This paper critically reviews England's National Professional Qualification of Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL) and Sweden's National Principal Training Program (NPTP). The design and implementation of these programs are critiqued considering the process of professional learning, with view of offering recommendations for future policies on…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) aims to assist all young children and their families in meeting educational, developmental and behavioral outcomes to enhance their quality of life. However, in the United States (US), the field of ECEC lags behind in policies and practices to develop and sustain quality ECEC leadership. Although…

Leadership is often conceptualized and taught through famous, world-changing individuals; however, leadership spans levels of influence, from small-group projects to global initiatives. While student leaders are present at every level, existing leadership research and programs center adults. Within this article, Lisa DaVia Rubenstein, Sydney…

The early care and education (ECE) field is still in the early stages of building the infrastructure it needs to attract, support, and sustain strong leadership (Austin, 2014; Goffin & Daga, 2017; Kirby et al., 2021; Pacchiano et al., 2016). This brief presents the findings from a review of research on ECE leadership development initiatives…

Associate teachers (ATs) play a crucial role in supporting beginning teachers but there is little research that identifies the practicum as an opportunity for advancing ATs' leadership capability. While research identifies mentoring as central to the way ATs support beginning teachers entering the profession, there is little explicit discussion of…

This study aimed to explore the motivation for university students to become JumpStart AmeriCorps members (volunteers) and to examine the relationship between volunteers' participation in the program and their leadership skills development. A total of 46 participants were surveyed to identify their two main reasons for becoming a JumpStart…

The field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) has an educator retention problem (NAEYC, 2021). While the field's administrator retention crisis is less publicized, it is arguably no less important. Administrators are the gatekeepers to program quality and the linchpin for an array of program functions that impact staff satisfaction and…

Leadership is important for quality improvement in center-based early care and education (ECE) settings that serve children birth to five. However, little is known about who leaders are, what leaders do, and how leadership influences quality outcomes in center-based ECE settings. Leadership can be defined by the range of staff who participate in…

This phenomenological and exploratory-based qualitative case study seeks to understand the lived experience of transitional kindergarteners in a mindfulness-based classroom. The purpose of this inquiry is to explore a possible connection between mindfulness and relational styles of leadership in a transitional kindergarten class. Children are not…

This paper responds to pressing calls to better theorise the development of Educational Leadership in early childhood education. Specifically, we examine the usefulness of the concept of "leading identity" for understanding shifts in Educational Leaders' accounts of their leadership practices. Twenty Educational Leaders, recruited from…

Throughout the past decades, the profession of school leader has become more complex. To deal with these increasing complexities and the challenges school leaders encounter, it is important that school leaders are provided with effective professional development. However, research on school leaders' learning and professional development, and…

Leadership competencies in early childhood (EC) education present an intricate policy and practice landscape. This article provides insights into these complexities and shares a novel survey evaluation tool that can be used in services for identifying leadership competencies and gaps for ongoing professional development. The research employed a…

This paper describes a new leadership coaching model that was delivered as part of Manchester city region's delivery of the Department for Education's Early Outcomes Fund. The coaching model explicitly paralleled the relational practices that are increasingly shaping early intervention policy and practice. Goodwin's theory of professional vision…

The purpose of this paper is to share our pedagogical evolution as graduate faculty in relationship with increasingly diverse cohort communities of early childhood professionals learning across the landscape of leadership roles engaged with young children, families, and other adults. The early childhood leadership program described in this paper…

This meta-analysis investigates the impact of the "Leader in Me" process on teachers' perceptions of their school climates and student behaviour. Twelve studies involving 198,176 students resulted in an overall effect size of d = 0.20. The effect sizes for student climate (d = 0.34) and student behaviour (d = 0.16) were determined…