scholarly journals Courage, commitment and collaboration : notions of leadership in the New Zealand ECE 'Centres of Innovation'

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kate Thornton
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Regular Reflection ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Collaborative Cultures

<p>Historically there has been a lack of recognition for, and research into, leadership in the New Zealand early childhood education sector. The Centres of Innovation (COI) programme provides a unique opportunity for research into effective leadership in quality services that can contribute to our knowledge and understanding of leadership in the sector as a whole. This study, exploring how leadership is defined and enacted in the COI, found that although not all educators were comfortable with being identified as leaders, individuals and the centres as a whole were demonstrating leadership in ways that fitted their service contexts. Leadership across the COI was characterised by courage, commitment and collaboration. The innovative approaches of the COI appear to be due in no small part to the collaborative centre cultures in which innovation is encouraged, educators feel valued and supported, and there is regular reflection and a commitment to continuous improvement . Those in leadership positions in the COI have promoted these collaborative cultures and through their example teacher leadership has been encouraged. The COI not only provide case studies of educative leadership (Meade, 2003a) but also case studies of learning communities. These learning communities include researchers and members of the wider community as well as the educators. Leadership as defined and enacted in the COI is a shared endeavour and this model of working collaboratively in a learning community towards a shared vision is one that the rest of the sector can learn from.</p>

scholarly journals Courage, commitment and collaboration : notions of leadership in the New Zealand ECE 'Centres of Innovation'

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kate Thornton
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Regular Reflection ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Collaborative Cultures

<p>Historically there has been a lack of recognition for, and research into, leadership in the New Zealand early childhood education sector. The Centres of Innovation (COI) programme provides a unique opportunity for research into effective leadership in quality services that can contribute to our knowledge and understanding of leadership in the sector as a whole. This study, exploring how leadership is defined and enacted in the COI, found that although not all educators were comfortable with being identified as leaders, individuals and the centres as a whole were demonstrating leadership in ways that fitted their service contexts. Leadership across the COI was characterised by courage, commitment and collaboration. The innovative approaches of the COI appear to be due in no small part to the collaborative centre cultures in which innovation is encouraged, educators feel valued and supported, and there is regular reflection and a commitment to continuous improvement . Those in leadership positions in the COI have promoted these collaborative cultures and through their example teacher leadership has been encouraged. The COI not only provide case studies of educative leadership (Meade, 2003a) but also case studies of learning communities. These learning communities include researchers and members of the wider community as well as the educators. Leadership as defined and enacted in the COI is a shared endeavour and this model of working collaboratively in a learning community towards a shared vision is one that the rest of the sector can learn from.</p>

scholarly journals Professional learning communities: Enhancing collaborative leadership in Singapore early childhood settings

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukuna Vijayadevar ◽  
Kate Thornton ◽  
Sue Cherrington
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Collaborative Leadership ◽  
Childhood Education

Leadership in early childhood education has been promoted as a collaborative process in which all teachers, rather than just the positional leader, are involved. Collaborative leadership practices are not well understood within the marketised Singapore early childhood education context. Beyond mandatory leadership training, little is known about how leaders are supported to strengthen their leadership practices and involve others in leadership activities. School-based literature suggests that learning through professional learning communities expands the collective capacity of organisations; however, literature on professional learning communities in early childhood education is limited. This article reports on the findings of an interpretive case study examining the current understandings and leadership practices of principals in the Singapore early childhood education context, and investigating how participation in professional learning communities can support the development of collaborative leadership practices. The participants in two professional learning communities established as part of this study were six principals from an anchor-operator childcare provider and five principals from private childcare centres in Singapore. Two teachers working with each of the respective principals were also involved in focus group interviews to ascertain if there were changes in their principals’ leadership practices. Data was collected from professional learning community meetings, online reflections, pre- and post-professional learning community interviews with the principals, and follow-up focus group discussions with the teachers. The key findings indicate that praxis as a result of participation in a professional learning community led to some shifts in principals’ thinking about collaborative leadership practices and resulted in reported changes to their leadership approaches, distribution of leadership, and improved collegiality and collaborative learning for teachers. The results indicate that considering and implementing collaborative leadership practices through professional learning communities in the Singapore early childhood education context requires sensitivity towards Asian Singapore sociocultural values related to hierarchy and economic pragmatism.

