A Literature Review on Leadership

INTRODUCTION
This literature review aimed to locate the national and international research and
documentary evidence relating to leadership in the early years sector. A wide-ranging
search was undertaken, including electronic databases and search engines such as ERIC,
oogle !cholar, a range o" websites including research associations and government
sites, as well as a trawl o" printed and electronic #ournals on leadership and early years.
The choice o" material to include was based on clear management, leadership and early
years criteria. As we "ound the literature to be limited, we approached particular authors
known to have published in this area to en$uire a"ter "urther sources % this has allowed us
to tap into a number o" theses and unpublished papers& where we have done so we have
relied on the research records o" the authors as validation o" the sources& their research
methodology and a clear evidence base "or any claims made was important. 'hile
articles in peer-reviewed #ournals "orm a ma#or part o" reviewed materials, there was
much o" interest to be "ound in con"erence papers, books, pro"essional #ournals and
research reports, and we have there"ore included materials "rom these sources as well.
'e present an overview o" "indings, "ollowed by key points to be drawn out o" the
review. 'e "inish with a section which provides a summary o" each o" our sources.
Overview
Good leadership is critical to a successful school. Success comes from aiming high with
the clear vision, ethos and communication that good leadership brings. We will act to
support high quality school leadership and inspired, ambitious school communities.
(Ambitious, !cellent Schools " #ur Agenda for Action, !cottish E)ecutive, *++,, p-.
The !cottish E)ecutive states that it /sees the role o" leadership in schools and the wider
educational community growing in importance0 (!cottish E)ecutive, *++-, p*.. The
importance the E)ecutive attaches to leadership and development o" leadership capacity
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is re"lected in the leadership agenda set out in Ambitious, !cellent Schools (!cottish
E)ecutive, *++,a1 !cottish E)ecutive, *++-.. These documents make the link between
e""ective leadership, leadership development and pupils0 school success. The stated
intention is that by assisting schools in their leadership work, not adding to their
workload (!cottish E)ecutive, *++-., schools will be more able to develop pupils0
/capacities as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citi$ens and
effective contributors to society %A &urriculum for !cellence, !cottish E)ecutive,
'(()*.
This literature review reveals that be"ore our new !cottish initiative to address the
curriculum 2%34, leadership in the early years sector has been virtually ignored at
governmental level % this is an international rather than a purely !cottish phenomenon,
and is re"lected most strongly in the growing literature on leadership in early childhood
emerging "rom 5ew 6ealand (7c8eod, *++21 7eade, *++21 !crivens, *++2, *++,1
Thornton, *++-.. It should be acknowledged that the 5ew 6ealand conte)t "or early
childhood services is di""erent "rom our own. In !cotland since *+++ early childhood
education has become a duty o" provision on local authorities, and the connection with
the statutory school sector is a long established one, whereas in 5ew 6ealand state
provision o" early childhood services is relatively new and not yet universal. 'here
e)perience converges is in the comple) and di""erent nature o" leadership in early
childhood by comparison with the statutory school sector, and the importance o" early
childhood services being managed in in"ormed collaborative, co-operative and
community-oriented ways.
8eadership in the early years assumes great importance in this conte)t and earlier
assumptions that a "ocus on early years leadership was unnecessary because o" the
e)isting team approaches which mark early childhood services can be seen through
evidence reported in this review to be no longer tenable. Indeed, the academic sector in
!cotland continues to respond to this need through provision o" undergraduate and
postgraduate early childhood (+%4. degrees (eg 9niversity o" !trathclyde, :A in
Childhood ;ractice, :A in Education and !ocial !ervices, and ;ostgraduate Certi"icate,
<iploma and 7!c in Early Childhood !tudies.. !uch courses promote re"lection, en$uiry
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and sel"-evaluation, all $ualities o" e""ective leadership (=arris and 8ambert, *++2., and
provide important opportunities "or leadership development. In England these have
become more speci"ic through the advent o" the Early E)cellence Centres, and
opportunities such as the 7A in 8eadership and 7anagement in Early Childhood
('halley, *++2. and the 5ational College "or !chool 8eadership (*++-. courses. A "ew
main te)ts also support practitioners, particularly >illian Rodd0s book, now in its third
edition (*++-., and !adek and !adek (*++,., whose book is speci"ically written "or
?ocational @uali"ications0 8evel 2 (practitioner. and , (lead practitioner. students and
those working in management within a childcare setting.
