Key factors for Educational Leaders

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A leader can be described as a person who gives direction, inspiration and cause to a group of people who are striving to achieve a common or similar goal (Eacott, 2011; Siraj-Blatchford & Manni, 2013). As there are many types of leaders within an early childhood education setting, such as director, room leader and educational leader, it is important to define and dissect what each role requires (Siraj-Blatchford & Manni, 2013). An educational leader is defined in the National Quality Framework (NQF), where they have support from other documentation and literature to identify what an educational leader is (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2014). This essay will examine the key factors that influence the education leader with links to the theories of leadership, such as contingency and transformational theories, and what being an educational leader entails.

As part of the standards, laws and regulations produced by the NQF (National Quality Framework), states the use of the educational leader is to promote pedagogical documentation, co-operative team work, connecting families, communities, staff and children together, and creating a positive learning environment for all stakeholders that come into the setting (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2014; Bryant & Gibbs, 2013). The NQF has specifically left element 7.1.4 opened ended to allow for interpretation as well as for the influence of the community to be taken into consideration (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2014; Bryant & Gibbs, 2013). It is also the responsibility of the educational leader to provide professional learning opportunities for themselves and other staff members and to work collabor...

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