Leadership and Management in Early Childhood: Literature Review

ECPPL405A Leadership and Management in Early Childhood
Literature review
Early childhood
management and
leadership in the
21stcentury
0

ECPPL405A Leadership and Management in Early Childhood
Literature review
Introduction
In Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings leadership and
management play a critical role in delivering effective and quality education
and care programs in the service. This literature review discusses about five
articles on leadership and management in early childhood settings in the
context of Australia. The five articles that have been taken into
consideration in the literature review focuses on the concept of importance
of leadership in early childhood education. The literature review provides
with introspection, analysis, interpretation and review of the ideas that have
been conveyed by the articles. Moreover, theliterature will conclude with a
justification for what a post-modern understanding of leadership in the 21st
century should be.
Review
A leader in the preschool context needs to be having certain
characteristicsas stated by Douglass (2018) there are innumerable benefits
of leadership in early childhood education. The individuals who can
effectively play the role of a leader in the typical early childhood
educational settings must possess the values and virtues of profound love
for the children. Douglass (2018) has talked about “relational and
entrepreneurial leadership theories” in his paper which provides a leader
with not only the capacity to influence the mind and intellect of the students
but also lead improvements and innovations in the arena of preschool or

ECPPL405A Leadership and Management in Early Childhood
Literature review
early childhood settings, providing them with a completely new perspective
of leadership in the mentioned context. The study defines leadership as a
process of influencing change to improve early childhood care and
education, and not reserved just for those with a formal leadership position.
Results show how educators came to see themselves as leaders and pursued
different paths to making change and driving improvement. The ECEC
policies of Australia under Australian Children Education and Care
Authority [ACECQA] guidelines have newly enacted certain modern
strategies of leadership, which includes embraces the new leadership styles
and adjectives which is more democratic and innovative. The paper provides
details of such leadership (Australian Children Education and Care
Authority [ACECQA], 2017).
Douglass(2018) not only discussed about different approaches and
perspectives of leadership in early childhood education, but also discussed
about epistemological assumptions of the same. Douglass, A. (2018)
discusses about the purposes of leadership in the mentioned arena and at
what extent has the values of social justice and equity has been raised in
this context. The resultant findings of the research exhibited that though
the conventional and traditional hierarchical role of educational leadership
in early childhood is common, however, with the passage of time and
modernity in the society, there has been an emphasis on the distributed and
relational understandings in leadership in the respective field. The paper
redefines the role and responsibilities of leadership in the context of
modern as well as postmodern society of Australia. In modern era,

ECPPL405A Leadership and Management in Early Childhood
Literature review
leadership has come out as a socially constructed, culturally informed and
dynamic process giving away the conventional authoritative role of
leadership. Modern and postmodern assumptions of leadership have been
increasingly important in the new world of globalization and cultural
mixture, especially in preschool settings where children are evolving every
moment with new set of ideas and attitudes. Modern and postmodern
assumptions of leadership have also been discussed in the paper. According
to Douglass (2018), it is important to understand the statics as well as
dynamics of leadership in early childhood educational settings on various
modern as well as postmodern assumptions in order to find better solutions
in the field of pedagogy. The epistemological assumptions and
considerations enable the reader to understand the role of leadership on
critical grounds and help them determine what can be the best possible way
for increasing efficiency in the pedagogical management arena with the
help of leadership among the early childhood educators. Douglass (2018)
also offers sociological perspectives as it covers the social injustices that
occur with children in school settings and provides ways to deal effectively
with such situations.
The objective of the paper by Sims, Waniganayake& Hadley, (2018)is
to provide the reader with a new, latest and fresh look at leadership, its
necessity, scope and approaches in the context of early childhood and the
paper also discusses and reflects on the various skills, capabilities and
capacities necessary for effective leadership in early childhood education or
preschool setting. Sims, Waniganayake& Hadley(2018) is studying,