The relationship between e""ective leadership and pupils0 achievement is strongly
evidenced through school inspection. E""ective leadership has a perceptible impact on
pupils0 learning (=7IE, *+++.. 'hile leadership has been "ound to be central to
success"ul schools, e$ually there is scope "or improving the $uality o" that leadership
(=7IE, *+++.& managers o"ten "ocused overly on the day-to-day without being strategic
in the longer term. The complementary nature o" leadership and management is o"ten
assumed1 however, in the educational literature a distinction is clearly drawn& leadership
is perceived to include vision, based on shared values. 8eaders are better placed to
provide both motivation and direction to colleagues (=7IE, *+++..
Aey aims o" !EE<0s broad leadership programme include increased collaboration among
the key groups who contribute to the development o" leadership capacity in !cottish
education and developing e)cellence and capacity building across the educational system.
8eadership development priorities should be identi"ied, innovation generated, e)pertise
and new approaches developed in order to contribute to a general strengthening o"
leadership capacity (!cottish E)ecutive, *++-..
This link between leadership and e""ective provision is also true "or early childhood
settings, where research indicates that leaders play an important part in the provision o"
$uality services. E""ective leadership has been "ound to be a key element o" e""ective
early childhood provision (7ui#s et al, *++,1 =arris et al, *++*1 Rodd, *++-.. Bther
"actors that have contributed to the "ocus on leadership include pressure "or increasing
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pro"essionalisation and accountability "rom within and outside the pro"ession (Rodd,
*++-..

Definitions of Leadership in the Early Years
Traditionally leadership in the early years has been associated with individual skills
characteristics and personal $ualities in the leader (5ivala and =u#ala, *++*.. A more
recent view o" leadership is that it is not an isolated activity invested in a single person,
but rather that a variety o" people contribute to e""ective leadership, and that leadership is
there"ore distributed. I" this is the case, then preparation "or leadership has to go beyond
individual management training since leadership capacities will need to be more widely
developed in the team& how then can leadership $ualities be developedC Currently in
England the 5ational College "or !chool 8eadership is actively promoting development
opportunities. As part o" its Community 8eadership !trategy it has introduced the "irst
national programme to address the needs o" leaders within multi-agency early years
settings. The new $uali"ication is called the 5ational ;ro"essional @uali"ication in
Integrated Centre 8eadership (5ational College "or !chool 8eadership, *++-.& it
recognises that leadership in the early years has a distinctive "ocus, particularly as
integrated services develop and mi)ed sta""ing models continue to be a "eature o" early
childhood work.
A view that leadership is about personal attributes and there"ore about a single person
playing a leadership role into which is built notions o" competition and power (Thornton,
*++-. does not sit easily with the collaborative approaches upon which early childhood
practice is predicated. Early years prior-to-school services are o"ten non-hierarchical and
most employees are women (Ebbeck and 'aniganayake, *++21 Rodd, *++-.. This "airly
"lat structure means that distributive leadership models tend to be pre"erred in early
childhood settings, though the ;en reen website (;en reen, *++-. asserts that i" we are
to trans"orm children0s li"e chances this can only be done through /visionary leadership0.
The early childhood sector is growing and a vast ma#ority o" our "amilies now take
advantage o" pre-school education (!cottish E)ecutive, *++,a.. Childcare and early
education settings are diverse, including nursery classes, primary schools, private and
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voluntary settings (<unlop, *++21 7ui#s et al, *++,1 !olly, *++2.. These di""erent settings
o"ten have contrasting philosophies, structures and a range o" $uality assurance models&
7ui#s et al (*++,. report that they are inspected by di""erent bodies. In !cotland there has
been an integration o" Care Commission and =7IE inspection through the #oint
inspection process.
