An Uncertain Tale: Alternative Conceptualizations of Pedagogical Leadership

Abstract

This article draws on the experiences of twoeducators to reimagine traditional framingsof pedagogical leadership. In the field of earlychildhood education, pedagogical leadershipcarries conflicting conceptualizations and isoften associated with an “expert” who willdictate indicators of quality, suggesting certaintyand fixed ways of practicing. Educators are oftenreluctant to take on leadership roles that seemantithetical to their collaborative caring practices.In our work together in the Investigating QualityProject and in using pedagogical narration as atool for generating critical dialogue, we explorealternative images of pedagogical leadership.Through sharing our stories, we offer a modeof thinking about pedagogical leadership thatembraces relationality and uncertainty andinvites a culture of dialogue.

Doing pedagogical conversations (with spirituality and fat) as pedagogists in early childhood education

“…Our work as pedagogists never rests with critical analysis and also never ignores the urgent need for critical engagements with contemporary and historical inequities. Consistent with articulations of pedagogist accountabilities offered by Atkinson and Biegun (2017), Hodgins (2015), and Pacini-Ketchabaw et al, (2015), we anchor our practice in the non-innocent, non-redemptive situated ethical and political intentions, convictions, and response-abilities (Haraway, 2016) we carry as pedagogists within neoliberal and colonial ECE spaces in Canada.…”

“…There are practices we hold as fundamental to our role as pedagogists in ECE in Canada: fostering ongoing collaborative pedagogical conversations with educators (Atkinson & Biegun, 2017;Hodgins, 2014;Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher, 2016); participating in pedagogical collectives that see education as a common, public sphere (Hodgins, Atkinson & Wanamaker, 2017;Berger, 2015;Vintimilla, 2018); noticing how we are implicated in, shaped by, and accountable to everyday pedagogical relations (Land & Danis, 2016;Moss, 2019;Nxumalo, Vintimilla & Nelson, 2018); attending and responding to multiple lives and precarities by understanding education as more than only a human concern (Haro Woods et al, 2018;Nxumalo, 2017;Taylor, 2017); deepening the pedagogical character of everyday ECE practices through approaches to documentation and dialogue that emphasize the complexity and politicality of these practices (Hodgins, Thompson & Kummen, 2017;Pacini-Ketchabaw et al, 2015); and crafting tentative, responsive, locally-relevant pedagogies with children, educators, and lively worlds (Taylor & Pacini-Ketchabaw, 2015;Wapenaar & DeSchutter, 2018;Yazbeck & Danis, 2015). We also attend to our situated, personal answerabilities as pedagogists: what might Meagan (a pedagogist with a particular history, concerns, and relations) need to answer to in pedagogical collaborations?…”

A study of pedagogical leadership plans in early childhood education settings in Finland.

“…This differs from definitions in which the term 'pedagogical leader' reflects the role of a designated educator who is responsible for advancing pedagogical leadership in their own child group, as in Norway, or in the whole ECE centre, as in Australia (Engel, Barnett, Anders & Tagum 2015:62;Rouse & Spradbury 2016). Atkinson and Biegun (2017) considered how pedagogical leadership could be enacted and described so that it could resist hierarchical composition in cases where there are leaders and followers. When leadership is enacted by questioning daily practices, leadership can become a part of the work of educators.…”

Weaving Teaching and Leading: A Systematic Literature Review on Pedagogical Leadership Contributions

“…Since its inception, there have been increasing empirical studies (Fonsén et Contreras, 2016), and books about it (Semann, 2019;Fonsen, 2013;Andrews, 2009) have attempted to contribute to this debate. Much of the contributions are in the field of Early Childhood Education (Fonsén et al, 2020;Clarke, 2017;Abel, 2016;Atkinson et al, 2017;Heikka et al, 2019a;Heikka, 2014;Heikka et al, 2011;Cecchin et al, 2009). These studies show an engendered interest in pedagogical leadership (Andrews, 2009).…”

“…This was the reason why scholars, especially ECE educators and leaders, have shifted their attention to it. This new leadership was introduced as an alternative to instructional and all other leadership (Male et al, 2012;Atkinson et al, 2017;MacNeill et al, 2005).…”