Understanding early childhood leadership in the Middle East and North African region : essential experiences, skills and knowledge needed to fulfill this role -

Abstract

Given the lack of articulated leadership competencies and pathways to lead early childhood education, this study examined the ways in which early childhood leaders- directors, principals and administrators- have prepared themselves for this leadership role. A study by Khattab (1996) on the academic profiles of early childhood educators showed that they were poorly qualified to say the least. Other research has shown that there is a high correlation between a quality early years setting and good leadership (Muijis et al., 2004; Pugh, 2001; Rodd, 2006; Robins and Callan, 2009; Siraj-Blatchford and Manni, 2008). According to McCall (2004) leadership skills are mostly acquired through experience, yet experience alone does not guarantee that leaders have the knowledge and skills to be effective leaders. Furthermore, especially in the Arab region, little is known about those leaders who fulfill this leadership role and scant attention has been paid to the educational and professional development needs of these leaders. This study applied a grounded theory methodological approach to learn about the lived experiences of ten early childhood leaders from various Arab countries; and from this premise derive a contribution to a theoretical understanding of essential skills, knowledge, and experiences needed to fulfill this role. The data were analyzed using the constant comparative method of the grounded theory. Regardless of whether early childhood leaders had specific prior experience in their field, findings indicate that participants in this study, identified a need for leadership development focused on relational, pedagogical and managerial dimensions. Findings also revealed that consideration should be given to increasing accountability in the delivery of early childhood education as well as increasing support given to early childhood leaders in their role as advocates for young children. Findings further imply that participation of early childhood leaders in in-depth early childhood education based leadership program