Lack of Effective Leadership in Early Childhood Essay Example

(Friesen et al., 2014).

Nature of the Problem

According to the policy formulators and the subject matter experts in the early childhood development field, early childhood educators are required to possess a high caliber of efficient leadership and managerial attributes for the successful handling of early childhood institutions. There is an assumption that all teachers have the required managerial skills but this cannot be taken to imply or to suggest that all instructors have leadership attributes since that is a wrong assumption and can paint a totally different picture. Based on the principles of management it is said that leaders that who do not have managerial attributes usually have vibrant visions but they do not have the idea of how to go about in making these vital ideas a reality (Boyd, 2013). On the other hand, managers who do not have the necessary leadership attributes usually end up making poor and sometimes wrong decisions as a result of poor comprehension of where the institution is heading.
Internationally, the major cause for conflict is lack or breakdown of the communication channels and this is the same across the board from the most family level all the way to the biggest it can ever get. Nations for example super powers can get into serious conflicts as result of the breakdown of the communication channels or lack of communication at all. Similarly, the major reason why the Early Childhood Education ECE facilities are short of competent effective leaders is because most of these teachers in the facilities are not in constant communication or are not communicating in the appropriate way. In order for effective leadership to be achieved, the educators in

the early childhood centers ought to have well-defined and clear, precise and direct channels of communication as a necessity for them in order to carry out their operations in a professional and desired manner (Couse & Recchia, 2015). These communication channels should thus not be marred with bureaucratic rules that only count to waste time and especially not helpful when dealing with matters that need urgent attention. The communication channels should be open and also have an expected code of ethics on how to communicate to avoid manipulation and distorting of messages. This should be done with a very high moral sense of respect amongst the educators and with professional ethics in mind too.

Purpose of the Project

Keeping in mind the end goal to ease the high turnover rates among preschool teachers, it is fundamental that policymakers come up with appropriate measures. For instance, policymakers need to make changes in accordance with the educators' living and working conditions. Beside the level of instruction and preparing, early childhood instructors likewise need great outer components with a specific end goal to convey their administrations effectively. These external elements generally involve a decent compensation notwithstanding a nice workplace and work advantages. This is on the grounds that poor working conditions in early childhood centers for the most part frustrates the educators from doing their basic commitments viably. In light of poor working conditions, the instructors can neither emphatically cooperate with the youngsters nor empower their advancement by giving them unique consideration (Muijs et al., 2004).

With a specific end goal to achieve quality instruction in early childhood centers, policy makers in the United States additionally need to contract more educating

staff. Studies demonstrate that the quality of education frequently improves when there is a higher staff-child proportion, that is, every instructor needs to offer training to a smaller number of kids (OECD, 2012). Having a smaller number of youngsters decreases the levels of anxiety among the teachers. Moreover, educators with little numbers of youngsters have a tendency to be more strong when contrasted with those with extensive numbers. The motivation behind this project is to distinguish fitting measures that will handle the issue of effective leadership in early childhood education. This is on account that, if no helpful move is made, elementary children are bound to get low quality education, and this will influence their prosperity both presently and also later on (Rodd, 2001).

The project will concentrate on three essential research questions:

1. What are the connections between low pay and incapable initiative in early adolescence training?
2. In what ways can the community help with lessening inadequate leadership in preschool?
3. What move should policymakers make to pull in, train and hold more preschool educators?

Background and Significance of the Problem

Based on the revelations arrived at by studies from behavioral scientists, it can be deduced that the quality of ECE is directly attributed to the improved cognitive, social, and behavioral results for the children immediate well being and also their future success in their other endeavors in life. Irrespective of the above information, there is a general feeling that the quality of early childhood education is on descending lane and currently at its lowest ever. Apart from limited licensing needs and poor remuneration for the early childhood educators there are other issues that lead to the deteriorating condition

of the quality of the ECE in the United States. The learning environment in the ECE is sometimes unwelcoming for both the children and the educators hence contributing to the reduction in quality. The employing of non qualified educators who are not efficient leaders coupled with an unsuitable curriculum have been major contributors to the decline in quality (Couse & Recchia, 2015). Lack of effective leadership characteristics amid the early childhood educators is a common occurrence amongst the early childhood facilities in the United States. This research proposal is aimed at ascertaining the reasons that contribute to the lack of leadership characteristics in the early childhood education facilities in the United States.

