Sustaining practitioner inquiry projects : frustrations and achievements

10 page(s

In conversation with Jonathan Silin

This special edition focuses on the scholarly work of Dr Jonathan Silin who has made a critical contribution to the field of early childhood education (1995, 1997, 1999a, b, 2003; Silin & Sgouros, 1999; Silin & Lippman, 2003; Silin & Schwartz, 2004).[1] Silin, a Fellow at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto, has spent his life challenging the ways in which educators have come to understand and develop pedagogies around communicating ‘difficult knowledge’ to children (Silin, 1995; Britzman, 1998; Davies & Robinson, 2010, 2013; Robinson, 2013b). His groundbreaking book, Sex, Death and the Education of Children: Our Passion for Ignorance in the Age of AIDS (1995), changed the way we think, practise, theorise and write about early childhood education. In 2011, Silin was scholar in residence at Semann & Slattery, an Australian-based research and consultancy firm specialising in early education. During his time in Sydney, Silin participated in a symposium which was co-hosted with Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Academics and educators from a range of disciplines came together to present papers across key themes evident in Silin’s scholarship. The themes taken up by scholars in the special issue include loss, learning and sexualities, and the significance of these issues for early childhood education

Using practitioner inquiry to promote reflexivity and change in infant-toddler Early Childhood program

22 page(s

In conversation with Jonathan Silin : past, present and future

[No abstract available

Exploring the role of the educational leader : our journey

The role of the educational leader has come to the attention of the early years sector since its inclusion in the National Quality Standard.2 page(s

The Role of the Educational Leader : perceptions and expectations in a period of change

AT A TIME OF RAPID pedagogical and policy change in the Australian early childhood educators' professional context, little is known about the experience of the evolving Educational Leader role. This position is currently mandated in educational settings for young children, but at the time of writing, both the perceptions about the nature of the role and expectations of such a person, were unclear. This paper reports on a study across two geographical regions which contributes to the knowledge base of the unfolding of this role in the prior-to-school early childhood sector. Based on surveys from 206 people in the ACT and NSW in 2012, information collection was followed by a series of intensive workshops designed to facilitate understanding of the role and of the processes of educational change. Data from the survey and from these 41 workshop participants from diverse organisational and geographical settings enable greater insight to the issues, complexities and potential of this important role in the educational and policy landscape as well as the realities of workplace experiences of Educational Leaders. This paper has a focus on survey responses as affirmed through contributions by workshop participants; the actual enquiry projects undertaken by participants as part of the workshop initiatives are not included in the current paper. Despite contextual differences in responses, it is clear that expectations of the Educational Leader are high, appointment processes are constrained and role definition needs relevant local clarification.9 page(s

Conceptions of early childhood leadership : driving new professionalism?

This study reports the understandings of leadership held by 351 Victorian early childhood leaders (ECLs). Internationally, ECLs are expected to drive quality improvement through mentoring and modelling: a concept associated with distributive leadership. However, ECLs often move into leadership positions by accident and are ill-prepared for their role. Complicating their difficulties are extant perceptions of leadership: many follow models of leadership that prevent them from re-conceptualizing leadership in a new, socially constructed form. This impacts significantly on their ability to influence quality improvement. In this study, ECLs saw relational aspects of their role as particularly important, and were much less concerned with critiquing current quality praxis. They saw their role as important in supporting the development of high-quality practice identified in the National Quality Standards. The paper contends that ECLs play an important role in developing the professions own understandings of quality, and of leadership itself; thus, their lack of engagement in this debate is somewhat concerning. If EC is to continue to evolve as a profession internationally, we need ECLs who excel in quality improvement at the service level, and who are willing to advocate for the ongoing development of professional understandings of quality.18 page(s