Understanding the Link between Pedagogy and Leadership
Introduction
In the field of providing formal education, there is a need to establish a sense of leadership among those who are supposed to take the position of creating adjustments and points of progress in this particular field of learning. Education, being one of the primary social functions that play a great role in nation building, receives great pressure especially when it comes to creating valuable and distinct adjustments for the sake of improving the way young students are taught about the most important skills and knowledge they need to be able to survive a good life (Kato, et al, 2002).
This is why it has been deemed important to pick the right people for the certain positions in educational operations to make sure that they know what is expected of them and they can provide service and attention to matters that directly impact the education of the society as a whole. It is evidently true that schools shape the early values of individuals enrolled within their institutional administrations (Carter, et al, 1997). This is why individuals chosen to be leaders in the field are expected to be placed on command under a particular list of qualifications that would assure how much effective the individual could be in completing tasks placed upon his shoulders. Specialties in different aspects of educational concentrations is required; and in the discussion that follows, a concentration on early childhood learning is the focus of finding a relatively fitting educational leader who is right for the job of improving ways on how children at a very young age could learn from what schools have to offer.
Background of the Issue
Early childhood education is considered as the stepping stone of learning among students as they begin their journey to a more formal stage of gaining knowledge from a socially constructed form of learning. It is understood that every child already receives basic learning at home; and at some point, being accustomed to a homey atmosphere plays a great role on how and why the children are more open to learning at this stage (Carter, et al, 1997). Comfort, attention and the freedom to learn what they want to explore about is the basis of early childhood learning. Making these elements fit into the picture of formal learning stages often becomes a source of complication among educators. This is why the establishment of a specialized section in education simply dedicated to defining the rules, policies and procedures of early childhood education is understood to be important and necessary as a step to improving the overall status of learning among students worldwide.
With early childhood education as the focus of the operation, it could be understood how educators tend to become more concerned about how they help the children successfully embrace transformation from a home learning environment towards a more formal and constructed way of gaining knowledge alongside their peers. The transition period is often a hard road to take; relatively, being able to get past through this stage successfully could put the children being addressed into a more stable way of learning that would benefit their growth and educational development dramatically. Studies have shown that through time, the capacity of a child to accept learning procedures presented to him in class identifies the way he is going to be able to take on life challenges in a more successful and determined manner.
With the unique and wonderful ways each young child learns, it is a great challenge for an early childhood education leader to find a way to firmly incorporate good environment on the ways by which a student learns from class. Considerably, it could be understood that the clear path one takes to be able to fully incorporate himself into the system as an educator could be identified on how well he is able to adjust on the changing needs of the stakeholders he needs to serve especially in the field of early childhood education.
Who is an Educational Leader?
NQF or the National Qualifications Framework specifically defines the requirements and qualifications of educators taking positions in the industry of education. Relatively, the rules and policies developed by NQF are widely received and recognized around the globe. Nevertheless, when it comes to identifying who an educational leader should be, NQF simply stipulates some of the qualifications needed but leaves the decision for the administrators to make. Notably, NQF believes that the school administrators know who to pick because they are the ones who basically understand the needs of their target students. True to its sense, a good and efficient educational leader should be able to respond to what the target students need and demand for.
With the changing tides of time, educational frameworks have also changed. Gone are the days when traditional ways of teaching have been embraced. Instead of having teachers as the center of instruction, the educational framework at present have already shifted into becoming more student-friendly and student-centered in nature. Considerably, it could be realized that the way the society accepts this particular form of learning affects so much the primary role that an educational leader takes into account. Functioning as a leader in the field of education encompasses the need to seek understanding on the different external and internal elements that affect educational procedures directly; some of the most important matters to note in this case is the involvement of the families and the government into the issue (Waters, et al, 2006). The families are of course among those who are to directly impact the learning process of a child; their involvement in such process and the way they are expected to embrace their role in assisting the young children into developing good learning habits should be stipulated well on the overall process of learning dictated as the pattern of development that an educational leader should pursue. The government on the other hand has specific policies that identify the need for public education to be provided for all; which means that an educational leader dedicated to improving early childhood education in the public setup should know how to use available resources more effectively for the sake of the greater number of the public population (Kato, et al, 2002). All these concerns ought to be given attention to by an educational leader; a matter of utmost importance that each educator should know of as it becomes a part of their vital role of shaping the society’s future leaders.
