Leadership in the Early Childhood Field
Part A
The early childhood field is dynamic, dealing with social and political change and provides a range of settings to meet diverse community needs (Ebbeck & Waniganayake, 2003). Leadership is essential during these challenging times, to ensure early childhood settings are high quality organisations for children, families and staff teams (Ebbeck & Waniganayake, 2003). Correspondingly there is a growing awareness of the importance of the theory and practice of leadership specific to the early childhood field. According to Rodd (2006) leadership in early childhood is about vision and influence to inspire staff teams and the management skills to promote the development of staff, and organisational changes to achieve a shared vision. The article by Schratz (2006) explores leadership perspective based on meaningful relationships and new learning. The article by Deakins (2007) explores the perspective of communication for leadership and the value of empowering staff. All these perspectives move away from the traditional authoritarian view of leadership and explore evolving theory and practice of leadership in the early childhood field (Rodd, 2006).
The Schratz (2006) article examines leadership in the school settings and highlights the current pressure on the education system to improve quality, and the vital role leadership has during these changes. While the Deakins (2007) article examines the integral role leadership has in an early childhood setting during a period of dramatic organisational growth and change. Both articles explored the important role meaningful communication and relationships have in effective leadership.
According to Schratz (2006, p.40) perspective, leadership in schools is not simply about the principal’s authority but about meaningful relationship “between people, planning, culture and structure”. Therefore an effective leader would interact and have a positive influence on these relationships to improve the quality of the
The early childhood field is dynamic, dealing with social and political change and provides a range of settings to meet diverse community needs (Ebbeck & Waniganayake, 2003). Leadership is essential during these challenging times, to ensure early childhood settings are high quality organisations for children, families and staff teams (Ebbeck & Waniganayake, 2003). Correspondingly there is a growing awareness of the importance of the theory and practice of leadership specific to the early childhood field. According to Rodd (2006) leadership in early childhood is about vision and influence to inspire staff teams and the management skills to promote the development of staff, and organisational changes to achieve a shared vision. The article by Schratz (2006) explores leadership perspective based on meaningful relationships and new learning. The article by Deakins (2007) explores the perspective of communication for leadership and the value of empowering staff. All these perspectives move away from the traditional authoritarian view of leadership and explore evolving theory and practice of leadership in the early childhood field (Rodd, 2006).
The Schratz (2006) article examines leadership in the school settings and highlights the current pressure on the education system to improve quality, and the vital role leadership has during these changes. While the Deakins (2007) article examines the integral role leadership has in an early childhood setting during a period of dramatic organisational growth and change. Both articles explored the important role meaningful communication and relationships have in effective leadership.
According to Schratz (2006, p.40) perspective, leadership in schools is not simply about the principal’s authority but about meaningful relationship “between people, planning, culture and structure”. Therefore an effective leader would interact and have a positive influence on these relationships to improve the quality of the