0:13 hello everybody my name is Katherine
0:15 heyen welcome to this a sequa video
0:17 exploring the role of the educational
0:20 leader the model we'll discuss today
0:22 comes from the educational leader
0:24 resource on the isqua website you might
0:26 like to take a moment Now using the
0:28 information on your screen to find where
0:30 this model is being described cribed in
0:32 the educational leader resource it might
0:34 be helpful to have it in front of you as
0:35 we're having this
0:37 discussion the role of the educational
0:40 leader is a extremely sophisticated role
0:42 and an exciting role there's lots of
0:44 opportunities to think about what the
0:46 role can provide in particular
0:48 children's education and care services
0:50 around the country for many of you
0:52 you've begun a really intense
0:54 conversation in your particular sites
0:56 and done some very deep thinking around
0:57 what it means to be an educational
1:00 leader as part of the educational leader
1:02 resource we're interested in thinking
1:04 more deeply about what it takes to be an
1:06 educational leader and how we might
1:07 understand the role in more
1:10 detail to help us do this we've used a
1:13 model that helps us understand what the
1:15 dimensions or aspects of the role might
1:17 look like and in this video we want to
1:20 introduce this model to you as you go
1:21 into the resource you'll find more
1:24 details about the individual aspects of
1:26 this model and you'll also find some
1:28 information and some reading and
1:29 understanding from some leading
1:31 academics in Australia to help us think
1:33 about what those particular aspects of
1:35 the role and how we understand it in
1:37 this model might look like we encourage
1:39 you to do some thinking and discussion
1:40 with your colleagues about what this
1:43 looks like for you what it means for you
1:46 and have the conversations locally about
1:48 why you think these dimensions are
1:50 important and what areas you might like
1:52 to think about in terms of developing
1:54 your skills and understanding this video
1:57 is also for Approved providers who
1:59 support educational leaders in that role
2:01 and in that context it's about
2:02 supporting an educational leader to
2:04 develop particular aspects of the role
2:06 and how it might look in your particular
2:08 place so let's have a look at the
2:11 model in order to think more deeply
2:13 about the role of the educational leader
2:15 and how approved providers might support
2:17 that we've had a look at a model that
2:19 helps us understand leadership and what
2:21 that might look like in the context of
2:23 educational leadership to construct this
2:25 model we've drawn heavily on the work of
2:28 Dr Elizabeth stamopoulos who works at
2:30 Edith Cowen University in Western
2:32 Australia her research work has
2:34 identified four key aspects of
2:36 leadership that we think are really
2:38 important in the development of
2:40 understanding of the role of the educational
2:41 educational
2:43 leader these four elements that you can
2:46 see on your screen now help us to think
2:48 really deeply about how an educational
2:50 leader enacts that work and how they
2:52 understand themselves as a professional
2:54 how they relate to others and how they
2:55 lead reflective thinking in their
2:58 particular setting there are four
2:59 dimensions of this model the DI
3:01 conventions work in an interrelated way
3:04 they connect and overlap it's important
3:06 for you as you look at this model to
3:07 think about the aspects that are
3:10 particularly relevant in your setting or
3:12 that you would like to develop further a
3:14 conversation and discussion with your
3:15 colleagues with your approved provider
3:17 and if you are an approved provider with
3:20 your educational leader about how these
3:21 particular Dimensions work in your
3:23 setting is really
3:25 important there'll be an opportunity as
3:27 we progress through this video for you
3:29 to pause and have a bit of a think about
3:31 what these dimens look like for you and
3:33 there's some reflective questions that
3:37 go alongside each of these particular
3:39 Dimensions if we now turn to the model
3:41 itself and hopefully you've got it in
3:42 front of you so you can have a bit of a
3:44 look while we have these discussions
3:45 you'll see that there are four
3:48 dimensions and what I might do is have a
3:49 look at each one of them in turn and
3:51 then refer to the reflective questions
3:53 as we go the First Dimension is
3:56 knowledge this is an important aspect of
3:58 the work that an educational leader does
3:59 and if you're an approved provider is
4:01 the important part of what an approved
4:03 provider does to support an educational
4:05 leader the knowledge we're talking about
4:07 here is knowledge of the work that
4:09 happens on a daily basis the practice
