Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice
This article investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) leadership through the concept of community of practice (COP). The focus is on ECEC leaders’ perceptions regarding their leadership during the educational changes taking place in the context of Finnish ECEC. The purpose is to increa...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2022-05-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221091260 |
| _version_ | 1811233688987369472 |
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| author | Kirsi-Marja Heikkinen Raisa Ahtiainen Elina Fonsén |
| author_facet | Kirsi-Marja Heikkinen Raisa Ahtiainen Elina Fonsén |
| author_sort | Kirsi-Marja Heikkinen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) leadership through the concept of community of practice (COP). The focus is on ECEC leaders’ perceptions regarding their leadership during the educational changes taking place in the context of Finnish ECEC. The purpose is to increase understanding of how leaders see themselves in relation to the ECEC multi professional working community and practices of distributed leadership. The data are five focus group interviews of ECEC leaders analyzed with directed content analysis within the theoretical frame of domain, practice, and community forming the core of COP in Lave and Wenger. The results show how all three COP components comprise several dimensions in ECEC leaders’ perceptions of their leadership. For example, the component of the leadership domain consists of ECEC values, ECEC legislation, and ECEC curriculum. The results indicate that a formal leadership role is essential in leading the community and its vision. Moreover, building flexible leadership structures and supporting multi professional cooperation in the community augment leadership as a community’s joint enterprise. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:23:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f03d8c8e8fd24c0f8c768c14923b2da0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:23:51Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-f03d8c8e8fd24c0f8c768c14923b2da02022-12-22T03:35:17ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402022-05-011210.1177/21582440221091260Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of PracticeKirsi-Marja Heikkinen0Raisa Ahtiainen1Elina Fonsén2University of Helsinki, FinlandUniversity of Helsinki, FinlandUniversity of Helsinki, FinlandThis article investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) leadership through the concept of community of practice (COP). The focus is on ECEC leaders’ perceptions regarding their leadership during the educational changes taking place in the context of Finnish ECEC. The purpose is to increase understanding of how leaders see themselves in relation to the ECEC multi professional working community and practices of distributed leadership. The data are five focus group interviews of ECEC leaders analyzed with directed content analysis within the theoretical frame of domain, practice, and community forming the core of COP in Lave and Wenger. The results show how all three COP components comprise several dimensions in ECEC leaders’ perceptions of their leadership. For example, the component of the leadership domain consists of ECEC values, ECEC legislation, and ECEC curriculum. The results indicate that a formal leadership role is essential in leading the community and its vision. Moreover, building flexible leadership structures and supporting multi professional cooperation in the community augment leadership as a community’s joint enterprise.https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221091260 |
| spellingShingle | Kirsi-Marja Heikkinen Raisa Ahtiainen Elina Fonsén Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice SAGE Open |
| title | Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice |
| title_full | Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice |
| title_fullStr | Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice |
| title_short | Perspectives on Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care Centers Through Community of Practice |
| title_sort | perspectives on leadership in early childhood education and care centers through community of practice |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221091260 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kirsimarjaheikkinen perspectivesonleadershipinearlychildhoodeducationandcarecentersthroughcommunityofpractice AT raisaahtiainen perspectivesonleadershipinearlychildhoodeducationandcarecentersthroughcommunityofpractice AT elinafonsen perspectivesonleadershipinearlychildhoodeducationandcarecentersthroughcommunityofpractice |