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Fay Hadley
Macquarie University, Institute of Early Childhood, Faculty Member
Leadership is an essential resource that informs day-to-day pedagogy and management of early childhood organisations. Based on the authors’ professional development and research-based activities in a variety of locations including... more
Leadership is an essential resource that informs day-to-day pedagogy and management of early childhood organisations. Based on the authors’ professional development and research-based activities in a variety of locations including metropolitan, rural and remote regions in Australia, the book draws on established professional networks to capture diverse images and experiences of early childhood leaders.
Leadership: Contexts and Complexities in Early Childhood Education is in two parts. The first provides an orientation to the various contextual dimensions of early childhood leadership. These chapters are focused on ‘big picture’ issues that give shape to early childhood leadership, and include discussion of early childhood policy, legislative frameworks, quality standards, advocacy, governance and pedagogy. Part two deals with the application of leadership within an early childhood setting. These chapters address perennial areas of importance including the development of sound relationships with families, engagement with community, and the creation of effective workplaces, as well as focus on other relatively new leadership dimensions: social entrepreneurialship, professional judgment and succession planning.
Key features:
Practitioner voices through out reflect diversity across gender, culture, age and expertise of those working in a range of early childhood contexts.
Includes latest policy guidelines for early childhood education and features relevant discussion about social entrepreneurship.
To actively involve the reader ‘Reflections in practice’ are presented throughout each chapter. These reflective points capture the duality of thinking and doing, an important learning and teaching strategy for readers of this book and will be useful to unpack with a peer and/or as a team.
Leadership: Contexts and Complexities in Early Childhood Education is in two parts. The first provides an orientation to the various contextual dimensions of early childhood leadership. These chapters are focused on ‘big picture’ issues that give shape to early childhood leadership, and include discussion of early childhood policy, legislative frameworks, quality standards, advocacy, governance and pedagogy. Part two deals with the application of leadership within an early childhood setting. These chapters address perennial areas of importance including the development of sound relationships with families, engagement with community, and the creation of effective workplaces, as well as focus on other relatively new leadership dimensions: social entrepreneurialship, professional judgment and succession planning.
Key features:
Practitioner voices through out reflect diversity across gender, culture, age and expertise of those working in a range of early childhood contexts.
Includes latest policy guidelines for early childhood education and features relevant discussion about social entrepreneurship.
To actively involve the reader ‘Reflections in practice’ are presented throughout each chapter. These reflective points capture the duality of thinking and doing, an important learning and teaching strategy for readers of this book and will be useful to unpack with a peer and/or as a team.
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This paper details the research design of a multidisciplinary, multi-method, collaborative research project investigating health communication from the experiences of the early childhood education (ECE) sector during the COVID-19... more
This paper details the research design of a multidisciplinary, multi-method, collaborative research project investigating health communication from the experiences of the early childhood education (ECE) sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the rapidly evolving pandemic, the ECE sector was instantly tasked with expanding their required health practices to prevent the spread of infection. It was evident that the sector needed a system to communicate health advice in a timely, consistent and effective manner. Founded on a partnership model based on ‘knowledge brokering’ theory, this project demonstrates the value of a multidisciplinary research team collaborating with stakeholder organisations to investigate how COVID-19 health information traversed through complexities of organisational layers and diverse communities of families and staff. Detailing our data collection and analysis protocols, we conclude by outlining how our innovative research design is generating actionable and...
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Research Interests: Sociology and Citizenship
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A book review of 'Participatory research with children and young people' by Smith, Susan Groundwater; Dockett, Sue and Buttrell, Dorothy. Los Angeles/SAGE Publications, ISBN: 9781446272862.1 page(s
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Choosing between learning opportunities can be a difficult decision for educators. This article explores the factors to consider and the questions to ask when making decisions regarding professional development. There are also some... more
Choosing between learning opportunities can be a difficult decision for educators. This article explores the factors to consider and the questions to ask when making decisions regarding professional development. There are also some helpful messages about what to do after a professional development experience.2 page(s
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Dr Katey De Gioia and Dr Fay Hadley provide lessons of empowerment from the field, sharing stories of educators who have taken a proactive role building partnerships with families.
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Research Interests: Sociology and Curriculum
Parental involvement, engagement, and partnerships within the early years have become key policy directions in many countries in recent years (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article in Education Family Policy and Its Relation to... more
Parental involvement, engagement, and partnerships within the early years have become key policy directions in many countries in recent years (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article in Education Family Policy and Its Relation to Early Childhood). Since the early 2000s there has been a global push to include guidelines for educators that focus on the engagement and enactment of partnerships with families, especially in the early years. However, the family-educator partnership literature is varied, does not reach consensus on what is meant by “partnership,” and fails to provide a clear definition of parent-family partnerships in early years settings. This lack of a clear definition and the interchangeability of terms used to describe the phenomena creates ambiguity of what authentic partnerships are and often culminates in a deficit approach to the discussion. For example, there is the question of who is visible/invisible? Often there is judging of parents and families on thei...