A study conducted by !olly (*++2. "ound that there was a di""erence in who was seen as
a leader in various types o" early childhood settings. In nursery classes, primary schools,
private and voluntary settings, respondents saw the o""icial leader (owner, headteacher.
as the only leader, but responses "rom nursery schools and e)cellence centres gave
broader interpretations. Early years educators interpret their leadership di""erently
according to the setting in which they are based. Dor e)ample, Bsgood reports that
private-sector providers were more likely to apply business principles to the management
o" their settings, while those managing voluntary-sector settings were much less
com"ortable with an entrepreneurial agenda (Bsgood, *++,.. ;rivate nursery managers
tend to have a less collaborative and community-centred approach to leadership because
o" "ears o" competition (Bsgood, *++,. endangering making pro"its.
In a study o" nursery teachers0 concepts o" leadership conducted in the 'est o" !cotland,
nursery teachers working predominantly in nursery schools and nursery classes see
themselves with a strong leadership obligation that is not always recognised by their
managers& they draw a distinction between leadership and management (<unlop, *++*1
<unlop, *++-.. These teachers recognise distinctive areas o" work on which they lead
including teaching, planning, observing children, undertaking assessments, evaluation,
identi"ication o" team development needs, record keeping, working with and reporting to
parents, organising time, space and resources, and organisation o" people. They also
identi"y a responsibility to report to the head o" establishment to keep that person
in"ormed o" current work in the nursery class& this last activity is con"ined to teachers in
nursery classes, as opposed to a nursery teacher in a "ree-standing nursery where the sole
"ocus o" e""ort is on early years provision. 5ursery teachers reported a role ambiguity, as
they were e)pected to per"orm a day-to-day role as both team members and team leaders
whilst not being accorded a speci"ic leadership or management role.
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The early years work"orce comprises a wide range o" personnel, each with di""erent
e)perience, training and $uali"ications. !olly (*++2. highlights the number o" young and
ine)perienced sta"" working in the sector and emphasises that the speci"ic leadership
conte)t is multi-pro"essional, primarily "emale, and socially and culturally varied. In >une
*++, a news release on the Review o" the Early Eears 'ork"orce in !cotland showed
that the number employed in the early years nursery sector had risen to over 2+,+++
people in !cotland (!cottish E)ecutive, *++,.. Docusing on "ive key areas, this review
aimed to&
e)amine and de"ine the role and responsibilities o" sta"" in all areas o" the early
years and childcare work"orce
improve work"orce planning, to ensure that there are ade$uate sta"" numbers in
each area
simpli"y and modernise the early years and childcare $uali"ications system
provide greater opportunities "or sta"" in one area o" the work"orce to move to
another
consider the potential implications o" this work "or pay and conditions.
Role de"inition is reported in the literature to be problematic in terms o" leadership in the
early years. The E""ective ;rovision o" ;re-school Education ;ro#ect "ound a strong
relationship between the /$uali"ications o" the centre manager and $uality o" service
provision in early childhood settings0 (7ui#s et al, *++,, pF.. The diversity o" this
work"orce makes a particularly comple) arena "or leadership (Bsgood, *++,1 Rodd,
*++-.. Additionally there is a serious lack o" leadership training "or early childhood
managers& it is likely that many are signi"icantly under-prepared "or this role. Research
based on and drawing "rom the work o" early childhood practitioners suggests that too
o"ten positions o" leadership in early childhood settings tend to be held by /accidental
leaders0 with minimal training to carry out their responsibilities (Ebbeck and
'aniganayake, *++21 Rodd, *++-.. Ebbeck and 'aniganayake call "or clear de"initions
o" roles and lines o" responsibility, and in turn e)plore ways in which obstacles to
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e""ective leadership and management can be identi"ied and overcome.
