Leadership And Advocacy In Early Childhood Assignment Sample

Introduction: Advancing Early Childhood Development Through Leadership and Advocacy Assignment Sample

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The UK government proposed that the proper age of early childhood is from birth to 5 years. In this stage of childhood, a child is capable enough to flourish his potential powers and this is the age of social development. In order to assure the growth of a child in social and ethical as well as psychological aspects, the leader or the educator should be able enough to guide the child in the right way. The leader should be responsible to enhance the basic knowledge of a child. There are various types of leadership for early childhood education, and the following study will focus on “coaching leadership”.

2. Discussion

2.1 Identification of leadership style

Leadership is a long-term process that consists of elements like communication skills, developing EI or emotional intelligence, encouragement in team activities, and lots of patience. A child’s mind is fast-changing and unpredictable as well, therefore the leader should be able to manage the variations and reach the ultimate goal which is giving them knowledge. 

Karlsen & Berg (2020) puts it, that “coaching leadership”, works as a tool that supports the growth of learning and development of a child in their initial stage of life. This specific type of leadership can be categorized into three elements, cooperation, counseling, and support. Adapting a leadership style is beneficial to determining the objectives and goals and the procedure to achieve that. The leaders seek the feedback of the stakeholders to get confirmation on the sustained practice of the leadership style in the ECEC. Leaders are followed by the stakeholders to derive the best practice and fulfill the requirement of the education system by adopting the view of the stakeholders. Stakeholders can be the parents and the members of the education system. The leaders seek the feedback of the stakeholders to get confirmation on the sustained practice of the leadership style in the ECEC. Leaders are followed by the stakeholders to derive the best practice and fulfill the requirement of the education system by adopting the view of the stakeholders. The leader also takes suggestions from the stakeholder for the improvement and development of the coaching leadership (Brooker, & Cumming, 2019). The accurate suggestions bring positive change in the education practice to achieve the best area of leadership. Stakeholders always aspects better development in ECEC such as the parents (stakeholders) always looking for the best for their children in educational areas. The parents always prefer both quality study material and quality care for the children that can be only provided by a good leader. Along with this, the stakeholders such as employees of the early childhood want growth from the leader. So, it is the responsibility of the stakeholders to fulfill the needs of the stakeholders to bring effective development to the ECEC.

 The leader also takes suggestions from the stakeholder for the improvement and development of the coaching leadership. The accurate suggestions bring positive change in the education practice to achieve the best area of leadership. Stakeholders always aspects better development in ECEC such as the parents (stakeholders) always looking for the best for their children in educational areas. The parents always prefer both quality study material and quality care for the children that can be only provided by a good leader. Along with this, the stakeholders such as employees of the early childhood want growth from the leader. So, it is the responsibility of the stakeholders to fulfill the needs of the stakeholders to bring effective development to the ECEC.

Key principles of coaching leadership styles are as follows

1. Building a safe and protective environment: It is very necessary to build a safe and protective environment to ensure the safety and support of the children under the education system. It will build trust between the leaders and the students’ family members from which they have the relief of sending their children to get an education. It will derive a positive image of the leadership style on the parents and children. Along with this, the children should be provided with an environment where their feelings and needs get understood. It is totally up to the leader to make the educational environment non-judgmental and reward children for their skills and knowledge by appreciating them.
2. Self-awareness: A leader is a coach who trains students to get knowledge and be superior in life. In order to be a good leader, it is very important to recognize own strengths and weaknesses to perceive the effective form of leadership. The coach needs to demonstrate self-awareness to look at how their own behaviors impact others. A good leader is more likely to leave a positive impact on the environment to promote self-awareness. It is the responsibility of the leader to adopt an accurate leadership style in the education system to derive the best form of leadership.
3. Collaboration: Collaboration is the best way to bring a good image of leadership style to the education system. A good coach always prefers communicating with the students to get ideas about their inner values and mindset (Palethorpe, 2019). Collaboration of the leader and students will derive the best practice of the education because the coach will get to know what actually a student wants and what is really necessary for them. It will also help to build up a good relationship between the children and leader that will help them both to get the desired goal in the right way.

Alignment of the leadership style with professional philosophy 

Coaching leadership is commonly related to professional philosophy because both require experience to achieve the goal. The philosophy in leadership gives a shape and statement to the leadership style to get to know about the values, perspectives, and core principles of coaching leadership. It describes the expectations of the students and leaders in the field of education. It also derives the knowledge on which the leader can pursue the leadership practice to get the desired goal of the education system. The main goal of an effective leader is to create an environment, where the children will feel relaxed, safe, motivated, and guarded with motherly affection. Emotional contentment is very important for children to acquire knowledge properly and successfully. The unity among the children and the connection with the leader is highly influential in the process of learning (Uagc.edu, 2022). The coach should be aware of whether they are feeling motivated or not. They should be indulged in playful activities of their age and in this way, they will be introduced to the concept of “social group”. 

The professional philosophy describes the essential components of coaching leadership such as theory, behavior, guiding principles, and attitude.