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This chapter unpacks how children’s rights are positioned in Australian early childhood education services and asks readers to consider the rethinking of the child’s position within the current parent/teacher partnership discourse. Early... more
This chapter unpacks how children’s rights are positioned in Australian early childhood education services and asks readers to consider the rethinking of the child’s position within the current parent/teacher partnership discourse. Early childhood educators have a complex and multi-faceted responsibility in their work with children. Balancing the ever-increasing interconnecting network of policy frameworks, societal expectations of what a ‘good’ early education and care program looks like, parental expectations, anxieties and concerns and supporting all children’s rights to be heard creates potentially competing tensions. This chapter aims to support the educator in finding a balance between the child’s rights alongside that of family, community and broader societal influences, offering theoretical tool to reflect on whose voice(s) is/are heard and whose are silenced in their practice.
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The words “behaviour” and “resistance” often conjure up fear-invoking images that prevent us from reflecting on what it is that we, as educators, understand behaviour to mean. In this article, we use resistance theory to rethink behaviour... more
The words “behaviour” and “resistance” often conjure up fear-invoking images that prevent us from reflecting on what it is that we, as educators, understand behaviour to mean. In this article, we use resistance theory to rethink behaviour as communication by counter-storying one observation of resistance involving children and teachers in India. Offering parallel interpretations of this experience, we unpack how resistance as “dignity work” requires us to listen and respectfully re-engage with children and ourselves. We conclude by exploring pedagogical possibilities and the need for preserving our dignity and shared humanity when reflecting on (our own and children’s) behaviours.
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Conference A review of the approach to setting national standards and assuring the quality of care in Australian childcare services A project commissioned by the Children’s Services Sub-Committee of the
Review(s) of: Gifted and talented: Inclusion and exclusion, by Cathie Harrison, Early Childhood Australia (2016), RRP: $16.95 - paperback, ECA code: RIP1604.
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This chapter unpacks how children’s rights are positioned in Australian early childhood education services and asks readers to consider the rethinking of the child’s position within the current parent/teacher partnership discourse. Early... more
This chapter unpacks how children’s rights are positioned in Australian early childhood education services and asks readers to consider the rethinking of the child’s position within the current parent/teacher partnership discourse. Early childhood educators have a complex and multi-faceted responsibility in their work with children. Balancing the ever-increasing interconnecting network of policy frameworks, societal expectations of what a ‘good’ early education and care program looks like, parental expectations, anxieties and concerns and supporting all children’s rights to be heard creates potentially competing tensions. This chapter aims to support the educator in finding a balance between the child’s rights alongside that of family, community and broader societal influences, offering theoretical tool to reflect on whose voice(s) is/are heard and whose are silenced in their practice.
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20 page(s
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The Australian early childhood sector is grappling with high teacher turnover rates in a climate where the demand for teachers is higher than ever due to regulatory increases in qualifications and an influx of centre based services. The... more
The Australian early childhood sector is grappling with high teacher turnover rates in a climate where the demand for teachers is higher than ever due to regulatory increases in qualifications and an influx of centre based services. The necessity to understand what inspires those teachers who remain in the sector and the factors enhancing their job satisfaction is pertinent in the current context. This article reports on a study of teacher job satisfaction while examining the potential of Deci and Ryan's (1985) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a mechanism for understanding this phenomenon. The study consisted of two phases. Phase one included 229 teachers completing an online survey measuring job satisfaction, intention to turnover, extrinsic factors as well as a major component of SDT (the three Basic Psychological Needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence in the workplace) with the W-BNS. In phase two, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten teachers who reported hi...
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THIS ARTICLE INVESTIGATES EARLY childhood educators' perceptions of advocacy in raising the professional status with multiple stakeholders in diverse contexts. The article reports on findings from a phenomenological study... more
THIS ARTICLE INVESTIGATES EARLY childhood educators' perceptions of advocacy in raising the professional status with multiple stakeholders in diverse contexts. The article reports on findings from a phenomenological study investigating the perceptions of 12 educators working full time in long-daycare settings across Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Findings revealed that participants were ambivalent towards power, as they perceived themselves to be influential within internal workplace settings yet felt raising the professional status to be the responsibility of senior stakeholders in wider sociopolitical contexts. Recommendations for the prospective utilisation of advocacy, and implications for supplementary research are relayed.
Research Interests: Psychology, Publishing, Early Childhood Education, Stakeholders, Phenomenology, and 13 moreIndividual Differences, Early Childhood, Power, Academic research, Teachers, Education Systems, Self Advocacy and Empowerment, Commissioning, Advocacy, Context Effect, Professional Status, Raising the Professional Status, and Semi structured interviews
Students who enrol in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) at the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University, with a Diploma in Children’s Services attained from a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institution... more
Students who enrol in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) at the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University, with a Diploma in Children’s Services attained from a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institution or a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) often experience challenges in their first professional experience unit. Utilising a phenomenological approach to understand the students’ previous knowledge and experiences as they navigated through their first professional experience unit, this qualitative study identified factors including institutional structures and course content as challenging to the diploma student. To ensure diploma students can successfully transition to and participate in their first professional experience unit at university, all stakeholders including the university, the academics teaching the students, and the students themselves need to commit to a multilevel support programme. Key findings from this study support the previous research on this student cohort.
