The role and influence of educational leaders in centres rated as providing high quality early childhood educational programs

Zhou, Ashley; Fenech, Marianne

doi:10.1177/18369391221089382

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 24 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…According to the Finnish study, teachers' pedagogical leadership is based on collaboration and distribution; teachers intentionally influence pedagogical practices in their teams. According to Zhou and Fenech (2022), educational leaders in Australia enhance quality improvement in their centers by supporting educators' professional development and promoting the centers' vision and goals. Bøe et al (2022) also connect pedagogical leadership in all activities involving children.…”

Section: Pedagogical Leadership In Early Childhood Education Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedagogical Leadership in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care through the Lens of Practice Architectures

Heikka,

Koivula,

Hautakangas

et al. 2024

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This research examines how practice architectures, i.e., cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements both enable and constrain the pedagogical leadership practice of early child-hood education (ECE) center directors (N = 3). The data were collected by a qualitative shadowing method and analyzed deductively using the theory of practice architectures. The findings revealed that social- political arrangements were fundamental for directing pedagogical leadership practice, affecting both material- economic and cultural-discursive arrangements. The social- political arrangements of pedagog-ical leadership were grounded in the municipality’s organizational structure; in turn, this structure organ-ized daily pedagogical leadership practices. Social-political arrangements were narrated as the directors emphasized the importance of national guidelines, legislation, and implementation of the national and local curricula. These were related to the material-economic arrangements because they required organizing time for discussion and further training of personnel. The national guidelines combined material-economic and social-political aspects as well as cultural-discursive arrangements in leadership practice, as pedagog-ical development aligned with legislation and national curriculum demands in a wide range of leadership functions in ECE centers. The essence of pedagogical leadership practice was the focal point of joint dis-cussions regarding pedagogy and the implementation of curriculum in the ECE centers. Most significantly, the quality of these discussions could enable or constrain pedagogical leadership and were influenced by cultural-discursive arrangements and leadership philosophy of the center directors alike.

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Section: Pedagogical Leadership In Early Childhood Education Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedagogical Leadership in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care through the Lens of Practice Architectures

Heikka,

Koivula,

Hautakangas

et al. 2024

nbf

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‘Diplomatically bossy’: Discursive constructions of ‘good’ leadership in early childhood told through educators’ memories

White

Gibson

Theobald

et al. 2023

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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This article puts forward a discursive analysis of early childhood leadership in Australia, offering new ways of understanding the work of early childhood leaders and adding to the methodological tools used to consider work in early childhood education and care. While an emerging body of work recognises the complexities of early childhood leadership, there is little empirical work that identifies how early childhood leaders draw on discourses to understand their roles. This article reports on a study that problematises discursive understandings of ‘good’ early childhood leadership in collective-biography workshops with seven participants. A poststructural feminist inquiry, informed by Foucauldian theory, enabled complex and nuanced readings of early childhood leaders’ accounts. Discourses – or ways of thinking, speaking and doing – were identified and scrutinised through Foucauldian-informed discourse analysis. The findings were conceptualised through ironic categories that hold together discursive tensions and contradictions. Ironic categories, such as ‘diplomatically bossy’, provoke and stimulate new ways of thinking about what it means to be a ‘good’ early childhood leader. The findings add to the emerging conversation and new methodological approaches that address complexity, diversity and contingency in understandings of early childhood leadership.

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The role and influence of educational leaders in centres rated as providing high quality early childhood educational programs

Cited by 2 publications

References 24 publications

Pedagogical Leadership in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care through the Lens of Practice Architectures

Pedagogical Leadership in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care through the Lens of Practice Architectures

‘Diplomatically bossy’: Discursive constructions of ‘good’ leadership in early childhood told through educators’ memories

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