Role of Leaders in Leadership and Management

Question:-

Describe the Role of Leaders in Leadership and Management

Answer:-

Early childhood education needs effective leadership as such leaders have critical role in a child’s growth and development. It is a complex issue with extensive history of research in the field. There can be various kinds of interpretations of a leader’s work. Leadership in education involves distributed leadership as well. It is important to understand the role of leadership in early learning development of a child to assist the child in improving performance and learning capabilities. Two of the important and complex jobs of the leader are to create an inclusive educational environment for all children and work in a multi-professional team setting. In this reflective essay the key leading practices in education would be discussed along with their challenges. The role of leaders and importance of leadership style would be essential components of this discussion to determine the creation of inclusive environment according to ethical and legal standards and lead multi-professional team such as recommended by the Data Protection Act 2018 General Data Protection Regulations, (GDPR) (GOI, 2018). Also, the importance of team work and communication has been discussed (Dr. Argyropoulou, 2010).  Additionally, the partnership with parents would also be discussed in light of a coordinated approach. Overall, the purpose of this essay is to reflect on the complexities of leading practices in early education setting.

Leadership is a concept which is not often clearly understood in education. It refers to the use of knowledge, experience and personality to influence educational practice in a positive manner. It refers to the ability to guide the children and mentor them towards their personal and educational growth and development (Cook, 2013). A leader’s knowledge is the basis for confidence which supports the knowledge development of others in a general setting and the same is true for education as well. A leader in the early years education of a child can assume different roles such as an assistant, a practitioner, a SENCO or a teacher (Cook, 2013). Each of these job roles have leadership as an inherent requirement. Leadership has a broad area of responsibility with implementation of policies and creating a conducive environment for learning. It refers to the creation of a learning setting which would assist and enable the children to learn. However, the complexity of leadership extends to the personal growth of the leader where the leader evaluates and reflects upon personal leadership style, productivity, creativity and the ability to think out of the box. It is also about the sense of self-empowering (Rosenhead, et al., 2019).

Management refers to the creation of policies and procedures that benefit the children as well as the practitioners, dealing with the families and directing activities. While in a general setting management works as an approach separate from leadership, separating the two in early years education setting is not easy due to the pre-conceived idea that these are interwoven, multi-disciplinary concepts that needs dual role playing by the practitioners, teachers etc. However, it could give rise to the problem of balance and shift the focus from leadership and become restricted to managing the children only. These should be kept separated from but not independent of each other. Their difference should be acknowledged and the complementary nature of both should be effectively used to bring necessary changes (Bush, 2008). There are different dimensions of early childhood learning and leadership and management should only be integrated where required. For example, in a multicultural, educational business setting, ethical childcare and relational leadership should both fall under management principles. Also, there are often gaps between general leadership theories and their relevance and application in early learning because it requires extra caution while exercising the same in education because general theories do not always match the leadership relations between practitioners and children.

The role of leaders in early learning involves inspirational activities, being a role model, delegate knowledge through effective communication, support the children and encourage their involvement. Childhood is transitory but the knowledge gained during these early years would stay with the children for a lifetime. Therefore, the role of leaders is crucial during this stage. An educational leader lays the foundation of best experiences for a child. Leadership in early learning is not restricted to the children alone, it includes all the staff involved in the process of childcare. It involves the empowerment of the leaders, the children and the staff as well (Douglass, 2019). A classroom leader motivates a child to express emotions, try new ideas and take initiative to perform tasks independently. A leader is a role model who is the embodiment of good practices that is inculcated in the team and in the learners as well. As a role model, the educational leader addresses the challenges faced by the children and models their teaching and leading methods accordingly to produce the best possible behavioral changes. Children often face difficulty in communicating their needs and ideas. Here, the role of a leader is crucial to provide assistance to the children. Giving children the same importance as that of an adult is the foundation that enables children to understand information and express themselves. The leader should be attentive to the children, study their body language and encourage them to make decisions by involving them to express their opinion on small things such as asking them to choose colors during a painting session. Also, the role of a leader extends to providing the right information to the staff and team members associated with childcare (Grootenboer, et al., 2020). The leader plays an important role in imparting knowledge such as practical application of theories in education. Besides delegating responsibilities, a leader’s role also extends to appropriate and adequate moral support to the staff.