Leading practice in early childhood education

Abstract

In the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, strong leadership has a direct correlation to the quality of the service provided (Davis, Krieg & Smith 2015; Gibbs, Press & Wong 2019, p. 174). The importance of leadership is also signalled in the National Quality Standard (NQS) Standard 7.2: Leadership, putting forward that 'effective leadership builds and promotes a positive organisational culture and professional learning community' (ACECQA 2020, p. 91). ECEC has gone through significant reform over the past decade with changes such as the introduction of the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) (DEEWR 2009) and the NQS and ongoing changes to educator-child ratios (ACECQA 2019). Other issues such as 'marketisation, accountability and performativity' are also putting pressure on ECEC leaders to ensure their service meets requirements from all stakeholders and regula-tory bodies (Ward 2018, p. 1). The need to understand ECEC leadership is important for qualified educators enter-ing the field and is an ongoing area of professional learning needed for all educators. Considering leadership from different lenses, this chapter has been structured based on Waniganayake, Cheeseman, Fenech, Hadley and Shepherd's (2017) three basic elements ofleadership, comprising the 'person, the place and the position' (pp. 13-14). Beginning broadly and then narrowing down to the individual, this chapter is broken into three sections: 'contexts and theories'; 'early childhood leaders'; and 'individual leadership'.