“Everyone Can Be a Leader” Early Childhood Education Leadership in a Center Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children and Families

Jul 8, 2026

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Study investigates how teachers and administrators conceptualize early childhood education (ECE) leadership and enact leadership practices in a community ECE center serving Hispanic and Haitian immigrant children and families in Southwest Florida. Interviews with three administrators and four teachers were analyzed through data clustering, yielding five themes: vision-driven, inclusive, practice-focused leadership; freedom and ownership versus close supervision; and advocacy for ECE. Findings show a shared collaborative, inclusive leadership vision expanded to culturally and linguistically diverse communities, linked to pedagogical everyday practice and a democratic leadership path toward social justice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

Abstract

Study Aim and Setting

Participants and Data Collection

Emergent Leadership Themes

Key Findings and Implications

Background and Prior Research

“Everyone Can Be a Leader”: Early Childhood Education Leadership in a Center Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children and Families Clarisse Halpern1 · Tunde Szecsi2 · Veronika Mak3 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020 Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the conceptualizations and early childhood education (ECE) leadership practices among teachers and administrators. A case study was conducted at a community ECE center that mainly serves Hispanic and Haitian immigrant children and families in Southwest Florida. Three administrators and four ECE teachers were interviewed about their views and experiences with ECE leadership. After aggregating the data into clusters, five themes emerged: (1) vision-driven leadership, (2) inclusive leadership (3) practice-focused leadership, (4) freedom and ownership vs. close supervision, and (5) advocacy for ECE. The findings indicated that the participants held a shared vision of collaborative and inclusive ECE leadership, which was expanded to include culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. Also, the teachers highlighted a pedagogical leadership style that directly impacted their everyday classroom practices to facilitate children’s and parents’ leadership experiences. All participants advocated ECE programs in which quality early care and education are ensured through inclusive leadership. Both teachers’ and administrators’ willingness to invest in leadership training and practices indicated their commitment towards a shared and democratic leadership model which is a pathway toward social justice. Keywords Early childhood education · Leadership · Teachers and administrators · Case study · Immigrant families The recognition of the long-term impact of early education on a child’s life has fueled the improvements in early childhood pedagogy. Solid early childhood pedagogy must be nurtured through leadership to create quality early education and care (Hujala 2019). Educational leadership is a sustainable model that uses collaboration to generate positive effects on student achievement and ensures long-lasting outcomes (Burns 2016 ; Ferdig 2007 ; Fullan 2005) . Emerging from business and management theories, leadership studies were progressively incorporated into educational studies (Hoyand Miskel 2008; Jacobson and Cypres 2012). Nonetheless, * Clarisse Halpern [clari_halpern@hotmail.com](clari_halpern@hotmail.com) 1 Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Culture, College of Education, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, USA 2 Department of Teacher Education, College of Education, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, USA 3 Fort Myers, USA due to significant differences, corporate leadership theories seem incompatible with early childhood education (ECE) practices (Kagan and Hallmark 2001 ; Mujis et al. 2004) . Corporate leadership caters to large, hierarchical, formal, and often product-oriented organizations, typically led by men, whereas ECE leadership tends to be more collaborative and distributive in smaller and more people-oriented institutions often led by women (Schein 2004) . Current studies of ECE leadership highlighted the critical attributes predominantly valued in the field of early childhood: collaboration, interpersonal relationships, pedagogical practices, and mul tidisciplinary services to families (Nicholson et al. 2020) . Interest and demand for conceptualizing ECE leadership, and the need to provide evidence for research-based ECE leadership training and implementation emerged in the 1990s. Researchers in different countries conceptualized ECE leadership within their cultural context. Heikka and Hujala (2013) emphasized distributed leadership, pedagogical leadership, and teacher leadership as core concepts in ECE leadership in Finland. In the United States, ECE leadership was approached by pedagogical and administrative leadership (Abel et al. 2017) . Numerous scholars called attention to the de

FAQs

What was the purpose of the study on ECE leadership?

The study aimed to investigate teachers’ and administrators’ conceptualizations and early childhood education leadership practices.

What themes emerged from the interview data?

Five themes emerged: vision-driven leadership, inclusive leadership, practice-focused leadership, freedom and ownership versus close supervision, and advocacy for ECE.

How did the participants connect leadership to social justice and ECE quality?

Participants shared a collaborative, inclusive leadership vision and supported leadership training and practices that enable quality early care and education, framing democratic leadership as a pathway toward social justice.

Jul 8, 2026

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