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Research Interests: Education and Educational
diverse views about important experiences for children aged 3-5 years in early childhood settings
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Extant literature on Early Childhood educator workplace well-being focuses on the disease model of well-being, with studies mainly addressing stress and burnout. There is a paucity of research conceptualising healthy workplace well-being... more
Extant literature on Early Childhood educator workplace well-being focuses on the disease model of well-being, with studies mainly addressing stress and burnout. There is a paucity of research conceptualising healthy workplace well-being for educators and an absence of theorising to frame, understand and enhance Early Childhood educator workplace well-being. This paper reports on Phase 2 of an exploratory sequential mixed methods study, which aimed to explore the individual, relational, and contextual factors influencing healthy workplace well-being. Using Phase 1 interview findings (Author, blind for review), a survey was developed to investigate predictors on workplace well-being in early childhood services in Australia. The survey drew on the sub-theory ‘Basic psychological needs’ of Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that autonomy, relatedness, and competence predicted workplace well-being even after controlling for dem...
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In the role as an external consultant I worked with three different early childhood organisations (a not-for-profit stand-alone centre in Sydney; a work-based centre in Canberra; and a not-for-profit organisation with three centres in... more
In the role as an external consultant I worked with three different early childhood organisations (a not-for-profit stand-alone centre in Sydney; a work-based centre in Canberra; and a not-for-profit organisation with three centres in Sydney), from between three to 18 months respectively. Thirteen teachers and five directors agreed to be interviewed after their projects were complete. This article outlines their attitudes towards the Early Years Learning Framework, the directors' and consultants' role and lessons learnt with this type of professional learning.
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Review(s) of: Young children's behaviour: Guidance approaches for early childhood educators (4th ed.), by Louise Porter, Allen and Unwin (2016), RRP: $59.95-Paperback, ECA code: SUND645.
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There is a strong pattern whereby students who have already attained a Diploma in Children's Services from a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institution or a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and subsequently enrol in a... more
There is a strong pattern whereby students who have already attained a Diploma in Children's Services from a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institution or a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and subsequently enrol in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) program experience challenges with their first professional experience unit (practicum) at university level. It appears that university requirements in terms of teaching expectations and written academic standards can often be challenging for diploma qualified students. Factors such as institutional structures, teaching styles and course content have been identified as key contributors to the difficulties faced by diploma qualified students. This small research project identified supports and constraints for diploma qualified students completing their first professional experience unit at university level. Utilising a phenomenological approach, diploma qualified students’ theory of practice is investig...
Making connections with families, especially those who are 'not like us', can be much more difficult than the partnership literature would have us believe.
This research project grew out of an identified need within teacher education programs at the Institute of Early Childhood (IEC), Macquarie University. The researchers are lecturers and coordinate Professional Experience units across the... more
This research project grew out of an identified need within teacher education programs at the Institute of Early Childhood (IEC), Macquarie University. The researchers are lecturers and coordinate Professional Experience units across the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) degree. They identified a continuing pattern of international students receiving low grades or failing professional experience units; particularly when they were placed in the school environment. Bourdieu� theorised� the� importance� of� ‘capital’� as� a� ‘power’� resource� for� individuals� (1989). He identified the role of the school system in reproducing and reinforcing the dominant cultural group within society (Bourdieu, 1973). International students have usually attended school outside of Australia and do not possess the cultural capital of the school setting they are being placed into for professional experience. Whilst they are learning to be an effective teacher they are, in parallel, learning to unde...
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In this chapter we ask the reader to set aside existing perceptions of mentoring, supervi-sion and their relatedness to professional experience and instead join us in a sharply recon-sidered analysis of the communicative space in which... more
In this chapter we ask the reader to set aside existing perceptions of mentoring, supervi-sion and their relatedness to professional experience and instead join us in a sharply recon-sidered analysis of the communicative space in which teachers and preservice teachers negotiate the phenomenon of ‘learning to be’. We take the Habermasian concept of com-municative space (1990) and earlier notions of lifeworld (Heidegger, 1962/1927; Merleau-Ponty, 1962/1945; Sandberg & Dall’Alba, 2009) as a theoretical frame to foreground learning and practice as ‘ways of being in the world’. A series of three vignettes are pre-sented to illustrate how mentoring is both epistemological (what we know or can do) and ontological (how we are learning to be). It is this learning to be, in the teaching and learn-ing to teach relationship, that we aim to identify, illustrate and elaborate in this chapter.