Browsing by Subject "johtajuusosaaminen"

Objectives. The intention of this thesis was to research perceptions of managers in the field of early childhood education (ECE) on leadership of ECE in the future. Additional aims were to examine leaders’ understandings on skills that leadership will require in the future. Interest towards research of leadership has increased during the past decades, and results have indi-cated that leadership is significant especially in the context of quality of provision and service. The topic is momentous as the field of ECE as well as leadership in the domain have recently faced plentiful changes on a national level. Methods. The research material was provided to the University of Helsinki by the Centre of Educational Assessment. The material consisted of individual interviews (n=5) that were un-dertaken as part of the EduLearders scheme, as well as a questionnaire that was addressed to participants of a professional development programme in the field of education. The ques-tionnaire contained an open question from an initial participatory survey for the participants of the programme. Content analysis was used to analyse the material. Results. The research material indicates that there are three key factors affecting leadership in the field of ECE in the future: 1) economy, resources and leadership entities, 2) societal changes and needs, and 3) requirements, especially for successful leadership. Another find-ing was that proficiency as a leader in the field of ECE is perceived to form of diverse de-mands that are continually progressing and require more heterogenous knowledge and skills than before. The research findings highlight that the increasing demands are related to trans-versal competences, substance knowledge, working life competence, and leadership compe-tence. Also, communication and co-operation skills and skills related to ethical and emotional aptitude were central in the research material.