Exploring the dance of early childhood educational leadership

This paper reports on the emerging findings of the first year of an inquiry-based professional development program called Educational Leadership in Early Childhood Settings (ELECS). The program was funded by the then Early Childhood Policy and Strategic Projects Division of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (Victoria, Australia) and delivered under the auspices of the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership. The intent of the program was to support early childhood educational leaders to mentor early childhood educators in the implementation of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). The paper interweaves some of the initial data drawn from the program evaluations through a review of the early childhood leadership literature. The paper includes examples of participant understandings of themselves as educational leaders and demonstrates how their involvement in the program informed their leadership in relation to the VEYLDF. The paper concludes with a discussion of the outcomes of the program in terms of the participants' changing perceptions of early childhood leadership.