Early Years
Leadership in the early years
In conversation with Keir Bloomer, Aline-Wendy Dunlop and Margy Whalley
The third Learning and Teaching Scotland seminar to promote and facilitate professional conversation about key issues in early childhood education took place on Saturday 11 November at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall.
You can read a summary of key themes covered at this event and download the presentations given by the three speakers, Keir Bloomer, Aline-Wendy Dunlop and Margy Whalley.
This event focused on leadership in early years services and the three speakers introduced a range of perspectives and issues for ongoing development and debate. Each of these addresses was followed by a conversation involving speakers and the event participants.
Key themes
The key themes emerging from the day included the following:
- Leadership is an important area for development within the diverse and changing early years contexts in Scotland.
- The changing nature and complexity of better integrated children’s services place new demands and challenges on early childhood leaders.
- We need to set the leadership debate firmly within our understandings and beliefs about children and childhood.
- Literature and research into leadership in the early years reflects an emphasis on non-hierarchical and distributed leadership models.
- Effective leadership development programmes will be rooted in whole community development, shared understandings and co-constructed models.
- Effective early childhood services support children’s leadership and aspirations.
- Effective leadership of learning in early childhood settings is an important aspect of developing confident, resilient and informed children, parents and workers.
- A Curriculum for Excellence is an important development within the leadership context.
