Search results for "pedagogical leadership"
showing 10 items of 13 documents
Leadership in Finnish comprehensive school core curricula since the 1970s
2014
Tiivistelmä – Abstract Suomen peruskoulujärjestelmä sai alkunsa vuonna 1970 ja samana vuonna julkaistiin ensimmäinen peruskoulun opetussuunnitelma. Seuraavat opetussuunnitelmauudistukset toteutettiin vuosina 1985, 1994 ja 2004. Parhaillaan Suomessa kehitetään uutta peruskoulun opetussuunnitelmaa, joka on tarkoitus ottaa käyttöön vuonna 2016. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin johtajuuden ja opetussuunnitelman välistä suhdetta. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena sisällönanalyysina, jossa aineiston muodostivat viralliset opetussuunnitelmat ja kaksi asiantuntijahaastattelua. Tutkimustulokset analysoitiin summatiivisen sisällönanalyysin menetelmin ja tulokset kuvattiin tulkinnallisella menetelmä…
Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice
2021
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 component…
Views from the Inside: Roles of Deputy Directors in Early Childhood Education in Finland
2021
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…
THE IMPACT OF HEADMASTER’S LEADERSHIP PRACTICE ON THE FORMATION OF A PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY AT SCHOOL
2019
In the context of general education content reform initiated in Latvia, which also provides change of teaching approach, the issue of the role of headmaster has raised. The introduction and implementation of competence approach requires strengthening and development of cooperation between teachers in professional learning communities (PLCs) at school, in order to address didactic issues, regularly analyze pupils` learning outcomes and find best ways to increase the learning outcomes of each pupil, and give an opportunity for teachers to improve their teaching by sharing good pedagogical practice. The change of teaching approach prompts a revision of school management practices as well. In o…
Investigating Teacher Leadership in ECE Centres in Finland
2016
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…
Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland
2023
The daily life of early childhood education and care (ECE) in Finland changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. The pandemic has had a significant impact on society at many levels, and it also has affected the work and workload of ECE leaders and the realisation of leadership. The aim of this research was to investigate ECE leadersʼ views on pedagogical leadership from the perspective of opportunities and challenges during exceptional times. The research uses the conceptualisation of broad-based pedagogical leadership as an analytical framework. The data consisted of the responses of ECE leaders (n = 492) to an electronic survey conducted in February 2021. There were sever…
Play is the Base! ECEC Leaders’ Views on the Development of Digital Pedagogy
2023
The development of digital pedagogy in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a relevant issue. The role of the ECEC leader in initiating and leading the development of digital pedagogy is important. The aim of this study was to explore the views of ECEC leaders on digital pedagogy and its development, as little research has been done on the subject. The data was collected in the context of continuing professional development for ECEC leaders in Finland. The data consists of 39 development plans that were drawn up by the participants and it was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The research indicates that ECEC leaders hold diverse perspectives on digital pedagogy but acknow…
Teachers’ pedagogical leadership in early childhood education
2023
Background: Although the contexts, structures and administrations of early childhood education (ECE) may differ internationally, effective pedagogical leadership remains an essential component in supporting young children’s development and learning. This paper reports on a comparative study which considered ECE in two different settings, Finland and Florida, providing insight into teachers’ perspectives on the characteristics of pedagogical leadership. Purpose: This study sought to investigate and compare the perspectives of ECE teachers and directors in Finland and Florida via their discourses about teachers’ pedagogical leadership. The goal was to provide an overview of the ECE teachers’ …
"Kaikille tällä lapiolla näin paljon..." : tapaustutkimus päivähoitopalvelun johtamisesta kuntarakennemuutoksessa
2013
Tiivistelmä. Karavirta, Tiina. 2013. ”Kaikille tällä lapiolla näin paljon...” Tapaustutkimus päivähoitopalvelun johtamisesta kuntarakennemuutoksessa. Varhaiskasvatustieteen pro gradu -tutkielma. Kasvatustieteiden laitos. Jyväskylän yliopisto. 127 sivua + 5 liitettä. Kuntarakennemuutoksen vaikutukset heijastuvat organisaatiotasolla myös päivähoitoon, jossa vastikään on muutettu hallinnonalaa sosiaali- ja terveysministeriöstä opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriöön ja samanaikaisesti odotetaan uutta varhaiskasvatuslakia. Muutokset kunnan ja päivähoidon organisaatioissa vaikuttavat myös päivähoidon johtamisen järjestelyihin. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, millaisista tehtävistä päiväh…
Teacher leadership repertoires in the context of early childhood education team meetings in Finland
2019
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…