Leadership is an essential resource that informs day-to-day pedagogy and management of early chil... 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.
This paper details the research design of a multidisciplinary, multi-method, collaborative resear... 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...
A book review of 'Participatory research with children and young people' by Smith, Susan ... more 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
Choosing between learning opportunities can be a difficult decision for educators. This article e... 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
Dr Katey De Gioia and Dr Fay Hadley provide lessons of empowerment from the field, sharing storie... more 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.
Parental involvement, engagement, and partnerships within the early years have become key policy ... 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...
International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, 2019
This chapter unpacks how children’s rights are positioned in Australian early childhood education... 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.
Leadership is an essential resource that informs day-to-day pedagogy and management of early chil... 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.
This paper details the research design of a multidisciplinary, multi-method, collaborative resear... 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...
A book review of 'Participatory research with children and young people' by Smith, Susan ... more 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
Choosing between learning opportunities can be a difficult decision for educators. This article e... 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
Dr Katey De Gioia and Dr Fay Hadley provide lessons of empowerment from the field, sharing storie... more 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.
Parental involvement, engagement, and partnerships within the early years have become key policy ... 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...
International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, 2019
This chapter unpacks how children’s rights are positioned in Australian early childhood education... 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.
The words “behaviour” and “resistance” often conjure up fear-invoking images that prevent us from... 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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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.