Leadership and Management: Early Childhood Education Report

This report delves into leadership and management, specifically addressing workplace bullying within early childhood education settings. It defines bullying, its prevalence, and negative impacts like stress and low self-confidence, emphasizing the need for its eradication. The report then analyzes a research article by Carol Burgess on professional development and support for staff in childcare centers. The research highlights the importance of leadership qualities, the significance of professional development in meeting center requirements, and the crucial role of professional development in fostering a positive organizational culture. The findings underscore the value of leadership support, professional development, and their contributions to delivering high-quality services to children and families. The report emphasizes the positive impact of professional development on both centers and practitioners, concluding with the importance of strong leadership in promoting a supportive work environment and addressing workplace bullying.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Leadership and Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Question 1..................................................................................................................................2
Question 2..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Question 1
Definition of Workplace Bullying and why does it often occur in Early Childhood
Education Settings
Bullying can be defined as the utilization of force, coercions to abuse, threat,
dominate or even intimidate others. This type of behaviour is both habitual and repeated and
it is the specified or systematic activity, which is being directed towards the individuals.
Bullying even endures elements that are resulting within an unpleasant and hostile work
environment. Work place bullying has become extremely common in today’s world and it
involves negative impact on the victim that eventually causes stress as well as low self-
confidence (Hard, 2009). The consequences of work place bullying subsequently vary
majorly and these impacts involve high staff turnover and intention of leaving, decrement in
commitment as well as productivity, high absenteeism, physical illness, low level of job
satisfaction, probable expulsion from labour market and even psychosomatic symptoms.
Moreover, efficiency or motivation in work is reduced to a higher level. The ultimate or the
extreme point of this work place bullying is suicide, where the victim is broken down to such
a level that he or she is forced to end his or her respective life.
Bullying is often observed in the early childhood setting and should be eradicated on
time so that these issues are not exceeded. The early childhood field should be present for
celebrating and showing or sharing skills to one another. However, engagement in horizontal
violence and bullying is extremely destructive for the subsequent field, the victim and even
for that perpetrator (Hard, 2009). As per an early childhood academic commenter, early
childhood service is smaller environment for conformity. This eventually could have the
major effect for suffocating people with the thought that he or she is not accepted in any
position or place. Few comments from others were also noted that depicted that they have

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witnessed various behaviours by their co workers, in which these staffs were either
humiliated or marginalized for several practices, excluded from the social services,
experienced certain derogatory comments regarding programs and even were eventually
prevented from trying out any new thing.
The students on the professional experience placement have identified the service
expectation for conforming to exist practice as well as limited capacity of trying out newer
things within the respective service. Two positive features are also present for discussing
bullying within early childhood work force (Hard, 2009). The first feature is raising the
probability to converse regarding engagement of professionals amongst one another and
second feature includes affording of language and knowledge for starting open conversations
for criticizing bullying.

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Question 2
Main Findings of the Research and why are they important for Early Childhood
Education Staff
The research article of “Practice Potentials: Impact of participation in professional
development and support on quality outcomes for children in childcare centres” by Carol
Burgess mainly emphasizes on the various leadership qualities or characteristics of managers
and other top managerial level in terms of their professional development as well as staff
support (Burgess, 2008). All of the findings are being concluded from the broad research,
which demonstrates an important attempt of considering the present PD&S or professional
development and support contexts. These PD&S contexts are available as well as accessible
from children’s service practitioners of Australia, who are working in longer day care centres.
Carol Burgess has used various case studies for gathering attitudinal or experiential data from
staffs, managers and directors.
The major objectives of this particular research article were development of an
understanding of children services managers viewing professional support value for the staffs
and even understanding of relationship within quality outcomes and PD&S. Other objectives
include developing an understanding of several effective measures for supporting services or
implementing changes within practices and exploration of possible connections within
participating in the PD strategies as well as achievement of identified results (Burgess, 2008).
This study was being taken within three distinctive phases and few participants were being
drawn from the long day care centres across Australia. At first, a national online survey
helped in gathering information and then groups were focused in PD&S in capital city of
every territory or state. Finally, interviews were being conducted from case studies regarding
PD&S.

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The findings of this experiment were extraordinary. The study participants of staffs,
management committee members, managers and directors values this PD&S and considered
that it is responsible for contributing to deliver higher quality services to the children and
families. There was a positive attitude for PD&S and thus there was a constructive impact
over both centres and practitioners. According to the findings, majority of managers and
directors supported PD&S and three broad categories were found out, which are as follows:
i) Significance of leadership as well as support from director or manager: Early
childhood directors have a main role in PD&S of staffs (Burgess, 2008). Hence, they should
value knowledge and perceptions of learners.
ii) PD&S as the method to meet specified requirements of centre: PD&S is
considered as one of the most basic methodology that is required for meeting the centre or
leadership requirements in early childhood education.
iii) Significant role and responsibility of PD&S for creation of a positive company
culture: The managers comprise of few attributes to PD&S for development of
organisational culture, which is working in the provision for early childhood program.

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References
Burgess, C. (2008). Practice Potentials: Impact of participation in professional development
and support on quality outcomes for children in childcare centres.
Hard, L. (2009). Why is bullying an issue in the early childhood workforce? Every Child,
15(2), 24 – 25.