Early childhood education settings can be understood as public forums where adults and children engage together in the implementation of national policy. The authors reflect on ethical dilemmas for leaders in early childhood education arising from the implementation of national policy. Dilemmas can be problematic in the sense that they are unresolved or routine-like as they pervade practice. Inspired by Shapiro and Stefkovich's framework of multiple ethical paradigms, the authors analyse complex dilemmas arising for leaders in early childhood education as they implement national policy in the micro system with children, families and the community. Leaders are positioned in these contexts as principally concerned with the positive exploration of ethical dilemmas. The authors' analysis gives visibility to the ways in which leaders may draw on theory and experience in the early childhood education setting to navigate ethical dilemmas within a marketised system. Knowledge of ethics and practice may be tacit, partial and incomplete; however, fragments are pieced together as ethical praxis.