Leadership in Early Education

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN EARLY EDUCATION
LEADERSHIP IN EARLY EDUCATION
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1LEADERSHIP IN EARLY EDUCATION
Introduction
The most effective learning happens in a human when they are young. That is why
early childhood education is of paramount importance. Just like any other organizational or
institutional workspace, in an early childhood education centre, all the children and the
teacher/ teaching assistants work collaboratively in a give-and-take manner to ensure a
developmentally wholesome experience for the primary education of the children. Since in
the developmental phase, children do not have a large attention and concentration span, the
teachers have to constantly keep reinforcing the objectives and activities as well as constantly
changing the way the lesson is delivered in order to keep the students engaged in the task.
Key skills of leadership becomes very useful even in early education. This article discusses
leadership in the context of early education and attempts to establish its importance in
providing early childhood literacy.
Discussion
Leadership is defined as a set of physical attributes and practical skills that helps an
individual guide or lead another individual, a group or even an entire organization towards a
wholesome development. Good leadership skills find extensive admiration and use in
business organizations and organizations that deal with team oriented projects. Some key
leadership skills include:
i. Good communication.
ii. Motivational ability
iii. Positivity and friendliness.
iv. Conflict management ability and authoritativeness
v. Creativity and diligence
vi. Trustworthiness.

2LEADERSHIP IN EARLY EDUCATION
In the field of early childhood education, a lot of significant factors play an important
role. One of the most crucial factor is the teacher. An effective teacher has a lot of similarities
and parallels with an effective leader and can significantly influence the way children
undergo the whole learning process (Rodd, 2012). As mentioned above, children in early
childhood education face a lot of challenges that they are too young to overcome by
themselves. Their inability to understand the concept of time, importance of a goal, complete
educational and skill development task on their own and their short attention span are the
primary factors that can prove detrimental to their educational experience (Cook, Klein &
Chen, 2015). Moreover, children in the early phases of their life also get significantly
influenced by the kind of treatment they get from adults, based on which they form
attachments with the person (Madigan et al., 2013). They also tend to imitate adult behaviour
(Britto et al., 2017). Thus if the behaviour of the teacher in class is of good overall conduct,
has a strong personality profile and demonstrates the significant leadership skills and abilities
as mentioned above, children can benefit from that as well (Heikka, Waniganayake & Hujala,
2013).
A key aspect of leadership in an early educational classroom is the ability to organize
the students well (Fonsén, 2013). Let’s take a look at a few pictures from an early childhood
classroom.