National reforms introduced into the early childhood education and care sector across Australia have created a requirement for each service to appoint an ‘educational’ leader to provide curriculum direction to ensure that children achieve quality care and education to lead to positive outcomes. Leadership in the early childhood has often been contested and complex, but the addition of a new leadership for building pedagogy and practice has created additional complexities. This paper reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative research study investigating how a small number of educational leaders working in long day care settings in urban Australia perceive their role. The study identified that these educational leaders came to the position unwillingly and felt poorly prepared and supported to meet the challenges presented.
History
Journal
Early child development and care
Volume
186
Pagination
497-508
Location
Abingdon, Eng.
ISSN
0300-4430
eISSN
1476-8275
Language
eng
Publication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal, C Journal article