scholarly journals Business managers in children’s playground : Exploring a problematic (or not!) identity construction of early childhood teachers in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
pp. 146394912198936
Author(s):  
Olivera Kamenarac
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Professional Identities ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Early Childhood Education Policies ◽  
Policies And Practices

The impacts of neo-liberal education reforms on the early childhood education sector have been a focal point of scholarly critiques in New Zealand. Interestingly, only a few studies have addressed how teacher professional identities and professionalism have changed in response to the neo-liberal context of New Zealand early childhood education. It has been, however, recognised that understanding the complexity of teacher professional identities within the rapidly transforming landscape of early childhood education is a key consideration in implementing and sustaining a change agenda in education policies and practices. In this article, the author draws on data from her research study about how teachers’ professional identities have been reconstructed in response to the shifting discourses in New Zealand early childhood education policies and practices. Specifically, the author explores the construction of teachers as business managers, which has emerged through an interplay of discourses of marketisation and privatisation driving some of the country’s early childhood education policies and practices. It is argued that the construction of teachers as business managers has altered core professional ethical values underpinning the teaching profession, professionalism and the purpose of early childhood education in New Zealand, which were traditionally embedded in discourses of collective democracy, equity and social justice.

(In)visible perceptions of objects (‘things’) during early transitions: Intertwining subjectivities in ECEC

2021 ◽  
pp. 146394912110279
Author(s):  
E Jayne White ◽  
Fiona Westbrook ◽  
Kathryn Hawkes ◽  
Waveney Lord ◽  
Bridgette Redder
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Object A ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Mediating Tools ◽  
Teachers And Parents ◽  
To Receive

Objects in early childhood education (ECEC) experiences have begun to receive a great deal more attention than ever before. Although much of this attention has emerged recently from new materialism, in this paper we turn to Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological concern with the (in)visibility of ‘things’ to illuminate the presence of objects within infant transitions. Drawing on notions of écart and reversibility, we explore the relational perceptions objects are bestowed with on the lead up to, and first day of, infant transitions. Recognizing the intertwining subjectivities that perceive the object, a series of videos and interviews with teachers and parents across three ECEC sites in Australia and New Zealand provided a rich source of phenomenological insight. Our analysis reveals objects as deeply imbued anchoring links that enable relational possibilities for transitions between home and ECEC service. Visible and yet invisible to adults (parents and/or teachers) who readily engage with objects during earliest transitions, the significance of things facilitates opportunities to forge new relationships, create boundaries and facilitate connections. As such, our paper concludes that objects are far more than mediating tools, or conceptual agents; they provide an explicit route to understanding with potential to play a vital role in supporting effective early transitions when granted visibility within this important phenomenon.

Building Learning Communities for Faculty

1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 22-24
Author(s):  
Jodi H. Levine
Keyword(s):  
Faculty Development ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Dynamic Learning ◽  
Temple University ◽  
Teaching Team ◽  
Daunting Challenge ◽  
The Way

As at most colleges and universities, when faculty at Temple University are asked to join with other faculty to teach a “learning communities” course, they are faced with the daunting challenge of changing the way they teach. To help them meet this challenge, Temple University engages in a number of faculty development activities, the goal of which is to have faculty come together in a dynamic learning community—a teaching team—in which they can work out the best approaches for involving students in their own learning.

Transnational parenting practices of Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Chan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
Chinese Immigrant ◽  
Parenting Strategies ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Chinese Immigrant Families ◽  
Transnational Parenting

This article advocates for fluid pedagogies that align with the transnational parenting practices of immigrant families. New Zealand is now considered to be a superdiverse country with a large population of immigrants. This superdiversity phenomenon can therefore also be found in its early childhood education settings. Research has indicated that many contemporary immigrants are transnationals who maintain close connections with their home countries and frequently engage in border-crossing activities. Transnational immigrants are mobile, and their parenting strategies may be similarly fluid. This article uses findings from a research project which involved Chinese immigrant families to illustrate transnational perspectives of early childhood education and parenting practices. Narrative excerpts are presented and analysed using key theoretical constructs of transnationalism to illustrate the participants’ cultural dilemmas in their parenting, their preparedness to adapt their heritage practices and to adopt early childhood education discourses of the host country, and their agency in choosing parenting strategies that they believed best support their children’s learning. It highlights the importance of parent–teacher dialogue and of enacting a curriculum with fluid pedagogies that are responsive to heterogeneous parental aspirations.

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