WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER HERO The emergence and development of leading in early childhood education In the July 2019 edition of Rattler, Leanne Gibbs shared an insight into her research study on how leadership emerges and develops in early childhood education settings. In this edition, Leanne talks about the study results including what emerging leadership looks like and how organisations cultivate and develop leading to deliver high quality early childhood education. The research was undertaken within education settings with different governance arrangements. All centres were rated as Exceeding in all elements in all quality areas.
WHY WE NEED TO STUDY LEADERSHIP IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION How leadership emerges and develops in Australian early childhood settings is becoming a more compelling and important question as the demand for early childhood education and care grows (ECEC), and therefore, demand for more positional leaders increases. Positional leadership roles are embedded within the standards and regulations. With the expansion of early childhood education, it follows that we would need more leaders, but where will they come from and how will they be prepared to lead? We know that the pathway to a formal leadership role is not always straightforward. Educators can find themselves in leadership roles
without the adequate preparation or confidence to undertake the challenges of leading. Professional development offerings don’t always support the important learning for the complex task of leading people, policy and pedagogy in ECEC. So, what would it take to identify those people who are emerging as leaders and to cultivate their leadership and the leadership of formal leaders in early childhood education settings? How can organisations do the ‘heavy lifting’ on leadership development and overcome the expectation that, somehow, charismatic, heroic leaders will materialise and take on formal leadership roles?
REDEFINING ‘LEADERSHIP’ Whilst leadership in early childhood
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education has been historically conceptualised as a role framed by three elements; the person (traits, values, personality), the place (ECE settings) and the position (formal leader), we are seeing new propositions for leadership. In contemporary constructs, leadership is increasingly identifying as relational, participative and as a practice. To take this thinking a step further, leadership could be redefined as: leading where “socially just practice occurs as a relational activity in a collective, (and) as a dynamic activity that can be undertaken by anyone, not just those in formal roles”.1 This definition of ‘leading’ aligns with a values driven profession like early childhood education. The definition opens the leadership story up for