Literature Review

There is no question that each parent requires his/her child to get the best ever quality early childhood education so that it can lay a good foundation academically for others aspects of academia in the future. Through the ECE system, the children are organized to get ready psychologically for the academic journey that awaits them. In distinctive societies around the globe, there is a general perception that early childhood education is a worthwhile investment as is contributes to the fulfilling of the socio-economic goals of the respective society. With that in mind, it is of essence that the early childhood development program should be offered with utmost professionalism from competent educators who are qualified enough and effective leadership should be part of their qualifications (Davies, 2010).

Early childhood education which is of high quality ought to be offered in a conducive environment. The early childhood education teachers should have a high level of education from recognized institutions and they should have prior experience and

competence in handling young children in other ECE centers. A recommendation letter from the other early childhood education centers where they have ever served should be mandatory in order to have a clue of what kind of persons or extra qualities that they might possess. For quality early childhood education to be offered, the working conditions of the educators is factor that should be checked properly since it is directly related to the quality of the education that is offered. In majority of cases poor working environment and conditions act as an impediment to the learning process of the young children as the educators do not have the capability to give their best as a result of the surrounding environment (Friesen et al., 2014). A striking similarity that can be observed in the ECE facilities is that most of the educators are female, and this is also an influence on the quality of the education that is being offered. The gender gap in the ECE centers should be reduced, as there should be an almost number of female teachers to that of men. The gender that exists influences the idea of ineffective leadership as majority of the subject matter experts and policy formulators believe that women are better early childhood educators than men. This is however not the correct position but the matter is still debatable. The lack of enough male instructors as preschool teachers is an indication that there is a gender inequity and this will consequently precipitate into a sociological issue that requires urgent attention. It will also reflect on the children in the ECE centre that some jobs are meant women and

not men an idea that is not good to instill into the young children at a tender age (Jaruszewicz & White, 2009).

The perception that education is a socially relevant need for any community, alleviating the number of male teachers in the ECE centers is not a step in the right direction. This is because it contributes to the cases of ineffective leadership in the preschools and this should be revised with haste. This case is not specific to the United States but also to other countries around the world. The lack of enough male instructors in the preschool facilities has an unconstructive effect on the boy child in the sense that they lack role model figures that they can emulate. This affects their development in later days, as they grow without having the person they can confide in terms of private matters that affect them. The lack of efficient leadership in ECE facilities is a result of non involvement of parents and guardians by the teachers in school issues that affect their children. It is for this reason that some parents are in the dark about the progress of their children besides the academic performance that comes in end of term report forms (Urban et al., 2012). The early childhood educators who have good leadership features usually take keen interest in the involvement of the parents and guardians in every little development that is seen in their children. The involvement of parents permits for deliberations with the teachers on the progress each child is making on an individual basis and hence due to this communication forum mistakes can be corrected as soon as they occur.

This in turn contributes to the improvement of the quality of the education that the children are receiving.

Based on studies conducted earlier, it is palpable that parents and guardians play an imperative part in the development and success of their child through them being actively involved in their well being in school. Consequently, this directly reflects on the success of the ECE center and hence distinct individuals would want to be associated with it. From the above information, it can be deduced that the academic success of the children is dependent on how well the parents and teachers cooperate and communicate with each other. The parent teacher collaboration also contributes heavily to enhancing of classroom management as the teacher would understand the individual needs of each child and consult the parent in case the need for their intervention was necessary (Urban et al., 2012). In order for a teacher to outstanding capability to manage the class with ease, they ought to have management skills to allow them to do so. Research suggests that appropriate classroom management techniques usually limit acts of disobedient behavior by the children in the classrooms. It is the responsibility of the classroom management strategy that the teacher is able to support the interests of the children in learning as well as boost the school willingness to achieve academic excellence.

On the other hand, ineffective classroom management arises from the lack of motivation among the children and this increases the cases of disobedient behavior in the classroom. For the purpose of ascertaining the influence of school- family collaboration in ECE centers a qualitative research was done. The study entailed five ECE preschools that

were obtained through convenience sampling and also thirty parents and teachers were requested to take part in the research. When the interviews were conducted 23 parents and 28 educators agreed to take part in the study (Jaruszewicz & White, 2009). The research involved the teachers giving information on whether they were receiving enough support from the parents while parents were to give information on whether they were offering enough support as required of them to the teachers.

The findings of the research were as follows most of the educators acknowledged that the received the vast support from the parents. However when the teachers were questioned on whether the parents supported them as regards to the dealing the disobedient behavior of their children, only thirteen teachers gave a constructive answer whilst seven teachers said that the support from the parents was not adequate whereas the remaining eight teachers stated that they have never received any kind of support from the parents (Jaruszewicz & White, 2009). The teachers in giving of their opinion on the best course of action of action to take they affirmed that for them to receive the support from the parents, they should be allowed to offer training to the parents as regards to behavior management of their children.