Characteristics traditionally associated with e""ective early childhood leaders include
kindness and warmth. The study conducted by !olly (*++2. showed that parents who
entrust their young children to sta"" must see them as warm and gentle, thereby adding to
the perception that the early years phase is the phase be"ore /real education0. !olly "ound
that the early years phase appeared to educators and others outside as lacking academic
rigour, based on the perception that society perceives the education o" older children to
be more di""icult and more academically demanding. The huge range o" $uali"ications,
multi-pro"essional career structure and conditions o" service, together with the stigma o"
early years only being about /play0, may have created a divide between early years and
later school education. In !cotland, where primary teachers have traditionally been
trained to work with children aged 2%3* years, the current volume o" teachers in initial
teacher education (ITE. has led to di""iculties in placing ITE students in pre-school
settings sta""ed by $uali"ied teachers& a situation e)acerbated by government initiatives
that have opened the door to a notion o" teacher /presence0 that may not be "ull-time.
Leadership and Gender in the Early Years
8eadership in early years services very o"ten (though not e)clusively. resides in "emale
heads o" centre. The gender o" leadership may be a way in which leadership in early
childhood is set apart "rom other sectors o" education. According to Rodd (*++-., women
have problems identi"ying the concept and need "or leadership& they may lack
understanding o" what leadership may mean in an early childhood service. In this sector
the concept o" leadership can involve sets o" reciprocal relationships (<unlop, *++-. and
these have more in common with the early childhood pedagogical approaches than with
traditional business concepts o" leadership. There is a view that suggests that leadership
styles di""er between male and "emale leaders& recent studies do not provide the evidence
to support this (7ui#s, *++,..
=owever, !olly (*++2. "ound that the vast ma#ority o" early childhood leaders in her
study thought there was a di""erence in leadership styles between their sector and others.
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A social constructivist model o" learning is o"ten advocated in early years, and !olly
"inds that early childhood leaders0 own positive learning dispositions enable others.
;articipants saw their strengths as advocacy, inspiration, passion and enthusiasm along
with being a li"elong learner and having a team ethos (!olly, *++2..
In Bsgood0s study the sample was almost e)clusively "emale. They voiced concerns
based on perceptions that government0s push towards commercial models o" childcare
management "avoured masculinised entrepreneurialism over an ethic o" care. The
emphasis on caring amongst managers in early childhood settings was paramount.
=owever, Bsgood (*++,. "ound that managers in early childhood settings believe that
their commitment to care and to the local community and parents could embrace more
commercial approaches provided these were "eminised and took account o" their
emotional investment and commitment to work. They wish to enhance their
pro"essionalism, whilst maintaining an ethic o" care and resisting a "orm o"
entrepreneurship that in their view might be detrimental to provision (Bsgood, *++,. and
overly masculinised. ;ast models and traditional leadership theories may not have been
appropriate to the early childhood "ield in that they re"lected a hierarchical, top-down,
male-oriented orientation (Aagan and :owman, 3GGF. mostly adopted "rom those used in
the business world.
The ma#ority o" practitioners in Bsgood0s studies thought that businesslike approaches to
management were inappropriate in childcare. The importance o" collaboration and mutual
support was stressed and this is more in concert with new theories on leadership& in the
voluntary sector this e)tended to managers o" voluntary sector provision working within
their own settings and with other provision to develop collaborative practices (Bsgood,
*++,.. In these studies women saw the importance o" /emotional0 management skills %
essential in the nurturing environments which are children0s right. 7any women in early
childhood education thus "eel that most /masculinised0 leadership models are
inappropriate to early childhood education as they do not recognise and respect the
collaborative aspect crucial to this phase (!crivens in 5ivala and =u#ala, *++*..
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Leadership and rofessionalis!
