{"id":275,"date":"2022-11-11T23:16:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T23:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains\/early-childhood-voices-conference-2022\/?page_id=275"},"modified":"2022-12-01T08:49:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T08:49:55","slug":"ecv2022-267","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains\/early-childhood-voices-conference-2022\/ecv2022-267\/","title":{"rendered":"267 – Leading as a socially-just practice within early childhood education"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Presentation - ECV2022-267<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Leading as a socially-just practice within early childhood education<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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Leanne Gibbs<\/strong>, Charles Sturt University, Australia (lgibbs@csu.edu.au<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Background:\u00a0<\/strong>This paper reports on an Australian study of the emergence and development of leadership within early childhood education (ECE) sites that uphold children\u2019s rights and access to high-quality ECE.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Aim:<\/strong>\u00a0The qualitative study contributes to a growing body of research on ECE leadership practice, specifically site-based leadership cultivation and development.<\/p>\n\n

Method:<\/strong>\u00a0A mini-ethnographic case study methodology was employed to investigate the emergence and development of leadership practice. Methods included observation, unstructured interviews, dialogic caf\u00e9, and document analysis. The participants were 30 emerging and positional leaders within three exemplary Australian ECE sites.<\/p>\n\n

Results:<\/strong>\u00a0Complexity leadership theory was used to situate leadership within the Australian ECE context, accounting for the competing purposes of high-quality education programs and the complex array of practices required for leadership to be effective. Additionally, the theory of practice architectures was used as an analytical tool. The theory of practice architectures helped to identify socially-just leadership practices that uphold children\u2019s rights and to understand the organisational arrangements that enabled and constrained those practices within each site. Study findings illuminate how leadership can be cultivated and developed in ECE.<\/p>\n\n

Conclusions:<\/strong>\u00a0As a result of the study, organisations are encouraged to create the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that shape leadership within ECE sites. The paper argues for the development of ECE leadership as a socially just practice that upholds children\u2019s rights and access to high-quality early childhood education.<\/p>\n\n

Implications for children and families:<\/strong>\u00a0You have significant rights. Socially-just leadership practices support those rights.<\/p>\n\n

Implications for practitioners:<\/strong>\u00a0Regardless of your position, you can practice leadership that enables children\u2019s rights and their access to high-quality ECE.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Key words<\/strong>: leadership, children\u2019s rights, qualitative, complexity leadership theory, practice architectures, early childhood, social justice<\/p>\n\n

This presentation relates to the following <\/strong>United Nations Sustainable Development Goals<\/strong><\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n