From the parents’ point of view, they believed that the support that they offer is sufficient. However, the quality of education that children receive while in the preschools usually impact the success of their school. According to research, it is worthwhile that a child spends a minimum of five years in preschool childcare as when the child receives quality education it influences their academic and thought

development in the near future. While in their early stages of development of thought and learning abilities, the children are dependent on the collaborated participation of their parents and teachers to enable them acquire quality education. It is via the teacher parent cooperation that the children begin to connect sound syllables to create words and paint drawings of pictures as they are made of the environment (Davies, 2010). Apart from the lack of teacher parent collaboration that can contribute greatly to the ineffective leadership in ECE centers, the remuneration of teachers can be a factor to consider if effective leadership is to be accomplished. Low salaries paid to preschool teachers has been attributed to the reduced accountability, as they choose to isolate some of their obligations in supporting the development of the children and this leads to low quality of education. Due to the poor remuneration, some of the ECE instructors have difficulty in fulfilling some of their basic hence they resort into looking for other well paying jobs hence a very low retention ratio of preschool teachers in ECE centers and this eventually affects the learning process of the children. This results into development of stress in the preschool educators and this influences the quality of education that they offer and sometimes the stress trickles down to the children (Gilbert & Harte, 2013). Majorly of the teachers in the preschools hold on to the assumption that the policy makers do not value their welfare and their contribution in shaping the development of children and as a result they believe that effective leadership is an elusive goal to attain. The ECE educators believe that the

major stakeholders in the education sector usually take them for granted. It is believed that the teachers in the preschool facilities are the lowest paid in the United States despite the immense impact that their job entails in the future development of the children that pass through their hands. Their decisive work is as important as that of college tutors and university professors hence their remuneration should be reviewed upwards as a matter of urgent concern for effective leadership to be accomplished in the ECE facilities. To put it into perspective according a published report in 2012 by the federal data, the ECE educators had a median salary of $10.6 which is equivalent to that of a retail sales worker (Gilbert & Harte, 2013). This is what de-motivates them and in general the reduction in quality of education in ECE centre’s over the years. As a result of the poor salaries, the preschool teachers and families live substandard lives as they struggle in order to meet their indispensable needs and hence cannot compete favorably with families that are in other professions.

Methodology

Research methodology can appear as interviews, surveys, and research from distributions amongst other research procedures. It can either be centered enormously with respect to recorded or display data or both yet as a rule, it consolidates both. With the research question in regards to why there is an inadequacy of powerful administration in early youth training, the study procedure is subsequently the most helpful examination technique that will yield quality results. It is from this interrogation that the researcher gets credible information to help him/her tackle the research question before him and get possible credible

solutions. For this specific research, a broad review can be led on the Early Childhood Development Centers inside a specific range of each in thought to the resources that are accessible. The review ought to be focused on the working states of the pre-school teachers in distinct ECE centers and the instructors to take imperative obligations as their priorities to facilitate efficient resolution to the predicaments facing their kids and embrace outstanding leadership style (Fowler, 2013).
Procedure

The survey ought to include filling of questionnaires and also phone meeting with the members who will be occupied with the research. The way toward leading the survey ought to be finished with most extreme sympathy toward polished methodology and moral standards to assemble the most believable and exact information to get an answer for the research question. The advantage connected with the utilization of surveys as a research procedure is that they give a quicker method for collecting event data with least utilization of time and money related resources (Kumar, 2010). It is crucial to understand that each survey technique gives qualities and shortcomings, yet it takes the learning of the researcher to measure them in light with the motivation behind the examination issue under study. Considering the inclusion of the considerable number of partners in the early childhood education and advancement, other than becoming more acquainted with everybody's however in regards to the examination issue being referred to offers energy to the discoveries of the exploration. This is on account of the information that will be assembled will not be one-sided as it will slice through each area of the early childhood and advancement world. The straightforwardness with

the researcher breaks the ice and assembles a compatibility with the members of the research who are giving data to give him a chance to test for more data that will subsequently help in the aftereffect of the study. The research ought to be delayed further to cover the support staff in the early childhood improvement centers since they work as a team with each other, and thus the work of one gathering depends vigorously on each other (McCartney and Phillip, 2008). This suggests for dealings with the issues of pre-school teachers and disregarding their backing can be an exceptional misstep to the last aftereffect of the study. One gathering can choose to disrupt the endeavors of the other when their working environment and conditions are not streamlined to their satisfaction.

