Effective Leadership In Education

Arguably the most important catalyst for change and improvement within education is education leadership – and a new book explores what makes good leadership in the early childhood space.

The education sector is currently undergoing significant change, and ‘Effective Leadership in early childhood services and primary school education in Aotearoa’ demonstrates the importance of leadership in an educational context. It breaks down the many ways of being an effective leader, providing valuable insights for everyone from existing leaders to initial teacher educators.

The book was written by staff at Te Rito Maioha, edited by Tracey Carlyon (PhD) and Rosina Merry (PhD), and published by NZCER Press.

“As an organisation we have a strong interest in leadership and education,” says Dr Carlyon, “and in an environment of significant change, a pukapuka | book that draws on knowledge and research of our staff was something that we and NZCER knew would be of interest to other leaders, both inside and outside the education sector.”

“The initial idea came from my thesis which explored the influence of transition and leadership on teachers and teaching.”

“Sometimes we forget that the leader is one of the most important aspects of any school or ECE centre. They set the tone, they set the vision, they support their staff, they communicate with their staff, and they implement change. So good leadership is at the heart of good learning and teaching.”

Dr Merry agrees. “Where you have poor leadership, you have poor communication or lack of communication, a lack of transparency and a lack of direction. Staff can feel vulnerable, they are less likely to embrace or implement change because they might be nervous and there’s a high likelihood of unhappiness in their job and in their career.”

“If you think about a teachers' environment in either ECE or primary, if your mahi takes place without inspiration or aspiration, or motivation to engage with your teaching team, that leads to a greyness where you come to work, do your job and you go home. How is this impactful for young learners?”

“It's also important, not just to see leadership as being top-down”, adds Dr Carlyon. “Some of the chapters are about people who are being led from the bottom up. What do teachers say about their leaders and what do they observe, and what do they want out of a leader? If you want to create an environment that supports teachers and children, you need to have your listening ears on.”

“We’re really excited to be launching this pukapuka,” says Dr Merry. It has the potential not only to be read in Aotearoa, but internationally as well. We have been talking with some of our educational partners, in Malaysia and the Philippines who are very keen to read this. I think for teacher education, there's some really relevant information that can be drawn from this literature that will contribute to initial teacher education courses and leadership with schools and ECE,” says Dr Merry.

‘Effective Leadership in early childhood services and primary school education in Aotearoa’ is out now and available from www.nzcer.org.nz

ISBN 987-1-99-004096-2

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