4:11 and pedagogy that happens in the
4:13 particular setting its knowledge of
4:16 Children and Families and context its
4:19 knowledge of the particular area that
4:21 you're working in its knowledge of the
4:23 community that you're part of its
4:24 knowledge of the regulations and the
4:26 national quality standard you can see
4:28 that the list of knowledge that an
4:30 educational leader might need to acquire is
4:31 is
4:33 significant but what we want to do here
4:36 is not suggest to you that an
4:37 educational leader needs to know
4:40 everything rather the case here is to
4:41 think about knowledge as something that
4:44 you're interested in acquiring that you
4:46 build a real hunger or a thirst for
4:48 knowledge and that as an approved
4:51 provider you might really support and
4:53 encourage an educational leader to have
4:54 a really strong sense of the knowledge
4:57 that they have and to go out and acquire
4:59 more knowledge the other aspect of this
5:01 knowledge dim menion is that an
5:02 educational leader and the approved
5:04 provider in the support that they offer
5:06 might want to think about how that
5:08 knowledge is shared with the team of
5:09 people that you're working with
5:11 knowledge kept to yourself is not going
5:13 to help in the way that we support
5:16 continuous Improvement rather knowledge
5:19 gained is knowledge shared and cultivate
5:21 a real sense of understanding about how
5:23 important knowledge is in the work of
5:24 the educational leader and in the
5:27 Improvement of practice over
5:30 time the second dimension of of this
5:31 important model in thinking about
5:35 educational leader is professionalism an
5:36 important part of the role of being a
5:38 professional is to think about your role
5:41 as promoting an ethical dimension of the
5:42 work to think about what is right to do
5:44 in the particular circumstances and how
5:47 we can hold our ground on particular
5:48 decisions that we make in the best
5:50 interest of Children and Families for
5:52 some educational leaders and approved
5:54 providers who support them stepping up
5:56 into this role and behaving in a
5:57 particular way that promotes a
5:59 professional aspect is at times quite
6:02 challenging and it's important here that
6:04 some time is spent thinking about what
6:06 it means to be a professional what it
6:07 means to assume this role and what it
6:09 means to take a strong leadership role
6:12 in promoting quality practice as you
6:14 progress the third dimension of the
6:16 model is
6:18 relationships we know that building
6:20 relationships in early childhood
6:22 education and school Age Care is pivotal
6:24 to the quality of the work we understand
6:26 that de developing strong relationships
6:28 with families with children with
6:30 Educators also Al influences the way
6:32 that we can promote high quality
6:34 teaching and learning from an
6:36 educational leaders perspective and from
6:38 the perspective of the approved provider
6:40 ensuring that relationships are of a
6:43 high priority within the context of the
6:44 work that happens with educational
6:46 leadership is an important conversation
6:48 to have it's about making sure that
6:50 relationships lie at the heart of the
6:52 work that happens and that relationships
6:54 help you to navigate changes that you
6:57 want to see happen and continuous
6:59 Improvement conversations that are most
7:01 def ly part of the work that happens in
7:03 children's Education and Care
7:06 Services educational leaders will find
7:08 at times the relationship management and
7:10 the relationships that they form with
7:12 their colleagues sometimes quite complex
7:14 but also it can be incredibly rewarding
7:17 as you see people grow and change and
7:19 develop in their skills prioritizing
7:21 relationships for educational leaders
7:23 leaders is something that is worth
7:25 considering how is educational
7:27 leadership developed in a relational way
7:29 how do you understand the different way
7:31 ways that you can relate to education
7:34 Educators who are different and diverse
7:35 how can you think about building
7:37 relationships with families and other
7:39 people who are external to the service
7:42 the fourth dimension is reflection
7:44 reflective practice is a critical part
7:46 of continuous Improvement and the Quest
7:49 for Quality relies heavily on Educators
7:51 being able to ask really important
7:53 questions of themselves in terms of the
7:55 nature of the quality of the practice
7:57 and the way in which they make a
7:59 significant impact positive impact on
8:00 the work
8:02 educational leaders take a lead role in
8:04 thinking about how reflective practice
8:07 is cultivated and educational leaders
8:08 also might need to take some time to
8:10 think about how they understand
8:12 reflective practice and how they can
