The practice architectures of middle leading in early childhood education

Abstract

BackgroundAcross the globe, public sector leadership is generally organised in a hierarchical and linear way with decisions distributed to an appointed leader at each level in the organisation; this structure is particularly evident in the Swedish school system. Principals at each school are responsible to a director of education, and teachers are directly responsible to their principal. In this climate, a new kind of leadership is evolving with the specific purpose of facilitating collegial professional learning and the development of quality student learning in schools and preschools. Leaders in these roles generally have a recognised and often appointed role in supporting the professional development of their colleagues, but seldom this role is taken to be a more formal paid position in the linear or hierarchical formation of organisation. In Sweden, these leading roles are recognised as utvecklingsledare, handledare, förstelärare (development teacher, facilitator, first teacher) or curriculum coordinators. Moreover, these leaders are teachers whose work is mostly that of a classroom teacher. Their leading role has often been generated AbstractThe development of Early Childhood Education in Sweden is a central concern for national and local government, and for school districts and preschools. While principals have the responsibility for, and a particular role in, leading education in the preschools, they are somewhat removed from the core work of teachers. In this article, we argue that it is 'middle leaders' who are the critical professionals for developing quality in education. The argument is made through examining the leading practices of middle leaders using a practice theory framework. We specifically draw on the theory of practice architectures to explore and understand the arrangements and conditions that enable and constrain the practices of these leaders in their work. The study draws on survey data and recorded professional Learning Dialogues among participants. Responses revealed a number of enabling and constraining conditions relating to particular cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political conditions that influenced what was possible in their leading practices. Results further show how the practices of middle leaders were crucial in not only developing but sustaining quality in Early Childhood Education as they coordinate between the educational practices within the preschool and across the city district.

Views from the Inside: Roles of Deputy Directors in Early Childhood Education in Finland

“…The work of the deputies was inextricably linked with their relationship to others as reflected in the findings presented. The closeness they had with their colleagues was significant in the same way as Rönnerman's et al, [4] note about the close connection middle leaders have to and within classrooms. Closeness came naturally as the centre director was often taken away from her centres while the deputy was present daily.…”

“…There are several formal and informal leadership positions in ECE both in Finland and in other countries, e.g., [1]. In addition to deputy directors [2], research shows the variety of positions and titles in ECE leadership: educational leaders [3], middle leaders [4], teacher leaders [5] and ECE teachers as team leaders [6]. Deputy directors, although having a formal leadership role, seem to be the "forgotten leaders" in the same way that Cranston, Tromans and Reugebrink [7] (p. 225) ingeniously described deputy principals in schools.…”

Approaches and educational assessments of children’s speech, language and communication development in Swedish preschools

“…A proposal how to perform professional development about the meanings of important concepts could be through 'collegial discussions and reflections'. In that case, different kinds of competence development can be performed and colleagues can, through structured cooperation, acquire the knowledge about different matters (Edwards-Groves, Grootenboer, Hardy, & Rönnerman, 2018;Rönnerman, Edwards-Groves, & Grootenboer, 2017, 2018Timperley, 2011). This kind of competence development through structured collegial discussions were recently successfully performed in preschools in Sweden (Nordberg, 2019).…”

Becoming a researcher: The process of ‘stirring in’ to data collection practices in early childhood education research

“…The purpose of the theory of practice architectures is not to break apart and single out the individual aspects of practice. Rather, it serves an analytical function (Rönnerman et al, 2017) to help us see ‘the world more relationally’ (Kemmis et al, 2014: 227). In fact, attempting to separate the sayings, doings and relatings of practice is challenging since in real-life all three work together interactionally (Kemmis et al, 2014).…”

“…The theory of practice architectures has been successfully used to interrogate educational practices in the primary, secondary and tertiary sector. The theory is increasingly being applied in early childhood education (ECE) research (Rönnerman et al, 2017; Salamon et al, 2015) and to examine the learning associated with becoming a researcher (Rönnerman and Kemmis, 2016). Of particular advantage in examining the process of becoming as a learner, is the notion of stirring in .…”