Toward distributed pedagogical leadership for quality improvement: Evidence from a childcare centre in Singapore

Abstract

This article presents findings from a representative case study of a typical childcare centre in Singapore that achieved an emerging level of quality certification despite being under-resourced as a non-profit centre. Like other centres, it was navigating a climate of early childhood care and education (ECCE) policy reforms and teacher shortage. Given that quality rating has existed for a few years, the study aimed to explore centre-based conditions that could hinder or facilitate teachers’ distributed pedagogical leadership and the development of a community of practice – both assumed to be necessary for teachers’ continued learning and improvement of centres’ practices. Qualitative data were generated across 10 months through observations, individual interviews and focus group discussions to journey with the teaching team as they negotiated relationships and built a shared vision for their practices. Results are presented here as three overarching themes that explicate: (a) the inevitable influences of the national context of the sector’s workforce; (b) organisational culture and power relations; and (c) pedagogical vision. These illustrate the intricacies involved in centre-based quality improvement work, signalling the need for more investigations into the everyday realities of ECCE reforms as experienced by teachers-as-learners and leaders.