Study: Leadership Types in ECE Settings

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

childcarecanada.org provided findings of a European study (based in Finland), published in July, 2024, reviewing research evidence on how Finnish ECEC centre leaders position themselves within the realm of leadership as a profession, with specific focus on identifying the key components of leader competence.

 Working from a premise that “recent economic investments and numerous changes have significantly impacted the role of ECEC centre leaders and their requirements” and that “recent research on educational leadership highlights its importance for both child development and employee well-being, as well as for maintaining pedagogical quality”, but that there are systemic lacks in leadership education and working structures, the study’s focus was on identifying the key components of leader competence.

The study used a two-step narrative analysis, identifying four types of leadership narrative:

·      Professional leader: focus on leadership expertise (not necessarily in ECEC)/leadership education; contextual understanding not perceived as compulsory; positioned as “Facilitator”.

·      Contextual leader: focus on leadership expertise in educational context; bringing contextual knowledge from the field to the leadership role; positioned as “Servant”.

·      Teacher leader: focus on teacher role/expertise in pedagogy; pedagogical competence and practical knowledge seen as primary skillset to leader role; positioned as “Pedagogical guide”.

·      Leader persona: focus on leader persona and traits supporting leadership; bringing teaching career and suitable character/leadership skills to role; positioned as “Leader”, with perception that leadership is a solitary task.

The Professional Leader:

·      Temporally oriented to the future.

·      May have come from an earlier career in another field and have worked just briefly as an ECEC teacher before moving quickly to an administrative leader position.

·      “Primarily a leader and orientates to leadership as a profession through systematic leadership education and knowledge.”

·      “For them leadership as a profession is about leading the operational culture, vision and strategy in the ECEC centre.”

·      See their pedagogical leadership role as “supporting professional development and sharing knowledge within the working community, rather than directly leading the curriculum”.

·      “They see themselves as a core part of the multi-professional community, which is viewed as the best resource and support for a leader.”

·      “The professional leader is a visionary for a different future and calls for systematic education. They perceive education to be important, not only for themselves as leaders, but also for all employees. In their view, there is no competent leader without competent employees.”

The Contextual Leader:

·      Temporally oriented to the future.

·      For the Contextual Leader, “their primary aim is to support the basic mission of the field: the wellbeing of the children. Leadership as a profession is positioned to the combination of leadership education and contextual knowledge, which are seen as equally important. Leadership as a profession requires deep understanding of leadership, but also substantive ECEC pedagogical understanding on an operational level. In other works, the ECEC centre leader needs to know curricula goals, but is focused on leading, not implementing these.”

·      The perception of the Contextual Leader is that “Leadership as a profession is about leading goals, pedagogical quality and working commitment, and also supporting wellbeing and working motivation in the community.”

The Teacher Leader:

·      Temporally oriented to the present.

·      Has been an administrative leader for around 5-10 years with previous considerable experience as an ECEC teacher and deputy leader.

·      Focused on the current academic year the needs of current children and employees.

·      “Leadership as a profession is based on ECEC teacher education, pedagogical theory and practical experience. Their prior experience as deputy leaders provides the knowledge base for their leadership.”

·      “…the teacher leader’s main expertise is in leading pedagogy and the core curriculum on a team level. A background in ECEC teacher education creates credibility and respect in the eyes of employees and helps create a plausible professional role.”

·      “Leadership is about guiding and acting, with teacher leaders thinking that their own pedagogical view guides centre operations. Leadership tends to be defined as a very demanding task because, ultimately, there are too many employees, ECEC centres and fragmented tasks for the leader to be able to be present in child groups, or to lead pedagogy on a practical level.”

The Leader Persona:

·      Temporally oriented to the past.

·      “The leader persona has an experience of both private and municipal ECECs and has made a lengthy career as an ECEC teacher. They are temporally oriented to the past and their narrative is a reflection of the time when every small centre had their own leader present in everyday life.”

·      “Leader persona leadership is positioned to personal traits and inherent competencies, such as bravery and an ability to carry responsibility for others. These individuals wish to be leaders and to inspire and motivate people to work for the ECEC centre. A previous formal leader role, and tenure in the organisation, is usually the foundation for leadership.”

·      “…there is an absence of systematic leadership education as a dimension in leadership as a profession. Personal talent, practical experience, personal will and the ability to organise everyday life are at the core of leadership as a profession for these individuals. Their strongest motivation to stay in the field is the ECEC basic mission and the wellbeing of the child.”

In summary, “In terms of differences on the first positioning level, professional leaders and contextual leaders viewed ECEC centre leadership as a profession, positioned to leadership education and context. The main difference between these two leadership types was that professional leaders underlined their understanding of the specific ECEC context, whereas contextual leaders focused on deeper contextual knowledge. For the teacher leader and leader persona, ECEC centre leadership as a professional role was not a clear concept – rather, centre leadership was strongly positioned to the ECEC teacher role, pedagogical competence and practical knowledge gained through a deputy-leader position.”

The study noted, “It was surprising in the data how many leaders positioned competent leadership to certain innate personal traits. Systematic leadership education was not at the core of teacher leader and leader persona narratives – rather, the emphasis was on practical ‘learning by doing’.”

In terms of position towards the wider community, the study observed that “both professional and contextual leaders viewed leadership as a discrete practice….focused on leading the operational culture and vision of the ECEC centre, while pedagogical leadership was defined in terms of leading, growing and sharing the competence of learning communities…..Both professional and contextual leaders saw the development of leadership, and leadership structures, as an important element of supporting the field and its future.” “In contrast, in teacher leader and leader persona narratives, leadership was seen as being about leading the curriculum and pedagogical processes….These two leader types positioned themselves as outsiders to their multi-professional learning communities. They were primarily superiors holding the formal power and expertise of the ECEC centre. Their former administrative positions and teachers’ knowledge gave them credibility, but also power, to lead very closely on how ECEC pedagogics should be implemented at the child group level.”

 The study concluded that “ECEC leadership as a professional skill [in Finland] is still an emerging phenomenon. Moving forward, there is a need for systematic leadership education and the development of functional leadership structures to clarify the concept of leadership as a shared practice and to ensure its effective implementation in ECEC centres”.

Noting the need for systematic leadership education in the field of ECEC, the study observed current impediments:

·      Opportunities for training are currently reliant on personal motivation or the willingness of ECEC organisations to support in-service training.

·      Growing ECEC centre sizes.

·      The number and range of responsibilities, including administrative tasks and personnel management as well as leading the pedagogical quality of the centre, expected of leaders of ECEC centres.

·      A lack of developing leadership system and structures.