Sustainable Leadership Development Project - a Case Study

The leaders in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) deal with many changes in Finland. The National Core Curriculum for pre-primary education was renewed in 2014. The new act of early childhood education entered into... [ view full abstract ]

The leaders in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) deal with many changes in Finland. The National Core Curriculum for pre-primary education was renewed in 2014. The new act of early childhood education entered into force on the 1^st of August 2015. The content of ECEC is guided by the National Curriculum Guidelines on ECEC. Those guidelines were renewed in 2016 and according to the law every municipality has to make local curricula and plans during the year 2017. The local plans will be executed on the 1^st of August 2017. The participation of both children and parents is one of the main focuses in the new curriculum.

ECEC is primarily organized in daycare centers and in family daycare. Depending on the municipality one leader can be in charge of several daycare centers and in some cases of family daycare, too. Being in charge of several daycare units has its challenges.

The context of this study is Sustainable leadership development project which was conducted in two Finnish municipalities in 2015-2016. The aim of the project was to strengthen early childhood leadership in the ever-changing conditions. The recorderd data from the focus group discussions was analyzed with discourse analysis, and its aim was to define the principles of sustainable leadership in early childhood education. The research results show that in order to build sustainable leadership, a common understanding of key factors influencing the leadership structure is needed. Shared values, vision and the importance of strategy, communication, development work and pedagogical leadership structure are considered useful in sustainable leadership.

Keywords: early childhood education, sustainable leadership, development project, focus group, discourse analysis