Conceptions of early childhood leadership: driving new professionalism?

Sims, Margaret; Forrest, Rhonda; Semann, Anthony; Slattery, Colin

doi:10.1080/13603124.2014.962101

Cited by 47 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…She points out that while the National Quality Framework requires an approved service provider to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced Educational Leader to lead the service's educational program, there is a lack of access to leadership development opportunities. Not surprisingly, many educators say they feel unprepared to take on a leadership role (Sims et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low pay but still we stay: Retention in early childhood education and care

McDonald

Thorpe

Irvine

2018

Journal of Industrial Relations

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A professional, skilled and engaged early childhood workforce is critical to economic and social productivity and positive life trajectories for children. Yet high staff turnover, skill loss and unmet standards of staff qualification pervade the sector, limiting optimal outcomes. For many early childhood educators, alternatives of better paid and less challenging sources of employment are available in other employment sectors, a fact that explains turnover rates as high as 30%. However, this study reverses the emphasis on why early childhood educators leave the sector and asks instead 'Why do so many stay?'. This question is a significant one when it is considered that the remuneration of educators in early childhood barely meets minimum wage thresholds, and that they face challenging working conditions and few opportunities for career progression. The findings of the study contribute to an understanding of retention in early childhood education and care occupations specifically, and in feminised, low-paid occupational groups more broadly. The study also informs policy and strategy responses to low retention in the early childhood sector in Australia and internationally.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low pay but still we stay: Retention in early childhood education and care

McDonald

Thorpe

Irvine

2018

Journal of Industrial Relations

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In recent years, there has been considerable discussion about the concept of distributed pedagogical leadership (Boe & Hognestad, 2017;Male & Palaiologou, 2017;Sims, Forrest, Semann, & Slattery, 2015). For example, Boe and Hognestad (2017) suggest that the concept of hybrid leadership (Gronn, 2008(Gronn, , 2009(Gronn, , 2011 is more suitable for describing the leadership roles of teachers.…”

Section: Distributed Pedagogical Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interdependence between the leadership enactments by different leadership stakeholders is crucial for leaders and teachers to achieve common goals. For example, Sims et al (2015) emphasize that the essence of distributed leadership is the creation and development of the shared meaning of the organization by all staff members. In Finland, for example, leadership stakeholders work relatively individually in geographically dispersed locations.…”

Section: Distributed Pedagogical Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed pedagogical leadership and teacher leadership in early childhood education contexts

Heikka

Pitkäniemi

Kettukangas

et al. 2019

International Journal of Leadership in Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The topic of distributed pedagogical leadership has attracted researchers' interest in early childhood education leadership. A growing body of research focuses on investigating leadership enacted between leaders and teachers in ECE settings. In this article, we focus on the enactment of distributed pedagogical leadership in Finnish ECE settings and their relations to teacher commitment to pedagogical leadership on staff teams. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. Data on the perceptions of 130 ECE professionals, ECE center directors, ECE teachers, and child care nurses on the enactment of distributed pedagogical leadership and teacher commitment were collected with a survey. A qualitative inquiry included six ECE professional interviews. The results indicate that the studied ECE centers have adopted leadership approaches congruent with distributed pedagogical leadership and the implementation of distributed forms of leadership related positively with the ECE teacher's ability to lead reflection and learning in their teams.

show abstract

“…In other words, leaders in early childhood are positioned, by neoliberal policy, to act upon educators, becoming the agents responsible for shaping educator practice into the required parameters (Alvesson & Spicer, 2016). Thus, educators themselves are becoming more and more deskilled and, within early childhood settings, this situation manifests itself as de-professionalisation (Jovanovic & Fane, 2016;Sims, Forrest, Semann, & Slattery, 2014).…”

Section: Situating the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agency is a key element in professionalisation (Goodson, 2007;Skattebol, Adamson, & Woodrow, 2016) and unquestioning acquiescence to external imposition of definitions of quality is, in itself a form of de-professionalisation (Sims et al, 2014;Sims et al, 2018a). Leaders exemplified this acquiescence but it is important to note that in accepting this form of control, followers are also participating in their own de-professionalisation (Alvesson & Spicer, 2016).…”

Section: Within Australiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Working as early childhood centre directors and deputies – perspectives from Australia, Finland and Norway

Halttunen¹,

Sims²,

Waniganayake³

et al. 2019

Leadership in Early Education in Times of Change

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This research is based in early childhood centres in Australia, Finland and Norway, considered the leadership work of centre Directors and Deputy Directors. Theoretically, this study is situated within the global landscape of neoliberalism that Sims (2017) describes as forcing the reshaping of early childhood policy in numerous OECD countries. Essentially qualitative in design, this exploratory study uses data gathered via a short background survey questionnaire, content analysis of job description statements, and a follow up interview with each participant. Findings indicate that there are differences within and across the three countries in the way these jobs are structured. It appears that the expectations of each role and how participants engage in leadership are framed by their centre contexts. In Australia, leaders of centres achieving an excellent quality rating tend to focus on relationship work when making leadership decisions. In Finland, Directors and Deputy Directors are expected to collaborate as partners when overseeing the work of 2-3 centres and other services. In Norway, there has been a redistribution of work where Deputy Directors have a co-responsibility in leadership enactment. When taken together, these findings illuminate new insights on how Directors experience leadership when Deputies are part of the leadership team in early childhood settings.

show abstract

Conceptions of early childhood leadership: driving new professionalism?

Cited by 47 publications

References 39 publications

Low pay but still we stay: Retention in early childhood education and care

Low pay but still we stay: Retention in early childhood education and care

Distributed pedagogical leadership and teacher leadership in early childhood education contexts

Working as early childhood centre directors and deputies – perspectives from Australia, Finland and Norway

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About