Bachelor in Early Years: The Role of Women in Educational Leadership

This report examines the importance of women in leadership roles within educational settings, focusing on the early years sector. It reviews existing literature, highlighting the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions and the barriers they face, such as societal expectations, lifestyle conflicts, and the 'glass ceiling' effect. The report also discusses the leadership styles employed by women and their alignment with educational standards like the National Quality Standards (NQS) and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL). Data analysis and findings emphasize the positive impact of women leaders on educational services, while also acknowledging the challenges in relating their activities to specific standards. The report concludes by underscoring the need to address gender biases and promote equal opportunities for women to excel in leadership roles within the education industry, fostering a more inclusive and effective learning environment for children.

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Bachelor in Early Years
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Review of Literature........................................................................................................................1
Data Analysis and Findings.............................................................................................................4
Discussion........................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
The purpose of the report is to enlighten the reader about the importance of women in leadership
in the educational settings. Education is a field where leadership plays the biggest role in
convincing people for education. Without having leadership power in their hand, no person can
completely educate the people near them. Especially in the case of a women leader, it is
important for them to make use of leadership so as to create an impact in the environment. The
below-mentioned report will guide the readers about the impact and importance of women in
leadership in educational settings. It also explains the reason that why few women are present in
the education industry as leaders. Further, data analysis and finding are also mentioned in the
paper along with discussion (Johnston, et. al., 2018). Leadership refers to the act or state of
leading a group of people according to their ability to perform a task. Leadership is important in
each and every field as it helps the subordinates to work accordingly and deliver the right type of
result to the people. Further, talking about women leaders in education, it is believed that women
as leaders are more expressive that helps the students in learning and understanding things in a
better way. More details about women in leadership in education are discussed below:
Review of Literature
It is the male gender of the society who continues to dominate the female gender in every field
worldwide, however, the importance of women in the industry is mostly not known to people
due to which they do not try to maintain equality between men and women. Leadership is an
important duty that needs to be significantly played by the leader in society. Every organization
present in the current environment needs a leader who will help them to sort out the issues and
place men and machine in the right position. A leader is a person who influences and encourages
the people to work and attain goals in the environment (AITSL 2018). Leadership is the ability
of the superior to influence others towards accomplishing their goals and towards the betterment.
Chester Barnard summed up leadership by stating that it is the ability of the superior to influence
the behaviour of subordinates and motivate them to follow the particular course of action. The
education industry is an important field where it is important to have a leader who is influential
and active. Leadership can never be gender specific as it is a set of qualities that are cultivated or

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inherent among people (National Quality Framework 2018). The qualities of a leader can be
present in both male and females. Any organization where there is inadequate leadership, the
people cannot learn and develop, as a leader is the one who combines all the functions of the
company and then initiates actions that help people to attain knowledge in the environment.
Women in the educational settings create a perspective that brings the facility of competition
along with collaboration in the society. Many surveys show that organizations and associations
led by women have better financial growth (McCaffery 2018).
However, women leaders still face barriers to initiating their leadership skills in the environment.
According to Renz 2016, there are very few women present in the society who successfully
manage to attain the topmost position in the society. Higher management believes that men will
handle the situations of educational settings in a better way. The selection process of the
associations is also designed in such a way that they give men more preference than women do.
There are various barriers and challenges that women leaders face while working in educational
settings like lifestyle conflicts. Many women in the social work in the educational environment
while remaining primary caretaker of the families. Time boundations and requirements of the job
force women to choose one thing between family and career. In the viewpoint of Răducan, and
Răducan 2014, this option confuses them to the maximum extent due to which women have to
voluntarily leave their job and live with family. However, this is not the best case scenario for all
the women as now times have changed and women have developed the sense of ability to handle
both the aspects properly. Resulting in which, companies have also stopped looking for women
leaders in the society, as they fear of their unavailability in the required time.
Women in the current environment, make use of transformational style leadership that helps
them to successfully develop the minds of the children using innovative and differential activities
(Davis, and Maldonado 2015). However, this also acts as a barrier to the growth of women as a
leader because the society demands the traditional style of leadership. A particular type of
stereotype has been formed that people who associate masculine characteristics within them are
able to dominate the children and make them study. This type of leadership style includes task-
oriented leadership abilities, assertiveness and aggressiveness. Such capabilities are considered
as masculine whereas capabilities of the female are modest, quiet, selfless etc. Ideally, with the
changing environment, both men and women have changed their way of thinking. So, women

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have developed a collaborative approach to strictness and with innovation in the ways of
teaching. But such perceptions hinders the approach of the women to become a successful leader
and initiate the functions successfully (Michel, Hays, and Runyan 2015).
Also, the fact should be noted that the biggest barriers in the process of women leadership in an
educational setting is a glass ceiling. Glass ceiling refers to an unacknowledged barrier in the
professional industry that affects the interest of women and members of the minority in the
society. Under this type of system, the women are being hired in an organization but they are
never promoted as a leader because the higher authority believes that the male employee is more
deserving than the female employee is. In addition, the top management believes that women
cannot become a good leader in the society (Murakami, and Törnsen 2017). It would be wrong to
say that women are incapable of leading an organization in an educational setting. It is always
believed that women have a strong memory and understanding power as compared to them. So,
according to this aspect, they should be given more power to become a leader as well (Shapiro,
and Stefkovich 2016). According to the National Quality Standards (NQS), there are some
quality areas defined for the teacher that will help them to initiate effective leadership practice in
the country. These seven quality areas are educational program and practice, children's health
and safety, physical environment, staffing arrangement, relationship and children, collaborative
partnership with families and communities and lastly governance and leadership (Lindsey, et. al.,
2018). These standards define the ways in which leadership practice should be initiated by the
teachers so as to create an impact among the student.
The fact should be noted that in no way the female teachers practice wrong or ineffective
leadership approach but still they are not promoted to the higher level. Women in the education
industry are considered good for the lower level jobs because they are hardworking and flexible
as well, but when it comes to promoting them at a higher level, the organizations do not consider
them as an option (Liang, Sottile, and Peters 2018). This is the glass ceiling present in the
industry. It is important for the women leaders to show up and raise their voice against such
practices so that they can break the glass ceiling and grow. The education industry is an
organization where people do not work just to earn money; they work to help people grow for
the better. In order to make someone learn things, it is important for the teachers to have good

