High-quality early childhood education (ECE) can improve children's educational trajectories. However, the ECE field globally faces challenges that compromise its quality, with COVID-19 childcare closures further intensifying complexities. One solution to improve ECE working conditions is to use a distributed leadership framework to create…

Student involvement in assessment is considered essential to assessment for learning (AfL), mainly for developing a shared understanding of what it means to be a competent learner. However, translating AfL into practice has been difficult because teachers are reluctant to co-share assessment responsibilities with students. Thus, this paper…

This study explores the potential of virtual communities of practice (vCoPs) in fostering leadership growth that aligns with the diverse needs and challenges faced by school principals. The study employs a qualitative research design, and conducts semi-structured interviews with 16 school principals from K-12 schools belonging to the Gulf…

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all levels of education has been well documented. In this article, the authors drew on self-study methodology to explore how one member of the research team applied principles of democratic pedagogy in response to COVID-19 enforced changes to a service-learning course in a three-year undergraduate degree. The…

In this paper, we examined the challenges school leaders faced during and after COVID-19, including maintaining teacher morale and student engagement. Utilizing bibliometric analysis, the study reveals instructional leadership as a crucial factor in addressing psychological issues. The findings demonstrate that shared instructional leadership by…

Early childhood education contexts are complex and diverse and thus require leadership approaches that connect with the values and beliefs of that field. Currently the research on leadership in early childhood education is limited and it would benefit from research into innovative approaches employed in very different but comparable locations.…

This paper examines the influence of Iranian teacher unions on educational policy reforms, focusing on the evolution of teacher unions over the past two decades. Our key finding reveals a shift in the discourse and mental model of Iranian teacher unions, with an increased emphasis on education policy changes for quality and equity education.…

"Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education and Care" delves into the dynamic landscape of early childhood education and critically addresses the intersection of theory and practice, offering a range of theoretical frameworks and practical strategies to support the holistic development of children. It explores a diverse array of…

This article is a case study describing the University College of the North's (UCN) response to the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining pandemic planning and management processes at UCN from March 11, 2020, to September 30, 2021. UCN's planning processes evolved from a top-down approach led by administration to an approach that saw greater shared…

In this report, the second in the On Shared Equity Leadership series, we highlight four distinct ways to structure Shared Equity Leadership (SEL) that we observed from our participating institutions. We lay the groundwork for understanding these structures by first describing some of the more common or traditional ways that diversity leadership…

In the United States, increased pressure through accountability policy and through the production and dissemination of scientifically based research are intended to create conditions for improving research use. Concurrently, researchers, education agencies, and funders have mounted efforts to strengthen relationships between research and…

This paper aims to provide strategies for youth-serving organizations to maximize opportunities for youth to develop leadership skills within the out-of-school time program context. The sample includes 5 youth-serving agencies who participated in the Youth Driven Spaces initiative led by a Midwest program. Data for this project included…

The South African education scene is characterised by principals who come from the apartheid era where they manage the school alone in an authoritarian manner. Old approaches to school management have changed because the society has also changed. There is a shift from top-down style of leadership to shared or distributed leadership which requires…

This study investigated the principals' communication styles and school culture in vocational colleges in Selangor. A total of 244 teachers involved in this study. Data was collected using Google Form due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This study adapted questionnaires known as "Principals' Communication Styles Questionnaire for Teachers"…

The impromptu launch of the 2015 to 2022 Zimbabwean social studies curriculum invited vilifications and public outcries from parents, teachers and other key stakeholders professing numerous challenges. In this article, we report on the teachers' representation of the mitigation strategies to abate the aforesaid challenges. This interpretive case…