TCHR3004 LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSESSMENT BRIEF: Assessment 2
Interview C
Unit Learning
Outcomes
You will demonstrate the following Unit Learning Outcomes on the successful
completion of this task:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of the key principles of leadership and
management in practice in early childhood education and care
services and settings underpinned by theoretical and practical
perspectives on administration, management and leadership.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of how to build supportive and
collaborative environments for children, parents, community and
staff.
3. Critically reflect on the role that advocacy plays in early childhood
education (locally, nationally and internationally) and identify the
skills that a strong advocate for the ECEC profession should display.
4. Critically analyse and understand the role of the educational leader:
including relationships, responsibilities, expectations, ethical practice
and transition to an educational leader.
TCHR3004 LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSESSMENT BRIEF: Assessment 2
Key roles and responsibilities of the educational leader
Samantha, the educational leader in interview C has several roles and responsibilities as a leader of pedagogy. Her main responsibility is ensuring that there is effective communication between the teachers and the children. It is not enough to teach, teachers must ensure that the students can clearly understand what is being taught. As a leader in community kindergarten, Samantha understands that kindergarten is the foundational class of any child. This means that while playing is a large part of being a kindergartener, it is crucial for the child to also learn and as a leader, Samantha has to ensure that the educators are using the right teaching methods to ensure that the children gain the knowledge meant for them at this particular academic stage.
Samantha also has a role not just towards the children, but also towards the educators, in that she has to sit down with them regularly, ask them how they are doing, how she can assist them to make the teaching work easier, and what can be done to improve the quality of education provided. Samantha understands that the only way educators can remain ahead of any changes that take place in the academic world is by actively learning. As a leader, she has created a rapport with the other educators, where they trust her leadership, and they are always willing to involve themselves in the conversation of how to be better. As a distributive leader, Samantha has a responsibility to encourage the educators to step up and take up leadership roles. Thus, every member of the team can contribute to the progress of their kindergarten by utilizing their knowledge and skills (Douglass, 2017). Samantha gives an instance of when the community needed a garden in the back, and one of the team members, Sue, was tasked with the responsibility of spearheading the project since she had the necessary skills and knowledge.
As a leader, Samantha also understands that one of her crucial roles is to keep learning about ECEC and using her knowledge to make the community kindergarten better. An educator has to commit to learning, always ahead of any trends in this particular field. According to the Educational Leader Resource (2019), a leader has to be committed to ongoing learning, since they need to provide curriculum direction, understand the activities taking place in the school and why they are crucial, and even understand what other pedagogy leaders are doing and how to apply the same practices. Continuous learning also makes it easier for the leaders to collaborate not just with their team but with other leaders, coming up with strategies to make early childhood programs more effective (“Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA],” 2022) .
How sociocultural theory relates to distributed leadership
Samantha applies the collaborative and distributed leadership. This is the kind of leadership where every member of the team is encouraged to take up some leadership roles based on their knowledge, skills, and passion. Due to this particular leadership style, Samantha and her team boast of strong relationships with each other, since every member of the team feels heard, appreciated, and even encouraged to keep learning and improving themselves. By applying this kind of leadership, Samantha understands that no one knows it all. She understands that as a leader, her role is not to dictate, but to encourage everyone to take part in leadership and the growth of the school. She does not feel threatened when other members are called upon to lead certain projects, since she understands that everyone is good at something and allowing everyone to partake in leadership is the best way to ensure that the kindergarteners have the best in every aspect.
Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, also known as the child development theory is one of the best theories that show the benefits of distributive leadership in ECEC. This theory states that parents, teachers, and other adults are responsible for the development of a child (Edwards, 2006). Vygotsky stated that everyone learns through others, especially the more knowledgeable members of society, making educators crucial in laying a good foundation when it comes to kindergarten education. This theory encourages assisting children in their growth in various ways. Culture is one of the crucial elements of learning according to this theory (Edwards, 2006). Children’s development is heavily influenced by the culture they grow in, and distributed leadership helps ensure that these children grow up in a culture that emphasizes everyone’s contribution to learning.
Distributed leadership style heavily leans on diversity, encouraging members of a team to take up various leadership roles based on their skills and knowledge. Different educators bring with them different experiences, perspectives, and skills (ACECQA, 2018). For instance, in Samantha’s kindergarten, children can learn how to make a garden from Sue and how to use floor books from Janice. This means that a child does not grow up knowing for instance, how to color, but not how to count, or collaborate with other children. Samantha applies the sociocultural theory, by ensuring that children not only get to learn and play, but they also get to understand what they are being taught since their learning does not heavily lean on one kind of knowledge, ignoring all others.
