NETEJA BÀSICA

The second section of the survey-questionnaire was designed to explore the

Directors/Leaders’ beliefs about their role as a Director/Leader and included the following ten statements which they were asked to rate as they felt the item applied to them using a four-point Likert scale:

Table 4. 1

Ten items to explore Directors/Leaders’ perceptions and beliefs about their role 1 I enjoy my work as Director of this centre

2 I feel confident about my ability to lead in my Director’s role

3 I feel confident about my ability to manage the day to day running of the centre 4 I enjoy working with my staff

5 I feel confident about communicating effectively with my staff 6 I feel confident about communicating with the parents

7 I feel confident about advocating for Early Childhood Education in the community 8 I feel confident about managing conflict & problem solving

9 I feel confident about strategic planning 10 I feel my approach is ‘collaborative’

The ten items in Table 4.1 explored how the Directors/Leaders felt about their role and the work they were doing. The items addressed the basic professional tasks of a Director/Leader of an ECEC, encompassing both leadership and management including human resource management, strategic planning, communication, conflict management, public relations, and advocacy. The individual’s sense of efficacy and enjoyment as well as a

perception of his/her style of interaction with staff was also investigated. Each of the ten items displayed in Table 4.1 was given a four-point Likert scale with (1) indicating ‘not at all’ through to (4) Always. The responses were averaged, so that a response of ‘always’ for each of the ten questions would result in a score of 4 points. The results of this section of the survey-questionnaire are displayed in Figure 4.2 where it is clear that the majority of replies were very positive, with 93% indicating a ‘most times’ or ‘always’ response.

Figure 4. 2

Beliefs about personal efficacy in the Director’s/Leader’s role

When each aspect of the Director’s/Leader’s role is examined in detail it is interesting to note that although the majority of responses were strongly positive as in Figure 4.2, within the categories there was an indication that some areas were less enjoyed or addressed with less confidence than others (see Figure 4.3)

.02%

.1%

35%

58%

Not at all Occasionally Most times Always

Types of responses

Beliefs about personal competence in and enjoyment of the Director's role.

Figure 4. 3

Directors/Leaders’ perceptions about their confidence in and enjoyment of, the various roles For this analysis the responses from the fourteen Directors/Leaders were averaged to provide an overall perspective. From Figure 4.3 it can be noted that the management aspect of the Director’s/Leader’s role, working with staff, advocating for early childhood education and those less fortunate, and collaborating with staff and parents received higher marks, while managing conflict and dealing with strategic planning were viewed less favourably.

Comments regarding the management of conflict included:

“Managing conflict is never easy” D2 “Not confident!” D5

and strategic planning….

“I struggle with this!” D13

These results are not surprising given that research (Fenech, 2013; Waniganayake et al., 2012) has found that many early childhood educators find themselves in leadership positions with little or no training in leadership and management. Further, the tendency to avoid conflict when dealing with staff members or parents is not unanticipated given that many of the responses from these Christian leaders related to showing compassion towards staff and parents and showing fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 Av era ge s cores f o r en jo ym en t & co n fid en ce

Directors' Professional Roles

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). However, the effective early childhood education workplace pivots on harmonious social interaction and many leaders avoid conflict perceiving it to be a failure on their part or even that of staff, rather than viewing it as inevitable as well as a possible catalyst for “new ideas, growth and change” (Rodd, 2013, p. 103). The way that the leader approaches and deals with workplace conflict in a positive, constructive manner is the critical factor.

There is also an increasing demand from parents for increased availability of care, which leads to longer hours (frequently 12-hour days) and therefore a need for staff to undertake shift work. This in turn has a roll-on effect of reduced time for staff to meet

together, communicate easily, reflect together on issues and share information (Aubrey, 2011; Rodd, 2013). To be able to address this need there are serious budget implications for leaders, all of which increase rather than reduce the likelihood of stress, communication and conflict difficulties.

Strategic planning can be viewed as a fairly enjoyable, logical process for the leader who has collaborative, harmonious staff relationships and wishes to plan ahead with his/her team. However, if the leader lacks confidence and experience or has antagonistic or

uncooperative staff members he/she may view a strategic planning process as one hurdle too many and avoid the experience altogether.

Many admit they are ‘doing’ the role that includes leadership and management, but lack the confidence that what they are actually doing is ‘best practice’ as they would wish (Fenech, 2013; Waniganayake et al., 2012). Waniganayake (2014) notes that the expectations of early childhood educators have changed considerably over the last 30 years, with the focus on management issues and the education and care of young children moving forward to additionally meet the demands of the various skills of leadership and business management.