Effective leadership within early childhood settings is aligned with the perceived successful implementation of high quality care and education programmes (Thornton, Tamati, Clarkin-Philips, Aitken & Wansbrough, 2009). With growing attention on the role early childhood education (ECE) plays in preparing children to be successful in their lives, it is not surprising that there is increased focus on the work and impact of educational leaders in this endeavour. An expanding body of research specifically exploring leadership within ECE settings illustrates how much of the educational leadership theory corpus lacks contextual relevance and fails to recognise the complexities and realities of leading in early years contexts (Rodd, 2013). The qualitative research reported on in this article examines the leadership understandings and perceptions of five qualified, registered early childhood leaders. The findings illustrated that whilst participants were cognisant of the role effective leadership plays in providing quality care and education, there was much confusion about what leadership entailed and how leadership differentiated from management in this context. The contextual complexities of the ECE sector were a significant influence on each participant's opportunity to learn about, and practise leadership. Findings also revealed a need for contextually relevant and progressive approaches to leadership learning to support early childhood leaders and teachers in their leadership work.

PurposeYoung women's leadership is an area frequently overlooked in educational leadership development. This paper aims to bring young women's voices into educational leadership conversations and illustrate an alternative approach to young women's leadership development.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative action research study was located in an urban girls' high school in New Zealand. The researcher worked in partnership with 12 young women and used a process of co‐construction to design a leadership development programme. The young women then participated in, evaluated and modified the programme before teaching it to another group of students.FindingsCo‐construction was an effective way to develop a relevant and authentic leadership programme that met the needs of the young women, however, the process was extremely complex. The findings indicated that this approach challenged existing views of teaching and learning and was an active process that required significant efforts to balance input and share ownership between the researcher and the young women.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings highlighted the importance of including young women in decision‐making processes related to their leadership learning. Future consideration in this area could relate to creating a sustainable leadership culture in schools by engaging this process across year levels.Originality/valueThis paper outlines an alternative approach to leadership development in high schools that could be used in a number of contexts as these findings related to women's youth leadership development have implications on leadership development for women at all levels.

The ways in which women deliberately press back against practices of oppression and demonstrate agency in higher education institutions are highly contextual and culturally bound. The formal and informal networks that women develop and maintain are important elements of generating agency and enhancing women's access to and opportunities for leadership. This article presents a case study from research that explored women's leadership experiences in a higher education context in the Pacific Islands -Papua New Guinea. Situated within a feminist poststructural methodology, the research examined women's experiences of leadership and considered aspects that influenced women's access to formal leadership roles. The findings illustrated that the women faced numerous barriers to formal leadership opportunities. A range of culturally and contextually located approaches supported women to demonstrate agency with regard to their own leadership development and practice. This research highlighted the importance of considering the relationship between networks and agency and the impact of associated cultural and contextual practices within organisations, providing insights into the culturally located complexities of women's leadership in higher education contexts.

Social justice is fundamental to feminism. Feminist theorists place women's experiences of gender inequalities at the centre of their theorizations about leadership.Feminist critiques of leadership are set in a wider social context. In this chapter, the perspectives of women educational leaders are explored within the wider 'social justice leadership' perspective. Internationally, social justice leadership represents a major theme within policy, research and literature with a resurgence of interest into the experiences and perceptions of women in educational leadership. This chapter critically appraises women's perspectives on educational leadership, by drawing on the experiences of four women headteachers/principals in each of four international contexts, sixteen women in total. Case studies, conducted in Scotland, England, Jamaica and New Zealand, provide contrasting, cross-national contexts to compare the influences, possibilities and challenges that women school leaders experience.Each of the country researcher teams was guided by the same interview questions, adopting a common methodological approach for conducting in-depth interviews and the analysis of findings.

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