8:13 make sure that there is time and space
8:16 for that process to happen as approved
8:19 providers they might like to think about
8:21 the way that they support educational
8:22 leaders to create space for for
8:25 reflective practice reflective practice
8:28 is also being able to lead conversations
8:30 with others sometimes really challenging
8:32 and difficult conversations about the
8:33 ways that practice can be changed and
8:35 shaped to better support Children's
8:38 Learning into the future it's also a
8:40 space where educational leaders might
8:42 ask the hard questions about why we do
8:44 what we do to challenge taken for
8:46 granted practice but also to give
8:47 opportunities for people to recognize
8:49 when practice is really strong and how
8:52 they can replicate that into the future
8:53 now that we've had a look at the
8:55 dimensions of the model it might be
8:57 helpful to pause and have a bit of a
8:58 think about some questions that you
8:59 might like to ask yourself yourself in
9:01 relation to each of those
9:03 Dimensions the dimensions as I said
9:06 before work in a really fluid way they
9:08 relate to each other and
9:10 interconnect but taking some time to
9:12 reflect on them will help you to
9:13 understand what they mean for you in
9:16 your particular context as an approved
9:17 provider and an educational leader it
9:18 might be a discussion that you want to
9:20 have together about what it means for
9:22 you and how it looks as you progress and
9:23 promote the
9:25 role the first set of reflective
9:26 questions that you can see on your
9:28 screen here talk directly to the
9:31 knowledge that an educational leader has
9:33 and how we might grow and cultivate that
9:35 knowledge base so the questions here
9:37 relate particularly to the way we
9:39 understand knowledge what do educational
9:41 leaders need to know from your
9:43 perspective what are the things that you
9:45 need to prioritize in terms of building
9:46 knowledge as an approved provider what
9:48 are the key priorities that you have in
9:50 terms of the vision for the service that
9:52 you want to help support an education
9:54 leader to know Are there specific
9:56 knowledge bases that you need to
9:58 cultivate within your own practice in
10:00 your service there might be a particular
10:03 community of families and children
10:05 potentially new arrivals to Australia
10:06 you might have a significant culturally
10:08 linguistically diverse community that
10:11 you want to know more about how do I
10:13 build as an educational leader my
10:15 knowledge as an approved provider how do
10:17 I build my knowledge about the role of
10:19 the educational leader what do we
10:21 already know about that we can maximize
10:23 how do we share what we already know
10:25 with the people who work in this
10:28 particular space what else do we need to
10:30 know that is contemporary knowledge and
10:32 helps to support a building and a
10:34 generating of new
10:37 ideas and how can we best communicate
10:38 new knowledge that's coming through all
10:41 the time to our team and this might be a
10:42 conversation that happens between
10:44 educational leaders and approved
10:46 providers the next Dimension is
10:48 professionalism and this again is an
10:50 opportunity for educational leaders and
10:52 approved providers to come together to
10:53 have a conversation about what it means
10:56 to be a professional in this space the
10:58 questions that really important to ask
11:00 here is what is mean to be a
11:02 professional in an educational leader
11:05 space and defining that in clearer ways
11:06 making sure that that can be
11:07 communicated with others is a really
11:10 important conversation to have what do
11:12 educational leaders need to know what do
11:13 approve approved providers need to know
11:16 in order to help support an educational
11:18 leader to feel themselves to be more of
11:19 a professional and to be able to
11:22 communicate that to others and
11:24 importantly how can an educational
11:27 leader demonstrate that to other people
11:29 and how can an approved provider help an
11:31 education leader to talk about that
11:33 really strongly to the team that they're
11:35 working with you might take for example
11:37 a family daycare scheme where an
11:38 educational leader has just been
11:40 appointed but doesn't really work every
11:43 day with the team of people that they're
11:45 leading and an approved provider and
11:47 educational leader might like to talk
11:49 together about what does it mean to
11:51 establish this role and to promote this
11:53 role in a really clear way to a very
11:55 diverse educator group who they don't
11:58 see all the time the third dimension is
11:59 relationships and the reflective
12:01 practice questions that we're asking
12:03 here relate directly to the way that you