<alli (*++-. in re"lecting on pro"essionalism in the early years highlights the importance
o" relationships and responsiveness in e""ective early childhood practice. !he asserts that
the discourse o" early childhood pro"essionals has changed "rom childcare workers to
educators and that this is part o" constructing a scholarly base "or the early childhood
pro"ession. !he voices /love0 as a legitimate part o" early childhood practice. In arguing
"or a new de"inition o" pro"essionalism to "it early childhood work, by e)tension the
implication is "or new concepts o" leadership as well. !he conducted a survey o" ethics
and pro"essionalism (*++2. which aimed to establish a grounds-up de"inition o"
pro"essionalism, and "ound three key themes in childcare teachers0 statements about what
matters in pro"essionalism in the early childhood "ield in 5ew 6ealand& these were
pedagogy, pro"essional knowledge and skills, and collaborative relationships including
management. In this last theme teachers "elt it was important to be able to demonstrate
leadership by e)hibiting management knowledge and skills, being able to articulate
concerns in a con"ident manner, demonstrating a knowledge o" current educational
research, and being aware o" the educational political environment.
Additionally, !crivens, also working in 5ew 6ealand, highlights that women pre"er a
model o" leadership which, citing =all (3GGH., embraces /power "or0 rather than /power
over0 someone. 5evertheless, women in leadership roles appear both to be able to share
leadership and to take the lead when re$uired (!crivens, *++*..
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Referen"es
Adams, A (*++-., ;ersonal conversation
Aubrey, C (*++F., +eading and ,anaging in the arly -ears, 8ondon& !age ;ublications
Australian .ournal of arly &hildhood (*+++., 7anagement and 8eadership, Australian
.ournal of arly &hildhood, *- (3., 7arch
:ass, : 7 (3G4-., +eadership and performance beyond e!pectations, 5ew Eork& Dree
;ress
:ass, 7 (*+++., /The "uture o" leadership in learning organisations0, .ournal of
+eadership Studies, F(2., pp 34%,+
:ella, >, and :loom, ; > (*++2., /oom. 0he 1mpact of arly &hildhood +eadership
0raining on 2ole 3erceptions, .ob 3erformance, and &areer 4ecisions, The 7cCormick
Tribune Doundation, The Illinois <epartment o" =uman !ervices, 'heeling, I88& The
Center "or Early Childhood 8eadership
:ennett, 5, =arvey, > A, 'ise, C, and 'oods, ; A (*++2., 4istributed leadership5 A
des6 study. Retrieved "rom www.ncsl.org.ukIliteraturereviews
:ergin-!eers, !, and :reen, > (*++*., /The per"ormance o" long day care centres in rural
and remote areas0, Australian .ournal of arly &hildhood, *F(3., pp *,%2*
:oardman, 7 (*++2., /Changing times& Changing challenges "or early childhood
leaders0, Australian .ournal of arly &hildhood, *4(*., pp *+%*-
:loom, ; > (*+++., /=ow do we de"ine director competenceC0, &hild &are 1nformation
!change, 324, pp 32%34
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:loom, ; > (*++2., +eadership in action5 7ow effective directors get things done, 8ake
Dorest& 5ew =oriJons
:oyd, :, <unlop, A-', 7itchell, >, !eagraves, 8, Clinton, C, and <euchar, R (*++4
"orthcoming., &urriculum Architecture " a +iterature 2eview. Report "or The !cottish
E)ecutive Education <epartment to in"orm the implementation o" A Curriculum "or
E)cellence
Craw"ord, 7 (*++2., /Inventive management and wise leadership0, in :ennett, 5,
Craw"ord, 7, and Cartwright, 7 (eds., ffective educational leadership, 8ondon& ;aul
Chapman, pp H*%F2
<alli, C (*++2., 3rofessionalism in early childhood practice5 thin6ing through the
debates, ;aper presented at the 32
th
Annual Con"erence o" the European Early Childhood
Education Research Association, 9niversity o" !trathclyde, lasgow, 2%H !eptember
*++2
<alli, C (*++-., 2eflecting on 3rofessionalism in arly -ears 0eaching5 2elationships,
2esponsiveness and &urriculum, Early Eears 8ecture !eries, 9niversity o" !trathclyde,
lasgow, H

!eptember *++-
<avid, T (*++2., What do we 6now about teaching young children8 A pro"essional user
review o" 9A research based on the :ERA Academic Review, arly -ears 2esearch5
3edagogy, &urriculum and Adult 2oles, 0raining and 3rofessionalism
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