Chapter 11: Emergent Leadership through Mentoring in Early Childhood Education

Leadership development among early childhood education professionals is almost nonexistent. According to Kagan (1994), shared leadership of the type naturally found in early childhood education settings would rely on a collaborative rather than a competitive training approach. The humanistic dynamic that forms the integral quality of the early childhood profession does not lend itself to the more conventional approach to professional development found in corporate settings.

This research describes a 6-month case study of leadership development in an early childhood setting. Three dyads were part of a group of teachers and early childhood managers who were involved in a departmental mentoring process that emerged into a doctoral research project. Six early childhood education supervisors serving in a federally funded program located in the western United States were research participants. Schon’s (1983) reflective supervision was employed as a model that develops professionals through facilitation and guidance toward self-defined goals. Data analysis included three taped interviews per participant, each approximately 1 hour in length, administered by the action-researcher at the beginning, middle, and end stages of the research; eight taped pre- and post-observational conferences (approximately 1 hour each), conducted twice a month between dyads; and reflective journals with weekly entries by each participant. The study spanned 6 months and generated over 600 pages of transcribed data, including interviews, dyadic conferences, and written journals. One transcribed tape of a mentoring support group and an anonymous survey of mentees contributed to the total database.