Educational Leadership and Early Childhood Learning
Early childhood education takes on many different types. Some are dedicated to kinder care where parents usually leave their children in the hands of the educators for several hours [as if taking the role of a baby sitter]. In setups like this, the educators are usually hired for the sake of earning profit from parents who do not have enough time to take care or give attention to their children due to the existence of some other responsibilities they may have to contend with as parents (Simon, et al, 2004). These setups are then expected to be as responsive and effective to establishing good childhood learning as well as to what is provided in formal schools providing early childhood education. The reason for this is that educators under this particular identity are also given the chance to impact the lives of the young children they attend to and it is just reasonable for them to take the said chance in a more serious manner.
Considerably, taking such role with much concern and seriousness gives educational leaders a chance to become more involved in the process of assisting young ones become more effective in the way they handle their learning responsibilities later on. Practical ways of developing such operations of learning and educational assistance for very young students is specifically a tough job to take, Every child is considered a unique learner having a unique sense of understanding matters and a unique consideration on matters and how they are likely going to take in lessons and new knowledge sets presented to them (Kato, et al, 2002). The way children learn is specifically fundamental in the process of creating a specific pattern that could work for almost everyone. Notably, even though each child is unique, there is a common line that draws a distinct impact on how young children are able to grasp lessons that are very important for their growth and individual development. An educational leader is expected to have inkling on how to make things work out especially when it comes to defining the learning path that each child needs to go through.
Hence, to be able to take a distinct path towards creating a massive impact on how children learn and grasp their lessons, educational leaders designated towards developing learning operations in redefining the pathways of educational excellence dedicated towards getting a knowledgeable understanding of what young children need from learning institutions they are supposedly enrolled in. Considerably, an educational leader dedicated to early childhood education development specifically should intend to expand the resources available in the system and make each specific element become more effective in institutionalizing a relative impact on how each child becomes more adapted into the system that is designed to define the way they accept new information and retain most of it to make sure that such information would be best for them to establish their future in.
In a way, the relative conditions by which an education leader functions is dependent on how much impact he is making on how a child learns within a system that allows such young students to freely explore their environment and get in touch with reality in a distinct way that could establish their learning interest in the coming years. With these issues in mind, the work of an educational leader is expected to highly redefine the way students’ needs are responded to by educators who are dedicated to early childhood education (Waters, et al, 2006). This way, the stepping stone for a good learning culture is further established which serves as good basis for future learning processes that could benefit the young learners a lot.
Conclusion
When a well-designed learning process is applied in the hope of equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to survive life, it is expected to create a great impact on how these young learners develop into mature and responsible adults. Shaping the society within the hands of an educator is indeed an important aspect of being in the field of education. Hence, contemplating with the role that educational leaders in early childhood education take into account, it is rather acceptable and agreeable to point out that adjustment to educational developments based on social changes affecting the lives and the learning procedures of young children becomes a vital foundation of progress. In the discussion presented herein, it is strongly stipulated that the way a young child’s mind is shaped and established towards a better sense of understanding and grasping what formal education is for holds a determining ground on identifying what an educational leader for early childhood education is actually dedicated to accomplish.
References:
Kato; Kamii, Ozaki, Nagahiro (2002). "Young Children's Representations of Groups of Objects: The Relationship Between Abstraction and Representation". Journal for Research and Mathematics Education 33 (1): 30–45.
Carter, G.R. & Cunningham, W.G.(1997) The American school superintendent: Leading in an age of pressure. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Waters, J.T. & Marzano, R.J. (2006) School district leadership that works. Denver, CO: Mid-continental Research for Education and Learning.
Simon; Tzur, Heinz, Kinzel (2004). "Explicating a mechanism for conceptual learning' elaborating the construct of reflective abstraction". Journal for Research and Mathematics Education 35 (5): 305–329.
