Finnish early childhood education and care leaders’ perceptions of pedagogical leadership and assessment of the implementation of the National Core Curriculum in times of change

Abstract

Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) experienced system-wide changes in legislation, curriculum, and teachers’ and centre leaders’ qualification requirements between 2013 and 2018. Through these changes, the Finnish ECEC follows the global trends shifting the focus of ECEC from care towards education. The data are leaders’ ( N = 41) written responses to three open-ended questions in a survey completed in 2018. The analytical framework draws on the models of educational change and human capital of pedagogical leadership. The framework directs focus on leaders’ understanding about and realisation of these new policies in their ECEC centres. Results indicate that leaders have the capacity to interpret and lead the curriculum process. However, to secure the coherence in and quality of ECEC, guidance that is more systematic and instruments (e.g. for development of pedagogy) that support the implementation of the curriculum and its assessment are needed.

Teachers’ pedagogical leadership in early childhood education

“…Pedagogical leadership has emerged from the understanding that the substance of ECE determines leadership as providing the way to meet the mission and vision of the organisation (Nivala 2002). Ahtiainen, Fonsén, and Kiuru (2021) argued that leadership has altered because of several changes that the Finnish ECE system has undergone. Leading educational institutions with its curriculum, instead of social services for families, has become crucial.…”

The role of early childhood pedagogical leaders in schools: Leading change for ongoing improvement

“…More recent studies have found similar elements of pedagogical leadership exist within ECEC settings. Leading improvement has been shown to involve building collaborative understandings of policy and practice and a focus on contextual implementation (Ahtiainen et al, 2021). Other researchers have found that distributed models of pedagogical leadership involve administrative and teaching staff working interdependently towards shared goals (Heikka, 2014), developing trust through open dialogue and communication (Boe & Hognestad, 2017) and enabling educators to have ownership over pedagogical improvement (Kirk & Barblett, 2021).…”

“…Other researchers have found that distributed models of pedagogical leadership involve administrative and teaching staff working interdependently towards shared goals (Heikka, 2014), developing trust through open dialogue and communication (Boe & Hognestad, 2017) and enabling educators to have ownership over pedagogical improvement (Kirk & Barblett, 2021). It has also been determined that early childhood pedagogical leaders require early childhood knowledge to interpret reforms, identify goals and lead change (Ahtiainen et al, 2021). In school contexts, however, early childhood knowledge is not always a characteristic of those who lead.…”

Views from the Inside: Roles of Deputy Directors in Early Childhood Education in Finland

“…Research also indicates that the director or chief executive officer of any organisation is seen as the crucial source for enabling others to demonstrate leadership. Likewise, it is expected that ECE centre directors support and encourage professional growth of their colleagues and steer the community towards sharing leadership and negotiating the meaning of distributed leadership [8,[16][17][18].…”

“…This is in part historical and, more importantly, connected with the age group of the childrenfrom birth to five or six years-attending ECE centres. One important perspective on distributed leadership is to consider it in relation to pedagogical leadership because the role of leading pedagogy within ECE centres critically impacts program quality and children's development and learning outcomes [16,19,20]. When implementing and assessing the National Core Curriculum that is the core of pedagogy, centre directors set the aims, create the working climate and support staff, but the actual implementation and assessment is done through distributing leadership [16].…”