Leading for quality in Western Australian early childhood services : An emerging framework

• Published in: Issues in educational research Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 1321 - 1341
• Main Authors: Cross, Emma, Dobson, Madeleine, Walker, Rebecca, Lowe, Geoff
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Perth, WA Institutes for Educational Research in NSW, SA and WA 01.01.2022; Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc
• Subjects: Access to Education; Australian Early Childhood Association; Child Development; Child Health; Child Safety; Correlation; Early Childhood Education; Educational Environment; Educational Improvement; Educational leadership; Educational Practices; Educational Quality; Educational services; Evaluation; Evaluation Methods; Faculty Development; Family School Relationship; Foreign Countries; Geographic Location; Governance; In-service training; Instructional Leadership; Leadership; Leadership Effectiveness; Leadership qualities; National Quality Framework (Australia) (NQF); Preschool Teachers; Professional Training; Program Administration; Quality Assurance; Quality management; Quality of education; Service learning; Teacher Certification; Teacher Student Relationship; Teaching; Young Children; Australia; Western Australia; Western Australia Australia
• ISSN: 1837-6290; 0313-7155; 1837-6290

All Australian children and their families have an equal right to access quality early years education. To achieve this, rationalisation of the Australian early childhood (EC) sector in 2007 saw the introduction of mandated governing frameworks, including the National Quality Framework (NQF), designed to regulate and assure quality practices across the sector. Understanding what quality is and how it is demonstrated in EC services is critical to young children's learning and development. However, issues engrained within the sector exacerbate challenges in leading, achieving, and planning for quality improvements. This research analysed Western Australia's NQF service ratings across geographic locations and governance of organisational structures for the most recent publicly available figures. It became clear that Quality Areas One (educational program and practice) and Seven (governance and leadership) held the greatest number of Working Towards ratings, with particular attention drawn to regional EC services. Given the link between programs and leadership, this research makes recommendations for improving EC service leadership and quality through enhanced professional learning and clarification of the early childhood educational leader (ECEL) role. This article proposes an emerging framework of leadership that emphasises the impact of leadership on quality ratings. [Author abstract]