April 2022 Parenta magazine

What does leadership look like
when … professional development
budgets are limited?
Research shows that high quality
professional development experiences
are essential for improving practice in the
early years. Professional development
matters because it impacts positively on
staff motivation and retention, and when
it is well thought out and delivered, it can
directly improve the outcomes of children
(Rogers et al., 2017).
But while we know that professional
development is important, early years
settings often lack the budget they would
like when it comes to developing staff.
Data from surveys in the UK for example
repeatedly show that professional
development budgets are small and often
used purely for fulfilling non-negotiable
training requirements, such as first aid or
safeguarding training (e.g. Ceeda, 2019).
So what can leaders do to demonstrate
their commitment to quality professional
development opportunities for their staff
when budgets are severely limited? This
article presents four steps that innovative
leaders take to support professional
development when money is tight.
Invest in job-embedded
professional development
Grow a coaching culture
Invite others to take a lead
Use the label ‘professional
development’
Investing in jobembedded
professional
development
First, we need to flip the way that we
think about professional development
so that it is more associated with what
happens in the everyday environment of
the setting, and less about ‘special days
out’. This is because effective professional
development depends on day-to-day
practice and coaching (Rogers et al.,
2017). Even if a staff member goes to
a professional development workshop
hosted outside of their day-to-day work,
it is fundamental that they are coached to
bring their learning back into the setting.
This is called ‘job-embedded professional
development’ (JEPD).
The research on JEPD shows that it has
a huge potential to make a difference
to practice. A powerful pedagogical
conversation that a staff member has
while they are ‘on the floor’ with children
can change the way that they approach
what they do. For example, in the London
Early Years Foundation (LEYF), managers
and room leaders will ask teachers
and teaching assistants to explain how
an area of practice that they have set
up in the room (e.g. a writing table)
demonstrates the LEYF pedagogy in action.
These conversations are professional
development. They are effective because
they not only challenge the individual
staff member to think about what they
are doing more consciously, but they also
further the strategic aims of the whole
setting. In this case, they promote and
embed the LEYF pedagogy in a way that
external or one-off training never could
achieve.
While research on JEPD suggests that it
has huge potential, the same research
also shows us that investing time in
establishing systems of JEPD is vital. JEPD
doesn’t work unless there are a) people
who are ready, willing and able to have
these kinds of conversations and b) time
for the conversations to emerge and
develop. Leaders at all levels therefore play
a fundamental role in making JEPD work,
through developing their own practice
so that they can make the conversations
happen and are able to prioritise them in
the context of the everyday environment.
Creating a coaching
culture
Innovative and agile leaders seek to
embed a coaching culture within the
organisation. A coaching culture is one in
which everyone expects to make progress
personally and professionally through
the support of others. You might have
heard the business saying ‘If you’re not
growing, you’re dying’ and we can apply
it here to professional development. If
staff feel that they are not supported to
get better at their work and follow their
interests, they are unlikely to want to stay
in that organisation. If we accept this, then
coaching becomes essential.
Principles of coaching can be embedded
in small and big interactions. Take for
example leadership of a team meeting.
This is the kind of experience that we can
approach differently if we look at it through
a coaching lens.
Nadine, a Baby Room Leader in
Scallywags Nursery in Scotland, explained
that when she wanted to see more time
spent by the 0-2-year-olds in the outdoor
space, she approached this through open
questions in the team meeting. “What
do we think about how we’re using the
outdoors at the moment?” Asking this
question raised a range of issues and
potential barriers to using the outdoor
space, as well as ideas about how this
could be overcome and what solutions
the team wanted to try. This is a coaching
approach because everyone has the
opportunity to identify and solve problems.
Asking others to lead
Let us stay with the discussion about the
outdoor space in the team meeting. In
the context of the dialogue and the ideas
that emerged from it, Nadine wondered
whether there was an opportunity for
others in the group to take the lead in
designing, implementing and assessing
change.
Asking others to lead a change process,
small or big, is an excellent form of
professional development. In LEYF, they
call this ‘action research’ while at Indigo
Childcare in Glasgow, they talk about it
as ‘the ideas process’. It doesn’t really
matter what you call it – the point is
finding opportunities for staff at all levels
in the organisation to step up and make
meaningful change.
Use the label
‘professional development’
In order for professional development
to impact positively on staff motivation
and retention, everyone needs to know
that they are experiencing professional
development. It is important to label
‘professional development’, particularly
when it might appear different to what
staff were expecting.
If a staff member decides to take on a
particular pedagogical responsibility, flag
that this is professional development. If
they receive coaching and support to make
this responsibility work, explain that this
is part of the professional development
package. Leaders might say something
like “I would love you to take responsibility
for that – it would be fantastic for your
professional development” or “I think this
conversation has been really important for
your professional development. Do you
feel the same?”.
References
Rogers, S., Brown, C. & Poblete, X. (2018)
A systematic review of the evidence
base for professional learning in early
years education (the PLEYE review).
London: Nuffield Foundation. Accessed
07.03.2022: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/
eprint/10053553/1/Rogers_PLEYE_A%20
SYSTEMATIC%20REVIEW%20OF%20THE%20
EVIDENCE_Nuffield.pdf
Ceeda (2019) About Early Years Workforce
Report, 2019. Accessed 07.03.2022:
https://www.eymatters.co.uk/ceedaabout-early-years-workforce-report-2019/
Mona Sakr
Dr Mona Sakr is a Senior Lecturer in
Education and Early Childhood. As a
researcher in Early Years (EY) provision,
she has published extensively on
creative, digital and playful pedagogies
including the books “Digital Play in
Early Childhood: What’s the Problem?”
(Sage) and “Creativity and Making in
Early Childhood: Challenging Practitioner
Perspectives” (Bloomsbury).
Mona’s current research is an
exploration of pedagogical,
organisational and community
leadership in EY and how leadership can
be more effectively developed across
EY. Current funded research includes a
Nuffield Foundation project looking at
online leadership development across
the EY sector, a BELMAS project looking
at leadership in the baby room of
nurseries and a BERA project examining
ethnicity in the early years workforce.
Forthcoming books (include an
introduction to social leadership in early
childhood education and care (written
with June O’Sullivan, CEO of London Early
Years Foundation), and an edited volume
on EY pedagogical leadership around
the globe.
Email: m.sakr@mdx.ac.uk
Twitter: @DrMonaSakr
30 April 2022 | parenta.com
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