Leadership for Developing Consensus of Perspectives on Children's Learning in Early Childhood Centers

Abstract

During the last few years, the staff in Norwegian Early Childhood Centers (ECCs) have been exposed to increased pressures for improving children’s learning. This increased demand requires increasing consciousness among staff about perspectives on children's learning. On this basis, the following question was raised: How do ECC directors work to promote consensus among staff of perspectives on children’s learning? The theoretical framework to answer this question was based on different perspectives on learning by children and staff. Further, it addressed ‘direct and indirect leadership’ and ‘pedagogical leadership’. The research has a qualitative design, and data were collected by semi-structured interviews with 16 directors of ECCs. Results from these interviews show that half of the directors have worked to promote consensus of perspectives on children’s learning among staff in an explicit way, while others have used indirect methods. One director had not worked with this learning concept. The directors have been working to promote consensus among staff in many ways by exercising direct and indirect pedagogical leadership. Many directors found this work time-consuming.