Conference Agenda

Europe has a strong history of development in early years which is reflected in its history and influence in leading the world in early education and childcare through its pioneers and policies (Cohen and Korintus, 2017). Within international policy drivers one area of attention has been professional learning and development for the sector (OECD, 2012). This has led to discussion about the qualifications, status and professionalization debate for early years sector (Kay et al. 2021, Oberheumer, 2015).

In England the context for professional learning and more specifically the early years sector is complex and the diversity of terminology and qualification with constant change, both confusing and unhelpful ( Nutbrown, 2021). The Covid 19 pandemic highlighted both the importance of early years and the challenges facing the sector (Pascal et al. 2020). Subsequently, there have been several policy initiatives to address aspects of the issues raised. These include the sector being incorporated within the government’s response to teacher retention and recruitment which is affecting much of Europe (Nutbrown, 2021). This response, known as “The Golden Thread” (DfE, 2021) sees professional learning as a continuous thread from initial qualification and has created new early years professional learning opportunities as a response. European countries such as Sweden have established professional learning for leadership (Forssten Seiser, 2022), and are held up as exemplars of best practice in early years. Their national leadership programme is a mandated requirement of leaders in all phases to complete within four years of their appointment as principal (Norberg, 2019, Skolverket, 2015, Skolverket, 2020).

This paper critically reviews the English policy making in early years professional learning through the framework of the National Professional Qualification of Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL ) alongside the Swedish model for leadership development. It analyses the design and implementation of these programmes as aligned to the process of enacting government initiatives, with view of offering lessons for future policies on professionalisation through leadership professional learning. This leads to our research question:

How are policies for developing leadership in Early Years contributing to the wider professional learning for professionalisation?

The scope of this critical review is to examine exant literature on leadership professional development in early years. Underpinned by Giddens (1984) structural theory we adapt the developments and critique of Whittington (2015) to create a conceptual framework. This argues that equal attention should be paid to structure and agency. In our interpretation we have identified the three following themes:

• Curriculum
• Professionalization/Professionalism
• Agency

The rationale for this choice is that to understand activity we must attend to institutional embeddedness for example: in policy initiatives. Agency is enhanced by control over resources and this links to how we look at policy development and the ways in which implementation of initiatives is enhanced by leadership agency (Whittington, 2015). Effective change interventions have to take both structure and practice into consideration. This resonates with the implementation of both the Swedish and English leadership initiatives.

Recently, educational practices in many countries has undergone policy changes (Hardy et al., 2019), which highlights the need for developing pedagogical skills in leadership. One of the main policy changes deals with teachers’ leadership, both leadership in the classroom as well as collegial leadership. Previous research within the field of leadership in education has hitherto mostly focused on formal leadership and the role of principals as well as primary and secondary school teachers’ leadership (Håkansson & Sundberg, 2018). However, there is a lack of research focusing on teachers’ leadership in the ECE.

The current focus on teachers’ leadership in ECE seems to be an international phenomenon (Zulkifly et al., 2020). The Nordic council of ministers stress teachers’ competence, ‘an increased demand on pedagogical skills in leadership to lead and develop education in the ECEC’ (Hännikäinen & Lipponen, 2017, p. 27). In the Nordic countries, ECE teachers are responsible for teaching, which means leading other professional categories (childminders) and taking responsibility for pedagogical decisions. In Sweden, teaching must be conducted under the guidance of the ECE teacher (Education Act). Leadership tasks have proven to be problematic as the historical organization of the ECE holds horizontal distribution of tasks with ‘anyone can do anything’, continue to be of great importance (Catucci, 2021; Hildén, 2021; Olsson et al., 2020; Vallberg Roth, 2020). Overall, there seems to be a lack of theoretical concepts that can clarify and guide ECE teachers in the new task of enacting leadership when guiding childminders in teaching.

The aim of this presentation is to explore ECE teachers’ professionalism and ability to achieve agency related to leadership. In order to describe, understand and discuss ECE teachers’ leadership, we use two related theoretical concepts that are both anchored in pragmatism. We believe that how leadership is enacted, relates to different kind of professional logics prevailing in the specific ECE context. We rely on the concept of teacher professionalism according to Solbrekke and Englund (2011), which in our study means the pedagogical quality of how ECE teachers enact their leadership (how) and with what content (what).

Our research questions guiding the analysis are

• What professional logics appear when ECE teachers are guiding childminders in teaching? and
• How does these different professional logics affect teachers’ agency when guiding childminders in teaching?

The analysis was conducted within the theoretical framework of professionalism as responsible or accountable (Solbrekke & Englund, 2011). Professional responsibility emphasizes an autonomous teacher who can act in the present and assess a situation based on their competence, who trusts their colleagues and can act proactively. On the other hand, an accountability professionalism, where adherence to guidelines and standardized norms for teaching, controlling and allowing predefined assessment criteria to determine what is considered to be teaching of good quality. Within this professionalism, the teacher acts reactively in relation to decisions made by employers and politicians.

To further interpret and describe ECE teachers’ leadership, we have based our analysis on theories of teacher agency (TA) (Priestley et al., 2015). TA can be described as an ecological approach with temporal dimensions of past, present and future, in which experiences are central and where cultural, structural and material aspects are considered vital when enacting leadership in the ECE setting.

The starting point for this study is implementing a continuous professional learning module, Leading Development and Change (LDC), for ECEC and school leaders. The study is based on student-active methods applied to empower and utilize students' capacity in a democratic direction, both in their studies and at their workplace. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a key method used throughout the module, and there is a clear connection between the teaching and the final assessment. It is a goal that the final assessment should represent a learning process with transfer value to the students' leader activities rather than a control. In the module, we also involve the students in the design of assessment criteria for the final assessment (exam).

Democracy, according to Dewey (1966), exists primarily as lived experience. His thoughts on the democratic "way of life" are an approach in which democracy is more than governance mechanisms and the right to participation; it is an idea of equal coexistence characterized by dialogue and cooperation. Democracy is a process that must be constantly created, recreated, and realized anew in all the living relations between autonomous people and the systems of which human beings are a part (Dewey, 1966). Biesta (2006) also points out that although individuals have democratic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, it is primarily through actions responded to by others that they become democratic subjects.

Student-active learning methods allow students to actively contribute to their and their fellow students' knowledge production. In the LDC module, this takes place in dialogue with students who have different backgrounds and perspectives by being leaders from ECECs and schools. Thus, PBL provides the potential to support and promote student learning so that they can better acquire, activate and apply the theoretical knowledge to practical tasks and challenges both in the study program and their professional practice (Pettersen, 2017).

Various assessment forms can be grouped into two main categories: summative and formative assessments (Raaheim, 2016). It is a challenge that the forms of assessment are often disconnected from the learning activities and take place in situations distant from the students' professional contexts (Raaheim, 2016). In this study, we argue that learning and assessment are closely linked, and in the LDC module, we have developed a final assessment in a formative direction through the use of PBL as an examination method.

We investigate the students' experiences and perceptions of how exam preparation through PBL as a working method and participation in the assessment criteria design has impacted their learning outcomes. Furthermore, we examine how the students express that education has left its mark on their practice. On this basis, our research question is:

How can problem-based learning (PBL) and assessment be included in the LDC module when the goal is to promote democratic leadership in ECECs and schools?