leadership

Expectations regarding team leadership in early childhood education (ECE) have grown in recent decades, both in Finland and elsewhere in the world. This change can be seen through the increased research knowledge regarding the importance of pedagogical leadership as a key factor in the quality of ECE and the emphasis on pedagogy in basic ECE tasks. In Finland, teachers are responsible for pedagogical work among teams and ensuring that ECE goals are achievable. For this reason, teachers are expected to lead their teams. For this reason, we wanted to ask the following research questions: (1) To what extent do ECE teachers feel that team leadership is realised in their work? (2) What different types of leadership profiles can be identified and what underlying elements define them? (3) To what extent do ECE teachers’ experiences of teamwork leadership differ? In our research, we utilised the Team Leadership Questionnaire to ask how teachers in ECE centres experience team leadership implemented when they work in ECE teams. Our survey was completed by 1221 teachers in ECE centres from 66 Finnish municipalities. We identified four team leader profiles through which team leadership is implemented differently: experienced experts, experienced organisers, discussion-oriented novices and learning novices. According to this study, teachers have different levels of knowledge and competence regarding team leading, which is especially influenced by work experience and divides teachers into different team leadership profiles.

A Playcentre learning story: Te Whāriki as a framework for reflecting on emergent leadership

Abstract Research into leadership in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand is in its infancy. At this early stage, distributed leadership has been identified as the most common style of leadership used in teacher-led early childhood education and care services. However, as a parent-led early childhood education service, Playcentre uses emergent leadership. Currently, professional development opportunities on leadership in early childhood education are geared towards teacher-led services. Therefore, how can a parent who has experienced emergent leadership identify the leadership skills gained that will form part of their professional practice when they return to paid work? This enquiry uses Te Whāriki as a leadership framework for reflecting on leadership skills gained through Playcentre. An autoethnographic case study method was employed to explore this framework in the context of the leadership skills that I gained while working at Playcentre over a 16–year period. The enquiry concluded that combining Te Whāriki with the early childhood education assessment for learning framework provides a matrix for examining leadership practice, as well as a way of developing insights into personal leadership practices. The use of the matrix provides scope for Playcentre leaders and other early childhood education leaders to reflect and gain insight into their leadership and for developing their own leadership framework of practice.

Storying family experiences in higher education: Surfacing, awakening, and transforming developing leader identity

Abstract Storying family experiences provides a means to explore and support leader identity development. The idea of recalling and reflecting on stories about and from families can surface how orientations to lead are learned early on in life. We report on students’ narratives generated during a postgraduate early childhood education leadership course to understand the significance of family storytelling in leader identity development and the awakenings this process encouraged for those involved. Using McCain and Matkin’s (2019) concept of retrospective storytelling, narrative inquiry underpinned our analysis of students’ family-oriented stories and the identification of two themes regarding their orientation to leadership: the influence of families’ hardships, work ethic and selfless actions; and the expectations associated with being the first-born in the family and the assumed responsibilities. Our findings affirm the transformative potential of selecting, telling, and reflecting on family stories to both understand the roots of leadership motivations and develop leader identities. Implications include promoting a narrative-based pedagogy for leadership development that centres on postgraduate students’ retrospective storying of family experiences.

Teachers’ pedagogical leadership in early childhood education

ABSTRACT Background Although the contexts, structures and administrations of early childhood education (ECE) may differ internationally, effective pedagogical leadership remains an essential component in supporting young children’s development and learning. This paper reports on a comparative study which considered ECE in two different settings, Finland and Florida, providing insight into teachers’ perspectives on the characteristics of pedagogical leadership. Purpose This study sought to investigate and compare the perspectives of ECE teachers and directors in Finland and Florida via their discourses about teachers’ pedagogical leadership. The goal was to provide an overview of the ECE teachers’ and directors’ discourses in each location, in order to allow comparison and a better understanding of the influence of aspects including locational contexts, curricular guidelines and teacher preparation on the ECE teachers’ and directors’ perspectives. Method A comparative case study design was used. The data consisted of semi-structured focus group interviews and individual interviews with ECE teachers and centre directors in Finland and in Florida. Data from the two locations were first analysed separately to identify the main discourses; secondly, discourses were compared collectively to reveal major themes. Findings The analysis indicated a similar conceptualisation of distributed pedagogical leadership. However, differences were identified in teachers’ expectations of independence in instructional decisions, and the extension of pedagogical leadership practices within and beyond the ECE centres. The analysis of discourses led to the identification of three major themes, which generated implications for teacher preparation, curriculum development and implementation, and ECE programme directions. Conclusion The study enables a more comprehensible conceptualisation of teachers’ pedagogical leadership as it emerged from teachers’ and directors’ discourses across two locations. Pedagogical leadership is recognised as an indicator of high-quality pedagogy in early childhood education and the findings highlight the need to continuously support and strengthen teachers’ pedagogical leadership.

The potential of ‘leading identity’ as an analytic concept for understanding Educational Leadership development in early childhood education

ABSTRACT This paper responds to pressing calls to better theorise the development of Educational Leadership in early childhood education. Specifically, we examine the usefulness of) the concept of leading identity for understanding shifts in Educational Leaders’ accounts of their leadership practices. Twenty Educational Leaders, recruited from Australian early childhood services, were interviewed before and after a developmental intervention using Change Laboratory approach. Our analysis of these interviews illustrates how leading identity can be used to trace shifts in the dynamic interplay of persons and practices in Educational Leadership work. We conclude by reflecting on how our argument might inform theorisation of leadership in early childhood education, the design of professional learning programmes for leadership development, and the methodological potential of leading identity for evaluating such programmes.

The Influence of Transformational Leadership by the Principal on Teachers' Self-Efficacy in a Private Preschool

Objective - This research aimed to identify the Influence of Principal Transformational Leadership among preschool principals on the teacher’s self-efficacy. Next, this study examines the idealized influence of the individualistic consideration of intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation of the principal's transformational leadership dimension on teacher self-efficacy. This paper analyzes the factor influencing principal leadership on preschool teachers' self-efficacy. Methodology/Technique - This research also involved a cross-sectional quantitative survey research design. 150 private preschool teachers from Penang were included as a sample in this study. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data in this study. Findings – Results indicate that all the dimensions of transformational leadership positively influence a teacher’s self-efficacy. The idealized influence dimension, individualistic consideration, intellectual stimulation, and inspirational motivation positively influence teachers' self-efficacy. In addition, this study is significant because it will inform management and leadership in early childhood education, particularly in private preschools, and provide them with references. As a result, there is a connection between the leadership style used by principals in private preschools and the teachers' self-efficacy. Novelty - The study identifies the influence of teachers’ efficiency in the early childhood context. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: I20, I24. Keywords: Transformational Leadership, Private Preschool, Self-efficacy, Principal, Preschool teachers Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Fairos, S; Mydin, A.A. (2022). The Influence of Transformational Leadership by the Principal on Teachers' Self-Efficacy in a Private Preschool, J. Mgt. Mkt. Review, 7(3), 107 – 115. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2022.7.3(3)

Book Review: Social leadership in early childhood education and care: An introduction by J O’Sullivan and M Sakr

Book Review: <i>Social leadership in early childhood education and care: An introduction</i> by J O’Sullivan and M Sakr