QUESTION

What is leadership? This discussion of leadership should be based on the module content and the associated readings.

What is your leadership philosophy? This should be a discussion of your own philosophy that should reflect theory and your emerging ideas of leadership and how they apply to you as an ECEC professional. You may like to draw upon a variety of theories, subject content and personal experiences to develop this philosophy.

How will you enact that philosophy in an early childhood setting? You should include clear links to how you might espouse that philosophy in an early childhood setting, as an early childhood professional.

                                                                    SAMPLE SOLUTION

Introduction

While the term leadership is thrown around at almost any instance when describing managers and leaders involved in early childhood, the term has failed us to say the least. In fact, pedagogical leadership must not be considered on its own simply because an attempt by early childhood leaders to practice leadership in the conventional mould will fall short. This means that leadership must be viewed out of a holistic approach in which the full extent of leadership responsibilities as well as roles expected of modern childhood leaders are at the core.

Discussion of Leadership

Indeed, Sinclair (2005) declares that leadership is a social construction, which implies that leadership is often a misunderstood concept as it may vary depending on the setting it is practiced. This includes the fact that leadership emerges as an outcome of the emotional as well as often unconscious needs, the traits and skills of a leader, and early experiences and aspirations of the followers. The implication is that the concept of leadership is all encompassing and can be defined through a number of characteristics. As an example, it is evident that leadership involves the skills and traits of a leader. This dimension is crucial to understanding the concept of leadership because it implies the imperative need for those in managerial positions to have diverse skill set or traits that set them apart from the rest. This leads to the other characteristic associated with leadership, which is experiences as well as aspirations of the followers. The suggestion is that in leadership there ought to be those who are led, perhaps by one of them who possesses diverse skills and traits.

Duignan (2012) illustrates that leadership is noticeable by a number of characteristics. In essence, leaders are distinguishable because of certain characteristics that serve to set them apart. For instance, leaders often have a presence about them, which implies that they tend to have skills as well as traits that are influential. Duignan (2012) points out that leaders are easily noticeable for the sense of presence they exude. This suggests that leaders ought to be influence those around them including making them followers of their beliefs so that they can lead them towards the realization of predetermined goals. Nevertheless, leaders often work consciously to improve the quality of their presence in relationships with their subordinates to ensure that constructive relationships are born. This is crucial in leadership because those in leadership positions ought to have positive relationships with the employees, which in turn ensures proper work environment is developed enabling employees to realize maximum potential. The insinuation is that leadership often involves persons in managerial positions consistently looking to develop as well as enhance their presence to take the organization forward through the realization of goals. Duignan (2012), notes that via conversations, interviews, as well as workshops the concept of leadership has become clearer because almost all of them said they had to work hard to enhance their presence in relationships. This suggests that leadership skills are honed over the years as managers and directors in early childhood environments seek to perfect them. This goes against the widespread assumption that leadership is inborn and some persons cannot make good leaders. Leaders that have authentic presence are noticeable for a number of characteristics. For instance, they are increasingly present to themselves, which means that they identify their character including what they stand for as well as the direction they intend to take in life (Duignan, 2012). This includes the fact that they take considerable time reflecting on the quality of their interactions and actions. What is more, they are renowned for being attentive listeners, understandings, as well as sensitive to persons who are in need of support. More so, leaders utilize their influence to help transform the rest to higher levels of motivation as well as performance. It is evident that leadership takes a rather holistic perspective into management, as mirrored by the fact that leaders ought to possess skills as well as traits necessary to build relationships that they can use to bring about positive outcomes. It can be said that leaders arm themselves with potential leaders in the form of employees and other subordinates.

Duignan (2012) claims that the work of authentic educational leaders is transformational which can be understood to mean they promote as well as support transformational learning and teaching for students. As leaders, they accomplish this through bringing in their deepest beliefs, values, principles, as well as convictions to their educational and managerial work. The insinuation is that leadership in early childhood settings possess the engagement of the self with the other, which translates to a deep sense of responsibility for what is happening to the others. This feature of leadership is crucial to creation of trust as well as positive relationship because leaders must be compassionate towards their subordinates if they are going to positively influence them.