Abstract:
This paper reports on research investigating pedagogical leadership discourses and the perceptions and practices of leadership in early childhood practitioner contexts in Australia.Current research within the field indicates a lack of clarity regarding the concept of leadership, formation of leadership identities, and the purpose of pedagogical leadership in the early childhood sector (Ciulla, 2003). This contributes to the inadequate conceptualisations of leadership amongst early childhood educators, and a tendency to focus on the traditional ideas of leadership as positional and reliant on individualised characteristics (Woodrow, 2008). Leadership research consistently indicates that early childhood practitioners are often reluctant leaders struggling to articulate pedagogical leadership discourses at a time when the national early childhood reform agenda calls for robust leadership (Grarock & Morrissey, 2013).The research reported in these paper traces early childhood educators’ research journeys as pedagogical actors investigating their own leadership. The study explores beliefs and practices about pedagogical leadership and the ways in which external forces shape how educators adapt and transform their leadership practices, hence, unsettling normalised discourses about pedagogical leadership.Using a practitioner research methodology in conjunction with visual methods, the study employed inquiry-based methods directed towards addressing a problem through social investigation and social action (MacDonald, 2012). The collaborative nature of this research method built individual and collective ownership of professional knowledge, leading to transparency and meaning making and the co-construction and co-production of knowledge and associated understandings of professional practices. The findings suggested practitioners described their organization as hierarchal and traditional in nature but collaborative in culture and the existence of power relationships constrained their abilities to function as effective leaders within their settings. Practitioners’ felt obliged to conform to community perspectives of leadership as nurturers and care-givers rather than educators and professionals. Thus, displaying a lack of confidence in their ability to make decisions and take risks. Compliance and regulations associated with the Early Years Learning Framework have resulted in participants’ feeling inundated and focused on documentation instead of pedagogical practices and effective leadership strategies.