Introduction
Explaining as well as comprehending the nature of good leadership and effective management is usually thought to be easier than practicing. The former needs a variety of human traits that are hard to develop in the early childhood education environment, whereby a professional is often focused on legislative-based training and development chances. In today’s world, a good leader and a manager is an enabling factor, assisting individuals and institutions to develop and perform. The notion that leading or managing is similar to being a director is inaccurate.
As teamwork becomes an integral element of the work life of early education professionals, it is essential that the efforts of the manager are coordinated, assessed, monitored, and developed by an overall leader or manager. Good leadership has its benefits in every aspect of life and in various situations. In a different context, when parents are effective leaders, they enable children to become great individuals in adulthood. Absence of leadership at home results in a range of negative consequences. For instance, in an institution, processes may run slow, stagnate or fail completely. In the event the decision-making procedure is timely and accurate, it is rare for implementation to go wrong. This paper examines why leadership and management are confused among early childhood education professionals.
Discussion
Leadership and management are usually viewed as similar, something which is not true. The latter is as well misunderstood to refer to instructing and directing individuals and reaching essential decisions on an organization’s behalf. A good leader is followed due to the trust and respect people have for them instead of the capabilities they possess. Behavior is prioritized first and then skills follow, as suggested by Jeynes (2018). While management is thought to be using critical thinking, planning, and implementation to attain desired results, leadership is more concerned about an emotional element, for example, assisting individuals to deliver. It is more closely related to someone’s authenticity and personality.
Even though a good leader ought to be a great manager, effective management does not often need strong leading qualities. Individuals in managing positions are responsible for maintaining stability. They assess previous accomplishments and mistakes and take measures to improve the situation. In comparison, those in leadership create and pursue actively change via communicating their vision (Jeynes, 2018). On the one hand, some of the responsibilities of a person in a managerial spot include getting tasks done in a productive and efficient manner and making sure that children’s needs are met every day. Additionally, they have to ensure that there is smooth running of the work operations and compliance with the law and implement a plan that guarantees the achievement of organizational objectives.
On the other hand, the roles to be performed by someone in a leadership position include setting the future direction of an environment and planning how the vision will become a reality. Additionally, a leader is responsible for reaching decisions about what, when as well as how to implement changes for continuous improvement (Jeynes, 2018). They reflect and evaluate the practice to create other approaches to be used. Lastly, they drive quality and engage the entire staff in a work surrounding.
Leadership and Management in Early Childhood Education
In the context of early childhood education, those in the staff carry the highest influence on the running of an organization and its likelihood of fulfilling the mission and vision. The quality of the teaching, learning, welfare as well as family support offered by educators is reliant on the skills, qualifications, experience, knowledge, and traits of every individual who makes up the childcare staff. Effectively managing and leading the group brings the best out of all and leads to good results for the kids (Jeynes, 2018). In turn, it ensures that a parent is satisfied, and the members of the workforce have motivation in their work.
Many professionals view the development of leadership skills and knowledge as an alternative to foundational and more advanced training rather than a crucial part of professional development for providing quality service. A leader in an early childhood education setting is usually responsible for managing the related fields of care, family support, and health and incorporating these with the learning (Waniganayake et al., 2012). They will as well require to continue deploying and developing the staff with various perspectives and qualifications and with differing experience levels and exposure to professional training.
Given the complexity and challenges of current multi-disciplinary service provision, an early childhood education professional needs to prepare well to act as a competent administrator, manager, and leader. This is to effectively fulfill their responsibilities meaning that the basic significance of leadership has to be recognized within the career and integrated into the first preparation and constant development of the individuals (McCrea, 2015). It is essential to consider the scope, type, and size of the hierarchy involved in the setting of the discussion, especially in the context of management and leadership (Jeynes, 2018). Private nurseries vary greatly in magnitude in the field and thus, this directly affects the organizational needs.
For instance, a small twenty-five place rural nursery may not have the need for three leaders, a manager, and his or her deputy. As the structure would mostly be excessively hierarchical, provided the size and sum of children and staff involved (Jeynes, 2018). Therefore, this would directly affect the choice of approach needed in terms of leadership and management. It influences subsequent skills, knowledge, and capabilities required by the people operating in the senior position. In early childhood education, a room leader’s role is associated with the need for numerous individual traits and professional competencies. These vital persons usually taking their initial steps into management, must be viewed as employees by organizations that lack personal development intervention and training.
Good Leadership
The role of good leaders is to establish a vision for the environment they work in, utilizing their influence to empower other people to share in it and assist in creating the conditions required for implementation. To accomplish this, they have to inspire peers and serve as mentors, involve them in making decisions to ensure they comprehend what needs to be done, and work to form great communication channels (Ciulla, 2020). Additionally, they track the progress and where needed, model good practice and offer individual encouragement and find means to acknowledge great performance.
The one style adopted in all settings will rely on the individual traits and the leader’s experience and may need to change over time to respond to different challenges and situations. Leadership does not occur in isolation which means that a team has to exist for someone to lead (Rodd, 2013). Good interpersonal capabilities are of great significance, for example, good communication and listening skills, emotional intelligence, and the capacity to earn people’s trust and confidence.
