Essay about Leadership in Early Childhood

Boys State was a program that, quite frankly, I was discouraged from attending. I heard from multiple people from across the State that, “all you do is march,” and that Boys State is “military school.” I can say with utmost confidence that I will spread the opposite view. Boys State entirely exceeded my expectations in every way, and I cannot thank you enough for granting me such an exceptional opportunity.

“Understanding leadership in early childhood has been plagued by its confusion with the concept of management” (Rodd, 2013, p. 19). The quotation highlights the overlapping of different roles of leadership and management. It is true in respect that people misunderstand the true nature, roles and responsibilities of both the roles because the educational leaders play the role of manager in early childhood setting and the managers perform the duties of educational leader. The following essay will discuss the role of the leaders, which is different from the managers in early childhood settings. There will be discussion on the different skills and dispositions required to perform the role of a leader and a manager. There are different models and theories, which influence the way of working of the leaders and managers. First, the essay will explain the Collin’s level five leadership model; and Katz’s four development stages model followed by the Formal, Collegial and Cultural models of educational management in early childhood setting. Finally, the essay will compare and contrast the current theories of leadership; the charismatic theory, the transactional theory and the transformational theory of leadership. The different theories’ implication to the early educational settings will also be discussed through the essay.

These critical views have created a confused idea of what effective leadership is and for an EYT (as well as the community) this could affect their leadership role, especially in typical hierarchical environment, that has clearly defined terms of leadership and management (Payler and Locke, 2013. p134). However, their own interpretation of effective leadership agrees with theorists such as Hallet, Miller and Aubrey, who identify the early years professional (EYT) as the key component for successful leadership. Payler and Locke, noted that one of the areas felt most strongly about was a sense of value and community (Payler and Locke 2013) however, Aubrey and Siraj-Blatchford &Manni all identify holistic care and building community partnerships

In this essay I want to address the issue of leadership identity within the early years setting. Additionally, I want to discuss the misconceptions and negative responses to these changes, as this appears to have a direct affect upon effective leadership. I will be looking at what literature identifies as the key areas of effective leadership, as well as reflect upon the statements from critics about the graduate leader and their interpretation of what effective leadership is. I aim to assess how these statements compare and how this relates to Ofsted View on effective leadership. Additionally, I aim to assess how strong leadership identity will benefit children and their

Sullivan (2010) indicates that leaders empower, encourage, and support others in a shared effort to achieve goals or create change. Hence, as a early childhood educator our role has a great impact in achieving such goals. Indeed, a leader has desirable traits that inspires and motivates other to work towards a vision or goal. For the purpose of this paper, I will discuss my leadership style and explain how the style motivates and influences my environment and the importance to reflect on practice.

Leadership is often times confused with management, but they are in fact two separate and equally important aspects of successful organizations (Kotter, 2001). Leadership applies “power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people” (Zaleznik, 1992, p.2), while management is more concerned with handling problems as they arise (Kotter, 2001). Kotter (2001) and Zaleznik (1992) both discuss how leaders may be developed in different settings. The school district I work in practices growing leaders. Employees are identified for their leadership qualities and then the school district assists them with acquiring their administration degrees. Finally, they are transitioned from the classroom to administrative positions within the district

Leadership is imperative in a changing environment because it prepares a smooth and working environment. First, adults need to have a vision of their goal in order to turn it into a reality. Second, adults need to be an example to the children and other staff because it encourages the same or better outcome. Third, coaching helps children achieve success, knowledge, confidence and friendship. Fourth, Leaders must manage their time efficiently because the well-being of the children is in their hands. Finally, leaders must be innovative to facilitate all activities with staff and students. In the article “School Principals’ Influence on Trust: Perspectives of Mothers of Children

Some of the leadership qualities that I believe are needed to be an effective early childhood educator are that the individual has to be a compassionate individual who cares for the children and families that are served. A teacher must be knowledgeable about all developmental aspects of the children in their care. Teachers must also love working with children, be nurturing, be accepting, respectful, flexible, dependable, a healthy sense of humor and above all ethical in their behavior. Another very important quality needed would be someone who can build positive relationships with others. All these qualities are qualities I believe I possess as an early childhood educator.

As a result, the school has demonstrated a variety of strengths on effective early childhood leadership. The leader provides a sense of inclusion or belonging to other colleagues which they can feel they are empowered and recognised in the service. Both Sheri and Angie also display that they are active listener, while others are speaking they pay attention on the speaker and give feedback at the end. The school also demonstrates the importance of communication in effective leadership. Sheri and Angie always communicate with other educators and teaching assistant with respect to promote relationships that are empowering, collaborative and respectful (Waniganayake et al, 2017, p. 180). Furthermore, it is beneficial that Angie interacts

Throughout my teaching career, I often found myself in various leadership roles. The ones that most matched my leadership style included opportunities for me to practice the characteristics of a Transformational Leader. I believe instructional success for all students surfaces through a deep and sustained commitment by each and every staff member. This type of commitment and dedication occurs through empowerment. I've assisted with developing Professional Learning Communities in the past and this has assisted with fostering a culture of collaboration and accountability. My experience with PLC’s has led to the practice of Shared Leadership. Through Shared Leadership, staff was encouraged to assume greater responsibility and influence while

what it means to be teacher leader can be found in the literature, yet the roles of

Distributed leadership grants access to and a theoretical and investigative outline to study leadership across an organization. Even though inquiries concentrate a great deal on distributed leadership, in the area of special education and inclusion, restructure to help clear up the wide ranging roles held by principals, teachers, and other staff. This simply explains how their actions contribute to inclusive change (Billingsley, 2012). Leadership is spread across an organization, in a distributed framework. It also takes in collaborative proceedings across a range of traditional and non-traditional leaders. Furthermore, it spread out beyond easy task assignment to deep rooted stages of connections and shared action.

Students may not be receiving leadership training in early childhood education program that could be beneficial to them in their development as leaders. The problem I want to address is if the preschool students are getting enough education about leadership before enter school such as kinder garden. The statement I came up with is something that needs more attention in order for it to be changed in the preschool curriculum.

To create a succinct yet through body of research, the authors describe and explain important terms related to leadership technique areas including “double-loop learning” and the organizational improvement methods of “instructional leadership,” “transformational leadership,” and “distributed leadership” in brief paragraphs and sentences that present the readers with different views on the focus of school leadership and what values each type of method advocates. Likewise, the authors briefly explain the psychosocial elements that affect leadership, including: “mental models,” “immunities to change,” and “leader self-efficacy,” while also elaborating extensively on the need for “presence,” the personal inward reflection of a leader to create changes within his or her management. Lastly, despite competently explaining these main ideas in leadership organizational studies and psychosocial studies, the authors nevertheless dedicate half of their article to explaining a well-documented and significant case-study, originally constructed as a dissertation by Martinez-Kellar, that serves as an example of how to

My leadership can be seen in my experience as the Director of Resource in my school of 600 students, Preschool through the eighth grade. I supported parents, teachers and administrators as they maneuvered the obstacles involved in identifying learning needs as well as the challenges that follow after identification. I worked directly with teacher and families to complete the necessary paperwork and advocated on their behalf with the public school system. Under the role as director, I was solely responsible for