Swings + Roundabouts Spring 2021

a variety of theories including collaborative leadership, educational leadership and distributed leadership. Teachers enacting leadership and becoming an expert in an area of interest, or leading an inquiry, change or new initiative often become a resource to others, leading to ongoing reflection, as changes or further insights are made over time, with teachers noticing improvement in “engagement, outcomes, and empowerment” (Denee, 2018, p.69). Raelin (2005, as cited in Cooper 2014) offers a framework of leaderful practice based on collective practice with positional leaders encouraging and supporting teachers to engage in a leaderful practice. Below are four key values of Raelin’s framework as described in Cooper (2014): ● Multiple individuals engage in leadership practice at the same time ● People work together collectively ● Leadership is collaborative where control is shared everyone takes responsibility for the community engaging in shared discussion ● Everyone engages compassionately and maintains the dignity of all in the community. Teacher leadership is also enacted when teachers influence and empower others through shared practice every day with families, children and other teachers by sharing their knowledge and expertise and seeking others expertise and aspirations to improve educational delivery, particularly when understood as an embedded practice, rather than an add-on (Cooper, 2014). Another aspect of teacher leadership is when teachers develop their professional identity by developing their values, beliefs and goals (Stamopoulous, 2012, as cited in Cooper, 2014). Teachers can also develop an understanding of their own ethical and moral stances by considering how they advocate and engage in what Cooper (2014) described as “ethical decision-making that involves caring for and taking responsibility for others, such as children, other teachers and families” (p. 90). Findings from Denee and Thornton’s (2018) study showed some confusion on positional leaders giving up control and power with Denee and Thornton (2018) emphasising there needs to be a move from traditional models of leadership toward more collaborative models such as distributed leadership and for both positional leaders and teachers to understand that leadership can be practiced by teachers and others. These issues could be mitigated by team discussions on what distributed leadership can look like, and how it can work within their early learning service using inquiry and professional learning communities as a foundation for understanding (Denee & Thornton, 2018). Findings in an early learning study (Denee & Thornton, 2018) found that positional leaders used a variety of strategies to support teachers to be leaderful. This included encouraging teachers to lead professional learning and planning; liaise with their wider community; mentoring; leading areas of interest or expertise, or linked to their appraisal goals or to the long term strategic plan; establishing positive relationships leading to pedagogical dialogue; challenge ideas; and recognising the diversity within the teaching team. Klar et al (2016) found in their study that positional leaders were required to foster leadership after providing opportunities for teachers to lead. This included modelling leadership behaviours, giving constructive feedback, sharing their own learnings over their career, verbal encouragement and ongoing support as required over time. Mentoring within the literature is often referred to when approaching how to support and encourage teachers in teacher leadership. Denee and Thornton (2018) noted that alongside mentoring, “scaffolding; fostering confidence; and providing resources and expertise” were factors when both teachers and positional leaders discussed how teachers were supported in leadership. Mentoring strategies teachers most often mentioned within studies were goal setting, questioning to deepen thinking, effective listening, providing advice and resources, and offering varying different support dependent on the needs of the teacher leader (Denee & Thornton, 2017; Klar et al., 2016). One of the key messages for the positional leader is to engage with teachers in professional dialogue to define and understand what leaderful practice is and the benefits for both the teachers themselves and student learning outcomes (Cooper, 2014). Every day leadership can emerge within References Bush, T., & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: What do we know? School Leadership & Management, 34(5), 1-19.Cooper, M. (2014). ‘Everyday teacher leadership’: A reconceptualisation for early childhood education. Journal of educational leadership, policy and practice, 2014, 29(2), 84-96. Denee. R. (2018). Professional learning and distributed leadership: A symbiotic relationship. New Zealand Annual Review of Education 23, 63-78 Denee, R. & Thornton, K. (2018). Distributed leadership in ECE: perceptions and practices. Early Years, DOI: 10.1080/09575146.2018.1539702. Education Council. (2018). The Leadership Strategy for the teaching profession of Aotearoa New Zealand Enabling every teacher to develop their leadership capability. Wellington: Education Council. Education Review Office. (2020). Te Ara Poutama. Piki ake, kake ake. For those who aspire to seek excellence. Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most. Wellington: Education Review Office. Harris, A. (2013). Distributed leadership: Friend or foe? Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 41(5), 545–554. Heikka, J., Halttunen, L., & Waniganayake, M. (2018). Perceptions of early childhood education professionals on teacher leadership in Finland. Early Child Development and Care, 188 (2), 143-156 Klar, H., Huggins, K., Hammonds, H. & Buskey, F. (2016). Fostering the capacity for distributed leadership: a post-heroic approach to leading school improvement. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 19 (2), 111-137. Weisz-Koves, T. (2011). Developing teacher leadership in early childhood education in Aotearoa through a potential-based approach. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice, 26(2), 35-47. an effective community of practice when leadership is seen as a shared practice where everyone has a voice, and a collaborative culture is formed when all teachers commit and together contribute to the decisions about educational improvement which empowers and influences all in the ECE community (Cooper, 2014). September 2021 { 21 }