Challenges of the educational leader
Samantha admits that the biggest challenge she faces as an educational leader is insufficient time. Distributed leadership has various challenges, one of them being that everyone feels as if they are the experts since they have been given room to grow, something that leaves Samantha without enough time for everything she has to do. Distributed leadership encourages not just the educators but also the parents to take part in decision-making, something that can go wrong if not well executed (Douglass, 2017). If everyone, for instance, weighs on a particular subject, it would take quite a while before the team can reach a consensus, leaving them without enough time to carry out all their responsibilities. It is also difficult to give everyone a chance to voice their opinions without sounding exasperated, something that, as Samantha admits, often leaves her drained.
Skills for advocacy in the ECEC profession
One of the major skills that Samantha insists on when it comes to advocacy in ECEC is effective communication. Effective communication helps ensure that every member of the team is heard. Distributed leadership encourages diversity since it understands that teachers have various experiences and skills. Some teachers have unique ideas that can help children learn in a better way (Stamopoulos & Barblett, 2020). For instance, an African American teacher in a majorly white school has an experience of how it feels like to be different from other students. Such a teacher can help come up with strategies to help minority students have a rich experience in school, and effective communication would help ensure that their opinion is not only heard but also taken into account (Stamopoulos & Barblett, 2020). Effective communication also helps Samantha to develop a strong relationship with all the educators, since they feel appreciated by their leader when she seeks out their opinions and also asks how she can assist.
Collaboration is another crucial skill needed for advocacy in ECEC. As an educational leader, Samantha cannot transform the community kindergarten on her own, and she needs to collaborate not just with other educators in the school but even with parents and educators in other schools. As a result of collaboration, students get to learn under a community of teachers who are dedicated to ensuring that children feel as if they belong to this community, thus, gaining the confidence to become the best they can be. EYLF dictates that children feel confident in their community when they have positive experiences in that particular community (Australian Government Department of Education [AGDE], 2022). Collaboration helps shape these kindergarteners, preparing them as they begin their learning experience. It gives them the confidence and opportunity to learn various skills, something that makes them better learners and communicators.
The role of advocacy in ECEC
Advocacy plays a huge role in ECEC and Samantha does not downplay its importance. For instance, through continuous learning, Samantha and the rest of her team are continuously improving the quality of education provided to their students. Samantha understands that she is an advocate for these children and she has to ensure that the policies put in place by ECEC benefit her students. As a result, she has been able to ensure that the community kindergarten has an advanced educational program that helps prepare the kindergarteners better for the advanced academic levels. For instance, Samantha admits that they never used to assess how children are doing. However, thanks to the collaboration and continued learning, they came to understand that assessing the students can greatly help them to understand the areas that these children need help with (Waniganayake et al., 2017). Samantha understands that children learn differently, and assessing their learning can help them recognize children who have trouble with some areas of learning, and find a way of helping them.
Advocacy also plays a huge role in ECEC by encouraging family involvement in the learning process (Waniganayake et al., 2017). While Samantha admits that encouraging the family to take part in the decision-making process can lead to some challenges, she also understands that this involvement is crucial for the development of these kindergarteners. Children are more likely to become confident in their learning when their family takes an active role in this (Australian Government Department of Education [AGDE], 2022). Before a child goes to school, their first educators are the parents or guardians. The role of the family does not end the moment a child steps into school. Samantha, encourages family involvement, understanding that the children will greatly benefit from this involvement.
References
ACECQA. (2018). Guide to the National Quality Framework. Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority.
Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA]. (2022). ACECQA. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/about
Australian Government Department of Education [AGDE]. (2022). Belonging, Being and Becoming: Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Australian Government Department of Education for the Ministerial Council, 2.
Douglass, A. (2017). Redefining leadership: Lessons from an early education leadership development initiative. Early Childhood Education Journal, 46(4), 387-396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0871-9
The Educational Leader Resource. (2019). Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority.
Edwards, S. (2006). ‘Stop thinking of culture as geography’: Early childhood educators’ conceptions of sociocultural theory as an informant to curriculum. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 7(3), 238-252. https://doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2006.7.3.238
Stamopoulos, E., & Barblett, L. (2020). Early childhood leadership in action. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003115434
Waniganayake, M., Cheeseman, S., Fenech, M., & Shepherd, W. (2017). Leadership: Contexts and complexities in early childhood education. Oxford University Press, USA.