Effective Management
In early childhood education, the main role of a manager is being responsible for organizing the individuals as well as resources that will translate the vision into high-quality services for both parents and children. This involves having familiarity with a great amount of background data and developing various management skills. The knowledge required by an effective manager includes a comprehension of how to track welfare requirements, implement them and legislative compliance regulations, and what comprises good practice (Omodan et al., 2020). Additionally, they need to understand finance and budgeting, business strategy, children protection laws, and marketing.
The required management capabilities for an effective manager consist of strategic thinking, great organization and planning, effective communication, and time management, among others. The capacity to plan for the future and keeping track of every action and initiative to deliver the overall vision is needed. By doing this, one recognizes the importance of short, medium as well as long-term planning for the organization (Omodan et al., 2020). One should be able to handle issues in a structured and methodical manner to ensure projects are completed. It is compulsory for them to know how to pass information or ideas to various groups of people in a manner they understand. They ought to be mature enough to reflect on past experiences and learn.
Analysis and Application of Models and Theories of Leadership and Management in ECE
Action-Centered Model of Leadership
An action-centered model is a popular approach developed by John Adair to highlight the core actions that one has to take to effectively lead a team instead of the leadership style chosen. The activities are classified into three including task, team, and individual (Achukwu, 2021). This tool is applied in various stages, that is, developing the skills needed for the level an individual is in, focusing on critical responsibilities, and identifying what needs to be accomplished to attain them. Lastly, by accepting that the right balance of responsibilities may differ based on the situation.
Human Relations Theory of Management
Human relations theory refers to an approach to management that stresses the significance of people’s attitudes, interpersonal relationships, leadership styles, and group dynamics in accomplishing organizational effectiveness. Using this ideology, a participative and considerate leader who is skilled in communicating with others is guaranteed to attain better outcomes than an authoritarian person (Omodan et al., 2020). In the event, a manager understands and recognizes the existence of social systems in the educational setting, they get a better opportunity to incorporate the groups into the overall school operations. For instance, groupings could be formalized into clubs, for example, journalism, debate, and welfare of a teacher.
The groups can be utilized then to improve learning, teaching as well as cooperation. This theory enables administrators to identify the human factor in institutions. Children have talents and personal needs, as suggested by Omodan et al. (2020). Recognizing their potential motivates and empowers them to use the resources available to improve their skills as groups or individually. To distinguish capabilities, an administrator must cultivate a surrounding that assures everyone that their contributions and ideas are essential to the general organizational efficiency.
Managing Legal Requirements in Early Childhood Education
As mentioned earlier, understanding children protection laws and all regulations that govern the practice is the responsibility of a manager. The legal requirements for a childcare provider are dependent on the service they offer (Pather et al., 2020). The majority of them are regulated and approved by the National Quality Framework (NQF) including kindergarten, family day, long day, and outside school hours care. Others under the Education and Care Services act 2013 consist of occasional care and limited hours care.
The national authority responsible for early childhood education and care is ACECQA or the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority. It monitors the NQF’s implementation and betterment of the services’ quality across the whole country. Additionally, it offers data sheets concerning the National Quality Framework. There are services that have not been captured under the above-mentioned policies (McCrea, 2015). They, thus, may fall under the Education and Care Services Act 2013. It is important for an institution to ensure they meet requirements such as educator qualifications, learning schemes, and teacher-to-learner ratios.
Conclusion
The paper has been able to examine why leadership and management are confused among early childhood education professionals. Through the essay, one can easily understand both terms and know the roles one needs to be undertaking in either position. For instance, to be regarded as a leader, one needs various human characteristics that cannot be developed in the early childhood education field. The focus is on traits such as personality and behavior while in management, someone is needed to possess skills. In this era, good leaders and managers enable people and organizations to develop and perform. The notion that they perform or work as directors is inaccurate. The misinformation is created by those who fail to understand the roles and responsibilities accorded to persons holding such positions.
In early childhood education, a good leader establishes a vision for the institution they work in and utilize their influence to empower other people to share in it. The latter action makes it easy for the implementation of the institution’s ideas for the future as there is no resistance from team members. To accomplish the goals of the organization, the leader has to be inspirational, serve as a mentor, and involve individuals on the staff in making decisions. This is to ensure the followers comprehend what needs to be done and work to form great communication channels. Additionally, it is essential to note that no one is performing leadership duties in isolation. This means that they have to develop good interpersonal capabilities, for example, good listening skills, emotional intelligence, and the capacity to earn people’s trust and confidence.
The aim of a manager to organize individuals and resources is to enable the translation of the vision into high-quality services for the clients. This demands that one gains familiarity with a great body of background data and develops management skills. The paper suggests that the knowledge required by an effective manager includes a comprehension of how to track welfare requirements, implement them and legislative compliance regulations, and what comprises good practice.
The paper has as well examined the theories associated with leadership and management. For instance, the action-centered model dictates that the core actions are more important in effectively leading people than a specific style. Another is the human relations concept which stresses the significance of people’s attitudes, interpersonal relationships, and group dynamics in accomplishing organizational effectiveness. The difference between the two is that the second ideology emphasizes the application of styles in accomplishing desired goals.
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