A Study on Effect of Physical Activity through Listening to Music on The Everyday Stress and Resilience of The Preschoolers Participating in a Full-day Preschool class

Investigating Teacher Leadership in ECE Centres in Finland

This study was aimed at investigating the enactment of teacher leadership in early childhood education (ECE) centres in Finland. Theoretically, the study was informed by the emerging scholarship of early childhood distributed pedagogical leadership and school based research on teacher leadership as well as classical theorizing of ECE leadership. Staff from three ECE centres participated as a purposive sample of informants in this study. The study involved participative observations of ECE staff comprising teachers and child care nurses as a research method. The analysis of findings suggested that the enactment of teacher leadership was strong in all three centres. The study identified three…

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

This study explored the perceptions of deputy directors about their leadership in Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres in Finland. Our aim was to look beyond task distribution and understand how deputy directors enacted leadership with their colleagues. Six deputy directors employed in one municipality in Finland participated in this study. Interviewed individually, the participants discussed how they themselves perceived being in a leadership position and what their leadership looked like in practice. The emphasis they placed on the various relationships highlight the importance of paying attention to the relational dynamics amongst staff within a centre, taking into account both formal…

Whose culture? Monolithic cultures and subcultures in early childhood settings

In Finland, day care centre directors have traditionally led only a single unit, but after the recent merging of many units, most directors simultaneously lead several, physically separate units. These organizations are called distributed organizations. This study was carried out in two distributed day care organizations. The findings are based on interviews with and observations of the staff members. When organizational mergers occur, they raise questions about culture. The findings show that part of the culture should have been shared by all members across the organization, but staff also emphasized the importance of subcultures. Two of Meyerson and Martin’s paradigms were found to exist …

Enacting pedagogical leadership within small teams in early childhood settings in Finland

Teacher leadership repertoires in the context of early childhood education team meetings in Finland

This study investigates teacher leadership in Early Childhood Education (ECE) settings in Finland. We used discursive analysis to investigate repertoires of teacher leaders during weekly team meetings organized by staff teams. In Finland, a staff team usually comprises of an ECE teacher - who is the team leader, and two childcare nurses. In this study ECE teachers are understood as being teacher leaders (Fairman & McKenzie, 2012). The study identifies four repertoires of teacher leadership: 1. collaborative teacher leadership; 2. supportive teacher leadership; 3. professional expertise; and 4. legitimation. Understanding teacher leadership is fundamental to enacting pedagogical leadership i…

Päivähoitotyö ja johtajuus hajautetussa organisaatiossa

"Että meidän itsenäisyys säilyisi" : tapaustutkimus muutoksesta filiaalipäiväkodiksi ja sen vaikutuksista johtajuuteen

Elementary school principals’ work from the ecological systems perspective: Evidence from Finland

The present study aimed to investigate elementary school principals’ work from the ecological systems perspective and which elements of their work are experienced as demands or resources. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 principals. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The results show that the way principals experience their work is individual and influenced by several internal and external factors. Some of the most extensive demands appear to be related to interaction with different stakeholders in situations where principals have the role of mediator in solving conflicting situations. Challenges also seem to arise in dealing with elements or issues…

Work-related stress of elementary school principals in Finland: Coping strategies and support

The present study aimed to investigate elementary school principals’ self-reported causes of work-related stress, their coping strategies to deal with stress and the support they need for their leadership. Seventy-six principals filled in the questionnaire, which included open-ended questions. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The results showed that the main sources of stress were workload, interpersonal conflicts, a lack of resources and internal pressures. Moreover, principals used emotion-focused, problem-focused and social coping to deal with stress. Additionally, principals reported a need for problem-focused support and social support for their leadership. T…

Directors' stress in day care centers : related factors and coping strategies

PurposeThis study aims to explore what causes stress to day care center directors and what their coping strategies are. In addition, the study examined the extent to which directors experience work-related stress and burnout, and the factors associated with their work-related stress, engagement and recovery from work.Design/methodology/approachA mixed method approach was used.FindingsThe results showed that the main sources of directors' stress were connected to leading oneself, leading others, managing change and lack of social support. Moreover, the main coping strategies with stress were leading oneself, social support and leading others. In addition, both pre- and in-service leadership …

Working as early childhood centre directors and deputies : perspectives from Australia, Finland and Norway

Tämä tutkimus, joka tarkasteli päiväkodin johtajien ja apulaisjohtajien johtajuutta, on toteutettu Australiassa, Suomessa ja Norjassa. Teoreettisesti tutkimus sijoittuu uusliberalistiseen ajatteluun, jonka Sims (2017) kuvaa laajenevasti muokkaavan varhaiskasvatuksen toimintatapoja useissa OECD maissa. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan laadullinen tutkimus ja sen aineistona on osallistujien lyhyt taustakysely, työnkuvien sisällönanalyysi ja yksilöhaastattelut. Tulosten mukaan erilaisuutta työn rakenteissa on sekä kunkin maan sisällä että maiden välillä. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että odotukset jokaisen roolista ja siitä, kuinka henkilöt osallistuvat johtajuuteen muovautuvat päiväkotikontekstissa. Aus…

Distributing leadership in a day care setting

The latest leadership theories require leadership to be distributed, but there is little evidence of how the distribution is made in practice, particularly in the context of early childhood education. This article describes leadership in two day care organizations in which the organizational structure was different than the traditional one. One organization comprised four day care units and the other had five units. According to the findings, leadership was implemented in the spirit of distributed leadership. The staff and the day care centre director in co-operation took responsibility for their organization. The relationship between the director and the staff was interactive and there was…

Perceptions of early childhood education professionals on teacher leadership in Finland

This study investigated perceptions of early childhood education (ECE) professionals employed at three ECE centres on teacher leadership enactment in Finland. These professionals comprised childcare nurses, teachers and ECE centre directors. Theoretically, the study was anchored on an analysis of teacher leadership and distributed leadership literature comprising research based in early childhood and school education contexts. Findings based on focus groups and interviews with participants suggest that teacher leadership was perceived as a responsibility of ECE pedagogy in Finland. Centre directors were considered remote from daily practice and leadership for pedagogy within the centres was…