Leadership in early childhood education

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Leadership in early childhood education

HomeEarly childhood education resourcesLeadership in early childhood education

Topic summary

Leadership supports the development of effective teaching and learning in early childhood education by promoting trusting, supportive relationships and prioritising professional learning.

Leaders should focus on building effective relationships and on supporting effective teaching and learning by encouraging and enabling teachers to grow in their teaching practice through professional learning. Leaders should promote intellectually rigorous programmes, inquiry and research in their centres, and create a rich culture of professional learning activity.

Leadership in the early childhood sector in New Zealand has historically had a low profile, although recent documents and guidelines have started to recognise its importance. New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum document, Te Whāriki, explains that leadership is not just the responsibility of centre leaders and other positional leaders, but is expected of all teachers.

While there is clear evidence of the value of leadership in the school sector as well as in the organisational literature more broadly, there is a relative paucity of research on leadership in early childhood education. However, there is evidence of the importance of leaders in early childhood education leading professional learning, and researchers argue that mentoring and coaching are important leadership strategies for supporting the professional learning of both individuals and teams.

Positional leaders play a crucial role in creating a collaborative organisational culture focused on improvement. It is important that positional leaders in early childood education provide support and encouragement as well as professional learning opportunities for the teachers they lead, and also that they enable teachers to develop their own leadership capabilities. Effective practice in early childhood education involves leaders and teachers working collaboratively to positively impact children’s learning. However, leaders should also model effective practices and expect accountability. 

  • How do we build and sustain trusting relationships in our centre?
  • How can we support leadership in others through mentoring and coaching?
  • How can we ensure access to and lead professional learning in our centre?
  • How can we reflect on and develop our own leadership practices?

Courses

SPECIAL OFFER: Buy all five Leadership courses and save 40%

This series of courses supports both current and aspiring early childhood leaders to strengthen their leadership skills and build their capacity to lead teams, and to undertake improvement journeys in their contexts of practice. The courses can be taken as a coherent leadership learning journey, with each course building on the learning of the previous course, but it is also possible to take individual courses. 

Research reviews

Strategy in early childhood education

An introduction to the purposes and processes of strategic planning.

The Strategy Design Cycle in an early childhood setting

A step-by-step guide to strategy design for early childhood settings

Ideas for writing strategic documents

Some examples of early childhood strategic plans.

Exercises to support the strategy design cycle

A series of practical exercises that can be used as part of the strategic planning process.

Trouble-shooting common problems in the strategy design process

How to respond to common issues during the strategic planning process.

Strategy design in complex systems

An introduction to complexity theory in strategy design.

Leadership in early childhood education in New Zealand: History and context

An overview of recent documents and guidelines regarding leadership for leaders and teachers in New Zealand and recent related research on leadership.

The role of positional leaders in supporting professional learning

How positional leaders can support professional learning related to teaching and leadership in ECE.

Webinars

Mātauranga Māori principles from a Kaupapa Māori perspective

Dr Tui Summers talks about some of the key principles that underpin kaupapa Māori leadership

Getting ‘Beyond Quality’ to politics and democracy in (early childhood) education – a public lecture by Peter Moss

Webinar with Peter Moss Ready to watch? Already have a subscription?Watch now Buy all-webinars subscriptionNZ$60.00 for 12 months Buy this webinar only NZ$9.95 for 12 months The book Beyond...

Professional learning communities

Sue Cherrington, Kate Thornton, and Rachel Denee explore recent research into the role of professional learning communities (PLCs) in ECE and discuss the role of both within-centre and network PLCs.

Leadership in early childhood education

Celeste Harrington (AUT) and Lorraine Manuela (Director at Tots Corner) explore what leadership means in ECE.

Infographics

The Strategy Design Cycle infographic

The strategy design cycle in early childhood education

Leadership in Early Childhood Education infographic

Developing the leadership practices of teachers and leaders.

Snapshots

Mātauranga Māori principles from a Kaupapa Māori perspective

Key insights from a webinar with Dr Tui Summers from Te Rito Maioha.

Professional Learning Communities: Teachers collaborating for professional learning and improvement

Key insights from our webinar with Sue Cherrington, Kate Thornton, and Rachel Denee on the role of PLCs in teacher professional learning.

The limited research on pedagogical leadership in early childhood education

A brief account of the limited research base on pedagogical or educational leadership in early childhood education.
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