There is inherent complexity in a field like early childhood where people and their relationships are at the center of their work; daily practices involve negotiating webs of dynamic relations, shifting contexts, value conflicts, and profoundly diverse family constellations and community and cultural environments. Emphasizing Social Justice and Equity in Leadership for Early Childhood: Taking a Postmodern Turn to Make Complexity Visible expands our conceptions of leadership by drawing on postmodern ontological and epistemological perspectives that value, and make visible, diversities and complex human experiences. Julie Nicholson explores the challenges facing children domestically and globally regarding contemporary social justice and equity; she also provides several frameworks and specific strategies that early childhood educators can draw from in enacting leadership inspired by the ideas presented throughout the book. Richly contextualized vignettes are woven into each chapter to highlight the voices and experiences of courageous early childhood professionals working in very different roles and contexts.

In this inspiring collection, 13 early childhood leaders take action to challenge and change inequitable educational practices in preschools and elementary schools. For them, educating for social justice is not an empty platitude. Steadfast and resolute, they turn rhetoric into reality as they guide early childhood teachers to teach for social justice innovatively and strategically. Through the voices of families, teachers, and the administrators themselves, each chapter shares ways that these leaders use the power entrusted in them to question and disrupt discriminatory and marginalizing practices that deny opportunities for some students while privileging others. The book includes insights, strategies, and resources that administrators can use to build confidence, knowledge, and skills as they invest in more equitable and just pre/schools. Book Features: Highlights the actions of administrators as they take a stand to transcend standardized approaches to teaching and learning, creating more equitable educational environments.Portrays strategies and resources used to engage teachers in critical examination of self and the institutions in which they work.Describes principles and practices that guide administrators as they support the development of culturally relevant practices and policies. Offers powerful ways early childhood administrators can approach inequitable mandates.Highlights the voices of families as they participate in and are impacted by the work of administrators. “Susi Long, Mariana Souto-Manning, and Vivian Vasquez, scholars with stellar reputations in the fields of early childhood education, critical literacy, and social justice education, have combined their considerable talents to edit a book that will serve as a beacon of hope for administrators, policymakers, and educators at all levels of learning and teaching.” —From the Foreword by Sonia Nieto, professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and bestselling author

Leadership in Early Childhood is a practical resource for early childhood practitioners who want to understand how to create successful childcare and early education settings. Leadership in the early years has moved on in the way it is organised, and this fourth edition has been fully revised and updated to reflect the changes affecting leaders in early childhood. This rapid change in the field over the past few years includes moves to professionalise the workforce generally, and this edition recognizes the implications of these developments and revisits some of the concepts and messages. Praised for its excellent overview of early years leadership, accessible writing style and clear links between theory and practice, the fourth edition also includes: Thorough discussion of the leader’s role in moving towards leading/best practice. Reconceptualised coverage of team building to consider working collaboratively as a team at service level, multi disciplinary teams and integrated service provision through multi agency working. A chapter which considers the essential characteristics of leadership in terms of personal qualities, skills and timing related to effective leadership.

Learn how to use Relationship-Based Professional Development (RBPD) strategies to foster equitable, inclusive and socially just communities of collaboration and learning in PreK to age 8 programs. Packed with illustrative vignettes, checklists, and reflection questions to guide understanding, this resource helps administrators and teacher-leaders establish a cycle of inquiry to better understand each other’s common work and build more effective partnerships. Aligned with the NAEYC's Power to the Profession objectives, you'll find this book filled with invaluable tools to strengthen your professional community and better support your students.

This important and engaging resource offers a step-by-step framework for developing early childhood community programming that centers the learning needs of children, supersedes socioeconomic barriers, and activates the power of community. The book centers on an in-depth exploration of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative (ELNC), a place-based, early learning collaborative that provides funding, innovative shared support services, and advocacy to partner organizations rooted in vulnerable communities, with the primary goal of readying children for the first day of kindergarten. The author details the concept and practice of a place-based intentional preschool system, including the lessons that were learned through the creation of ELNC and how it successfully prepares children of color for success in school and beyond. The program uses a two-generation approach in which families are coached to address barriers that keep them from being their child’s first teachers and are supported in navigating community resources. Through the insightful model this book provides, education leaders and early childhood teachers can learn more about emerging best practices in community programming, identify ways to adapt the ELNC model and test it in their current programming, and use the ELNC process to change their own neighborhoods for the better.

Anti-bias education begins with you! Become a skilled anti-bias teacher with this practical guidance to confronting and eliminating barriers.

This book explores important current social justice issues that confront young children in America. A broad range of topics related to the fair treatment of young children and their families are approached with a fresh and hopeful energy. The central argument of this volume is that a fair and just society must protect the basic needs of all children so they are able to reach their full potential to learn, grow, and ultimately become productive democratic citizens. The book includes contributions from an impressive group of authors who have been consistent voices for the fair and equitable treatment of children in school and society. Each chapter examines a critical issue in child social justice with a focus on the current problem, historical importance of the issue, potential solutions, and a vision for the future. The book has been developed to reach a wide audience of professionals whose work involves children and who have grown concerned about social forces that cause child suffering and threaten the well-being or even the survival of children in the United States. Readers will come away with up to date information and a renewed commitment to being life-long advocates for children.