Affiliation:
1. University of Helsinki, Finland
Abstract
This article investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) leadership through the concept of community of practice (COP). The focus is on ECEC leaders’ perceptions regarding their leadership during the educational changes taking place in the context of Finnish ECEC. The purpose is to increase understanding of how leaders see themselves in relation to the ECEC multi professional working community and practices of distributed leadership. The data are five focus group interviews of ECEC leaders analyzed with directed content analysis within the theoretical frame of domain, practice, and community forming the core of COP in Lave and Wenger. The results show how all three COP components comprise several dimensions in ECEC leaders’ perceptions of their leadership. For example, the component of the leadership domain consists of ECEC values, ECEC legislation, and ECEC curriculum. The results indicate that a formal leadership role is essential in leading the community and its vision. Moreover, building flexible leadership structures and supporting multi professional cooperation in the community augment leadership as a community’s joint enterprise.
Subject
General Social Sciences,General Arts and Humanities
Reference52 articles.
1. Act on Early Childhood Education and Care. (540/2018). https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2018/en20180540.pdf
2. Agrawal A., Joshi K. D. (2011). A review of community of practice in organizations: Findings and emerging themes. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2011.26
3. Ahtiainen R., Fonsén E., Kiuru L. (2021). Finnish early childhood education and care leaders’ perceptions of pedagogical leadership and assessment of the implementation of the national core curriculum in times of change. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 46(2), 126–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391211010971
4. Akselin M.L. (2013). Varhaiskasvatuksen strategisen johtamisen rakentuminen ja menestymisen ennakoiminen johtamistyön tarinoiden valossa [The Development of Strategic Management and the Prediction of Success in the Stories of Early Education Directors] [Doctoral dissertation]. Tampere University Press. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-44-9050-7
5. Assarroudi A., Nabavi F. H., Armat M. R., Ebadi A., Vaismoradi M. (2018). Directed qualitative content analysis: The description and elaboration of its underpinning methods and data analysis process. Journal of Research in Nursing, 23(1), 42–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987117741667
Cited by
10 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献