Peer-reviewed article
Teachers’ pedagogical leadership in early childhood education
Elina Fonsén, Tünde Szécsi, Päivi Kupila, Tarja Liinamaa, Clarisse Halpern et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This comparative study examines how early childhood education teachers and directors in Finland and Florida understand pedagogical leadership—the practice of teachers guiding learning and development. Through interviews with teachers and centre leaders in both locations, researchers found that both groups share similar views on shared or distributed leadership. However, they differed in how much independence teachers expect in making instructional decisions, and how far they extend pedagogical practices beyond the classroom. The study suggests that supporting teachers' pedagogical leadership is important for high-quality early childhood education.
Key points
- Both Finland and Florida showed similar conceptualisation of distributed pedagogical leadership
- Teachers in the two locations differed in their expectations of independence in instructional decisions
- Differences were found in how pedagogical leadership practices extended within and beyond ECE centres
- Pedagogical leadership is recognised as an indicator of high-quality pedagogy in early childhood education
- Findings have implications for teacher preparation, curriculum development, and ECE programme directions
Limitations
This is a descriptive comparative study based on interviews and does not measure the impact of pedagogical leadership on actual child outcomes or development. The study explores teachers' and directors' perspectives and discourses rather than observing pedagogical practices directly or evaluating their effectiveness.
Abstract
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’ and directors’ discourses in each location, in order to allow comparison and a better understanding of the influence of aspects including locational contexts, curricular guidelines and teacher preparation on the ECE teachers’ and directors’ perspectives.Method A comparative case study design was used. The data consisted of semi-structured focus group interviews and individual interviews with ECE teachers and centre directors in Finland and in Florida. Data from the two locations were first analysed separately to identify the main discourses; secondly, discourses were compared collectively to reveal major themes.Findings The analysis indicated a similar conceptualisation of distributed pedagogical leadership. However, differences were identified in teachers’ expectations of independence in instructional decisions, and the extension of pedagogical leadership practices within and beyond the ECE centres. The analysis of discourses led to the identification of three major themes, which generated implications for teacher preparation, curriculum development and implementation, and ECE programme directions.Conclusion The study enables a more comprehensible conceptualisation of teachers’ pedagogical leadership as it emerged from teachers’ and directors’ discourses across two locations. Pedagogical leadership is recognised as an indicator of high-quality pedagogy in early childhood education and the findings highlight the need to continuously support and strengthen teachers’ pedagogical leadership.