12:05 connect with other people and the way
12:06 that the approved provider supports the
12:08 education leader to connect with the
12:11 team and the questions here are around
12:13 how can I be effective in my
12:15 professional relationships what are the
12:17 challenges that I face in building those
12:19 professional relationships how is it
12:21 that I build professional relationships
12:23 and how does an approved provider for
12:25 example support an educational leader to
12:27 have the time and space to build those
12:29 relationships what are the skills that
12:31 an educational leader needs to be able
12:34 to cultivate really strong relationships
12:36 and how do they communicate what those
12:37 relationships are going to be like with
12:40 their team and as an approved provider
12:43 how do you identify and articulate
12:44 potentially in job descriptions and
12:47 position descriptions the way the the
12:48 sorts of skills that an educational
12:50 leader might need to build the types of
12:53 strong relationships that you need and
12:55 ident in identifying the challenges that
12:57 you might face in building those
12:58 relationships it's also helpful to be
13:01 able ble to think here about the types
13:02 of strategies that you might use to
13:04 develop really strong relationships so
13:06 that you can drive a culture of continuous
13:07 continuous
13:09 Improvement the last Dimension is
13:12 reflection and the reflective practice
13:14 questions here relate more to the
13:16 process of reflective practice rather
13:18 than the reflective practice process
13:21 itself these are about how we create the
13:22 time and space and we drive the culture
13:25 that we need to help to motivate a group
13:27 of people to engage in reflective
13:29 practice so here we are are asking
13:31 questions about the processes that an
13:33 educational leader or an approved
13:36 provider in supporting that work use to
13:38 create time and space for reflective
13:40 practice and the considerations of the
13:42 particular context that you're in a
13:44 school Age Care Program might have a lot
13:46 of casual staff for example and so
13:48 creating something that helps to be able
13:49 to build an opportunity for reflective
13:51 practice might take quite a bit of
13:54 thinking in this aspect to these
13:57 reflective questions also start to ask
13:58 really important questions about the
13:59 knowledge Bas of the understanding of
14:01 the approved provider and of the
14:03 educational leader in what they know
14:04 about reflective practice so here's
14:07 where knowledge and reflection come into
14:10 connection with each other and also in
14:12 this too we start to think about
14:13 relationships as well and its connection
14:15 with reflection because how do the how
14:18 do I build a reflective Culture by
14:20 relying and strengthening the
14:22 relationships that I have with my educat
14:24 team how can also another really
14:25 important question is how the
14:27 educational leader might develop their
14:29 own skills at reflective practice and
14:30 again that's a conversation that an
14:32 approved provider or and an educational
14:34 leader might like to think about in how
14:37 they build and make opportunities for
14:38 reflective practice to happen for the educational
14:40 educational
14:42 leader and then we might move to a
14:43 conversation and a question that you
14:46 might have about how how you might lead
14:48 a culture of reflective practice how you
14:50 might set up processes and practices
14:53 that help to drive a process of drawing
14:55 other people into a reflective practice
14:58 process and again as we have in other
14:59 dimensions thinking about the the
15:00 challenges and the particular
15:02 constraints or the limitations that you
15:04 might have and how you can overcome them
15:06 in your particular area or in your
15:08 particular space so that you can really
15:10 drive a culture of reflective
15:13 practice each of these sets of questions
15:15 help you to dig deeper into these
15:17 Dimensions what we know about these
15:19 Dimensions is that they are very Broad
15:22 and they talk to a really strong and
15:24 powerful understanding of the role of
15:26 the educational leader the possibilities
15:29 are indeed endless and we encourage Lots
15:30 of you to have conversations and
15:33 discussions in your own teams with your
15:35 approved provider in networks about what
15:37 these Dimensions look like to you you'll
15:40 see more ideas develop over time and we
15:42 hope to see lots of conversations being
15:44 generated by an exploration of this
15:47 model we wish you all the best as you
15:49 continue to think about this and we
15:51 encourage you to generate conversations
15:52 locally about what it means to be an
15:54 educational leader and what it means to
15:57 support them in their role [Music]