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leadership skills and women leaders in no way initiate leadership skills that put them down in
front of the male leaders present in the industry (Liang, and Peters-Hawkins 2017).
There are various standards defined by AITSL (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers)
that define professional norms for the teachers present in the Australian industry. Every teacher
should follow these professional norms in order to grow in the education industry. According to
the NQS standards, it is the responsibility of teachers to educate the children outside the school
hour care services. These standards define 7 benchmark outcomes for children in society.
Services of teachers are rated on the basis of these seven quality areas and its results (Australian
Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 2014). The capability of a teacher to grow can be
looked using these quality standards present in the society, these standards govern and measure
the quality of services given by teachers in the society. Gender of the teacher does not play any
role in the growth of their teaching career.
According to this framework, teachers are registered and promoted on the basis of their skill set
and not their gender. So, it can be said that women leaders present in the education industry grow
on the basis of work that they deliver. The services delivered by the teachers should be adequate
according to the NQS and AITSL standards present in the society. This fact is irrational that
women leaders are being oppressed due to their gender as the quality of work that should be
looked in the educational setting (Stage 2015). So, the fact should be noted that women leaders
in an educational setting are considered good only on behalf of the services that they provide to
the children. There are various standards like NQS and AITSL that govern the service delivered
by teachers. However, still, there are some practices present in the educational settings those
suppress women from growing in the educational setting (Perry, Dockett, and Harley 2012).
Data Analysis and Findings
Various articles have been analysed in the case that evaluated the information about the practices
of women leaders in the educational settings. Various reading about leadership styles and
leadership in educations settings have been analysed to prepare the above-mentioned review. The
key elements that emerged in the readings is that leadership in an educational setting is the most
important things that help in delivering adequate educational services to the children. The basic
motive of the educational industry and various standards is to make the teachers implement

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leadership in such a way that positively affects the interest of children. Gender of the teachers
does not play any role in promoting them in the educational setting (Perry, Dockett, and Harley
2012). Women as leaders in the education industry successfully deliver the right piece of
information to the children.
Talking about the opportunities received while preparing for this review, it should be noted that
the topic is diversified and there is immense information present about women leadership in
educational settings. Due to which, it was easy to find the right piece of information for the
literature review. Further, talking about challenges it should be noted that it was difficult to relate
the activities of women leader with NQS and AITSL standards. The piece of information helped
in knowing the standards of education that should be provided in the society but it was difficult
to find the type of services that are actually provided in the society. Transformational leadership
style or situational leadership style etc. theoretical frameworks have been defined in the above-
mentioned review that successfully evaluate details about the women leaders present in the
educational setting (Brown 2004). The areas of leadership successfully relate to the NQS and
AITSL standards defined in the society. It is difficult for teachers to initiate services in society
without using adequate leadership skills. Similarly, the standards also explain that it is important
for the teachers to make use of leadership while practising their teaching skills in front of
children. The ethical consideration on which this review focuses on is that gender does on define
the quality of services that teachers offer in the educational setting. Leadership is an act that can
be initiated by the person possessing it, it does not depend on the gender of the person that they
will perform leadership activities in the right manner (INEQUITY 2011).
Discussion
From the above-mentioned discussion, it has been evaluated that women leaders that
successfully follow the guidelines present under NQS and AITSL successfully grow in the
education industry. Through the analysis of the pieces of literature, it has been found out that
firstly leadership activity in an educational setting does not depend upon the gender of the
person. Leadership is an individual act that can be performed by anyone irrespective of his or her
gender. Secondly, it is very important for teachers to initiate leadership skills in their practice in
order to successfully educate the children. Leadership in education industry helps the teachers in

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providing their services in a better way. If women leaders present in the society are oppressed
due to their gender then the education industry on a whole will face difficulty in providing
resourceful services to the students. Barring the female teachers to grow in the education
industry will give a wrong impact on the children as well. This research has successfully helped
me to diversify my understanding of leadership. Through this review, I acknowledged the fact
that leadership is an act that is either inherent or adopted in society and practised by people
irrespective of the fact that they are male or female. However, female in the society face
difficulty in initiating their leadership skills in the environment. Further, talking about the
educational industry, I came to know that people under this industry are not segregated on the
basis of their gender but they are differentiated on the basis of the services that they provide in
the society.

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References
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Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2014. Australian professional standards
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Brown, L.E.H., 2004. Barriers to women in educational leadership roles in Montana (Doctoral
dissertation, Montana State University-Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human
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Davis, D.R. and Maldonado, C., 2015. Shattering the glass ceiling: The leadership development
of African American women in higher education. Advancing Women in Leadership, 35, pp.48-
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INEQUITY, S.D., 2011. Women as Leaders in Education.
Johnston, C., Johnston, J., House, A. and Fenton, C., 2018. Leadership and management of early
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Liang, J.G. and Peters-Hawkins, A.L., 2017. “I Am More Than What I Look Alike” Asian
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Liang, J.G., Sottile, J. and Peters, A.L., 2018. Understanding Asian American women's pathways
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McCaffery, P., 2018. The higher education manager's handbook: effective leadership and
management in universities and colleges. Routledge.

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