Analysis

The accumulated information ought to be deliberately investigated from every one of the members who are key partners in the early childhood development field. To break down the gathered information warily without having anything forgotten, there is need to have a well-thoroughly considered dissecting arrangement. The information analysis arrangement ought to go about as a rule to how the researchers will mastermind and translate the information that has been received from the study part of the research procedure. The essence of the information analysis plan is to help with grasping the answers that have been received and separating them to the layman to comprehend if there happens to be a specialized research issues. Similarly, the information analysis plan will help with giving profitable examinations among the members of the research from an assortment of setting considering parameters, for example, demographic, age among others (McCartney and

Phillips, 2008). Along these lines, in this situation, the information gathered ought to be broken-down strategically that every portion of the key partners' commitment to finding the answer for the research inquiry is listened. Therefore, for this situation, the information analysis plan for the research question on why there is lack of powerful leadership in early childhood education can be classified according to children’s characteristics, early learning outcomes, teacher characteristics, and measures of classroom quality.
Recommendations

The outcome of this research suggested some possible actions to promote leadership in early childhood education centers. Through this suggestion, leadership in early childhood centers can improve for the better and ensure that children get outstanding quality education that can prepare them psychologically as they grow up. Additionally, these suggestions can enhance early childhood teacher education programs, which are a critical part in any professional development system. Below are some of the research recommendations that with better encouragement from researchers, teachers, institutions, as well as professional organizations can use to improve the quality of leadership in early childhood education centers.

Having Sufficient Number of Trained Teachers in ECE Centers

The concern for adequate figure of trained staff in early childhood centers was a problem from the information gathered during the research process. Having adequate teaching staff would lead to education quality improvement, allow students to experience multiple perspectives from the teachers, and be exposed to a breadth of knowledge (Gilbert & Harte, 2013). Moreover, this can permit them to receive the kind of teaching and mentoring required to be effective when dealing with young children. This is because in areas where you the number of teachers is less compared to the children being

handled it becomes a problem since the teachers will be overworked in the process of multi-tasking. In a scenario like this, you find that there is no proper leadership styles used.

• Having Teachers With the Required Knowledge for Dealing With Young Children

In most areas visited during the research process, the majority of the teaching staff we found was from the ages of 25 – 35 years. Generally, people within these level and age have no better experience for dealing with children who require a lot of attention and care since what they grasp at this period takes with them to their old ages. The research participants came up with this recommendation so that ECE centers can employ staff members with great experience in dealing with young children from recognized institutions (Urban et al., 2012).

• Encouraging and promoting accreditation for higher education programs

Several participants expressed appreciation for and a belief in the advantages of the official approval process for the programs taught to children in ECE centers. Some of them were found not to be worthy to be taught to young mind since they were substandard and others were beyond the level of understanding of the children. Encouraging and promoting proper accreditation procedures of training programs would ensure that children are taught what is required for them at their age (Friesen et al., 2014). Moreover, this would improve the leadership styles put in place for the specific institutions for smooth running of learning process.

• Ensuring that the teaching staff members have the required leaderships qualities

Leadership in early childhood centers needs deep human qualities that comprise but go beyond conventional ideas of power. The conventional principle of

a leader as being a personal at the top of a hierarchy is a partial appreciation of what real leadership in ECE should be. Leadership in ECE setting is about purpose, which should be embodied in educational leadership. Whereas powerful educational leadership underpins the method a setting operates, it is also recognized that efficient leaders perform several other things such as organizing as well as managing resources and time (Friesen et al., 2014). Furthermore, leadership in ECE scenario is a journey of mutual inquiry, examination, and reflection that comprises everyone who trusts in making a difference for children’ lives.

Conclusion

There is no single influence that can be held accountable for young children’s development and learning, as well as what level is held by a teacher. However, if the teacher’s education level is rich and deep, it definitely offers a critical foundation that may positively influence the children’s experience. If teachers have the required knowledge to deal with young minds, they will provide the best they could to ensure that they grow with right educational basics. Moreover, if teachers lack leadership skills within themselves, they will definitely pass those traits to the young without knowing and the kids will end up becoming a replica of their teachers in the future since they acquired the basics from them. Furthermore, this research paper summarized a wide variety of empirical research and the related literature. The major aim was to find out solutions to the issues facing early childhood education centers leadership and student learning process. The evidence from the researchers and which should be embraced to support the widespread interest in enhancing leadership in ECE is the successful implementation

of intense reforms that better the learning process of children. The attempts to improve leadership from this research paper are increasingly productive since they offer more robust understanding on how successful leaders can make sense of and productively react to both internal and external policy initiatives.

References

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