Research that Benefits Children and Families- An Imaginary Research Topic
The scenario posed this week... Imagine that you possess the means and the knowledge to conduct research studies about any topic in the early childhood field. Imagine further that you are not restricted by the reality of the present. Imagine that your study will make a major positive contribution to the well-being of children and/or their families. What topic would you choose? What can you imagine the positive contribution(s) would be?
I think that if the reality of the present was not an obstacle I would choose to research collective leadership in the early childhood field. The reason I did not choose this topic for my research simulation in our course, Building Research Competencies, is that there is very little information out there about the topic. Also, I am passionate about professionalizing our field and decided that developing a research study about that topic would be beneficial to the providers I currently work with. Not all of them would be interested in collective leadership.
I have a strong belief in practices such as reflective supervision and collective leadership. I live in both of them in my job as a coach and am continually grateful for the fact that my supervisors have set up our team in this way. Even within a system that we cannot control or change (the funders of our program) we still work in a collective leadership model within our team.
I imagine the positive contributions of researching collective leadership in the early childhood field to be far reaching and extensive. I can imagine a world where teachers are respected and trusted to take a role in leading programs. When that happens they become empowered to view themselves as valuable; their work as important. That would trickle down to the families who would have confidence in the care and education their children are receiving. They would view teachers as professionals and it would begin to change the perception of the field. Of course, when teachers, families, and the field see positive impacts children naturally benefit. Programs that adopt a collective leadership approach would be able to trust that they were doing so based on
research about the benefits and value of the model.
Leaders are professionals who are committed to the early childhood field. As leaders, you must commit yourself to promoting increased professionalism and helping others find their role in the child care setting. As professionalism in early care and education continues to evolve, we must take a leadership role and capitalize on the opportunities to make a difference in the lives of young children. A leader is experienced and is committed to assisting a less experienced person in becoming prepared for all aspects of their job. Leaders can provide teachers with a structured and supportive entry into the child care profession. a leader plays many important roles.
ReplyDeleteLaQuesha Goss
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteShared leadership provides interesting perspective. I still have mixed emotions on its effectiveness for every center; but it certainly provides something to think about. I came across a blog on the NAEYC website on professionalizing the field. I thought you might be interested. Here is the link: http://www.naeyc.org/blog/fulfilling-promise-early-childhood-education
It poses some interesting questions on where the field is heading. Hope it helps.
-Elizabeth
Wow, Great Post. I totally get why it is important to professionalize the field of education. I agree that some educators tend to forget about this part of their job and it becomes a problem for the school.
ReplyDelete