1. Theory: It gives the ideas to define perspectives of the leadership to derive the view of actions that are going to be used in the system. The theory gives the framework to give priority to personal values as well as others’ values to maintain the balance in leadership.
2. Behavior: The professional philosophy shows the behavior of the leaders in the journey of leadership to get positive outcomes in the system. It describes how the behavior of the coach or leaders impacts the children in ECEC. The main objective of the professional philosophy is to guide the leader to behave properly and equally with every child in the system to derive equal opportunity for everyone. Kind behaviors of the leaders will help the students to perform an effective role in their education. This will create a pleasant surrounding for the children and they will able to grow more and learn more in an accurate environment of education.
3. Guiding principles: The philosophy provides guidance to the coaching leadership in order to create appropriate thinking on leading capability. It guides the leader on the ideas of how to deal with little children and provides the power to develop critical thinking on taking decisions regarding the leading practice in ECEC (Halttunen, et al. 2019). The philosophy recommends setting moral values and shaping the culture of the coaching leadership to achieve more development in the education system.
4. Attitude: The professional philosophy focuses on the personality and the mindset of the leader during leading the group of students in the ECEC. It ensures that leaders keep a positive attitude and mindset while dealing with children. This will help the leader to provide a clear vision to the children that will help the leader to achieve the goal. Along with this, the leader needs to create a set of standards in behavior that will show equal treatment to every child.

2.2 Theoretical underpinning of the leadership style

Behavioral theory

The behavioral theory of leadership indicates that the external environment through which an individual goes is responsible to transform the person into a leader (Karlsen & Berg, 2020). In order to conduct outdoor learning, one of the best approaches for the early childhood educator to facilitate the experiential learning concept more, the educator needs to understand children's mindsets suitably (Halkias & Neubert. 2020). Children, who are not influenced by this approach, need to be motivated by the educator properly through their skill areas along with critical thinking abilities. This type of environment is beneficial to facilitate the leadership abilities of the educator.

In another context Arendt, Pircher Verdorfer & Kugler (2019), stated that a positive link is observed between the dispositional mindfulness of the leaders and the well-being of the followers. In a similar approach, the early childhood educator needs to pay and maintain attention level to the present-moment experiences with a non-judgmental attitude. It can be effective enough to help the children to express their thinking, ability, and experiences without having such fear of being scolded or humiliated. Along with this, it is very necessary of the leader to positive attitudes towards the stakeholders of ECEC to develop a pleasant environment where everyone can easily communicate with each other about their needs and problems. On the contrary, Dau?ianskait? & Žydži?nait? (2020) argued that coaching leadership style is associated with a lack of accountability. It can directly impact the learning abilities and experiences of the children as unaccountable educators cannot be able to deliver the required educational lessons to the individuals.

Great man theory

According to Mouton (2019), the great man theory of leadership indicates the fact that great leaders are mainly born with appropriate personality traits such as effective intelligence, confidence, courage, charm, and intuition. Based on the below figure, the four main traits of the great man theory are identified. These traits are intelligence, sociability, confidence along with charisma and these are beneficial enough to gain the best possible outcomes from the leaders. A leader should have these four leadership traits to derive a sustain practice in the early childhood. This can be achieved by collaborating with the stakeholders who helps the leader to take experience from their knowledge and delivers the best ideas in the practice of leadership

In this context, it can be stated that early childhood educators can be able to develop their confidence and courage traits by following up the coaching leadership style. This theory also asserts the fact that the development of leadership abilities is not possible although such contradictions are associated with it as well. As stated by Abyad (2018), leadership abilities are developed based on the existing circumstances and leaders are not born with the required qualities most of the time. However, by following the coaching leadership style, it is possible to develop leadership qualities mostly.

2.3 Influence of the leadership style in management in early childhood

Coaching leadership style is suitable enough to influence management in an early childhood setting through which it is possible to get the best possible outcomes most frequently. In the case of the children, it is possible to ask good questions to the learners, listen to their issues and needs as well as sense how best to conduct effective responses. As propounded by Xhomara (2018), coaching leadership style not only helps individuals to ensure professional growth but is beneficial enough to develop the best possible values for society. However, a better understanding of children's behavioral changes on the learning consequences can be effective to manage their demands and needs properly.

In the case of families, the coaching leadership style helps to promote communication with the parents as well as the children. It is effective to identify their expected areas regarding the learning growth of their children and educators can put their best possible efforts in this context to achieve their demands (Karlsen & Berg, 2020). Through this aspect, it is possible to manage the early childhood setting in relation to families. In the case of staff in the early childhood setting, it can be stated that coaching leadership style helps to encourage staff to improve their skill areas and capabilities on a strong aspect. The main aim of this leadership style is to create a culture regarding high performance by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the employees.

Moreover, it can also be possible to keep them motivated or influenced enough to deliver the best possible outcomes such as the development of the education framework in an accurate way to develop the best possible benefits (Astuti, Fitria & Rohana, 2020).

Conclusion 

The report successfully shows the effective ways of proper leadership and how it impacts the growth and development of a child. Leadership is used as a tool to improve the social, ethical, practical, and psychological growth of children. Leaders should encourage them to learn the basics that will help them in the future to gain more knowledge. The coach should be concerned with the physical as well as psychological well-being of the children. The coach should create a shield of knowledge, by using which a child will be able to overcome, gender and race inequality, class bias, and other difficulties of life and improve the lives of children. 

Reference list

Journals

• Abyad, A. (2018). Groups, teams, and leadership. Middle East Journal of Business, 13(4), 12-17. http://www.mejb.com/upgrade_flash/October2018/Groups%20teams.pdf
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