This essay will be looking at the philosophy of leadership within the early years setting, and the role

of a leader within and early years setting. This will include looking at the characteristics of a leader, and looking at the reasons why it is essential to have a leader who understands the importance of an effective and multidisciplinary team of staff. There will also be an area looking at the differences between a leader and a manager within the setting. This essay will also be looking at the pieces of legislations and policies that have to be included within an early years setting, and how the manager and leader ensure that the policies and legislations are followed. Before an early years setting can allow children onto the premises, there are a number of different policies and pieces of legislation, which the setting must comply to. One of these pieces of writing, which the setting must comply to, are the national minimum standards (NMS). The NMS is a piece of government writing, which is made up of 24 standards which states how practitioners should deal with certain situations. The leader within the setting would have to ensure that all members of staff are abiding by the rules and regulations, which are set out by both the setting and the government. Few things are more important to human activity than leadership. Effective leadership helps our nation through times of peril. It makes a business organisation successful. It enables a not-for-profit organisation to fulfil its mission. The effective leadership of parents enables children to grow strong and healthy and become productive adults. (Mills, 2005.) Without leadership, an organisation such as an early years setting would not move forward or develop. In any line of business, moving forward and developing is essential. Within a team, there has to be a person who is able to take charge of things, and is able to lead the team in a direction that will help the company. The way a team is led will have a major impact upon the success or otherwise of the team. When asked what they want from a team leader, team members will often identify several values they would want a leader to hold: Commitment to people as well as task is the first key element. Desire to support and serve the team as well as lead from the front. Enthusiasm, energy, inspiration and sufficient expertise. Willingness to shoulder responsibility rather than pass the buck. Ability to make the team come together to achieve more that a group of individuals. (The Teal Trust, date unknown)

As well as having the desired characteristics of a leader, there are different models of leadership that could be seen within an early years setting. The traditional model of leadership, that many people think about when they think about the characteristics of a leader is the masculine model. The Characteristics that are traditionally thought of when thinking about a leader are control, power, domination and competition ( Rodd, 2011). The other model of leadership, is a feminine model. The Feminine model is believed to differ with its interest focus on relationships, consensus, collaboration and flexibility (Rodd,2011) There are certain characteristics that a person would need to become a leader within an early years setting. A leader would have to have characteristics such as, assertiveness, optimism, awareness, great communication skills and fairness. (Characteristics of a leader, 2011). There are a number of reasons why a leader would have to have qualities such as these. Leaders are people who can influence the behaviour of others for the purpose of achieving a goal. They can encourage colleagues to chance their behaviour, take a new approach to work and build new mind sets. (Rodd, 2011.) As well as masculine and feminine styles of leaderships, which are defined by the personal characteristics of the leader. Heugebauer developed four styles of leadership, which would looks at how the leader views the relationship of the team members. Heugebauer developed a continuum of leadership styles, ranging from an authoritarian approach to a relaxed approach to leadership. The first style of leadership, which is the authoritarian approach, is The task master Puts little emphasis on developing relationships and focuses on getting the task done (Rodd cited in Stacey 2010). This type of leader, would be strict when it comes to getting the tasks done, and wouldnt take into consideration the relationship between the team members who have been given the task, and whether or not they got along. This could have an effect on how well the task that they had been given, was carried out and how effective the outcome would have been. The second and third styles of leadership that Heugebauer developed were, The comrade and the motivator. Both of these models focus on the relationship between the team members. The most common model of leadership would be the motivator model.

The motivator style combines an attention to relationships and a concentration on high-quality practice, generally seen as the most appropriate leadership style in Early Years (Rodd, cited in Stacey,2010) Within an early years setting, There would be a team of people that would be put together to care of the children in the setting. As part of the team, there are a number of different professionals who have a number of different roles and responsibilities. There may also be staff members who have a specific are where they have become specialists. With these members of staff, working as part of the team within an early years setting, the group would be come a multi-disciplinary team, meaning that there are members of staff within the team, who have different specialised disciplines. However, as all of the practitioners have to work as part of a team, there will be some roles and responsibilities that would have to be shared between all the team members. For example, the manager within the setting would be the one who is in charge of organising things for the setting, such as training days, staff meeting and ordering equipment for the setting. The leader within the setting would then be in charge of ensuring that everything that had been organised by the manager, would be carried out in practise with the rest of the team. Managing without leadership was unethical; leadership without management was irresponsible. (Hall 1996, cited in Whalley 2011). This is where many people become confused with the titles Manager and Leader. Both of the titles would include a number of responsibilities within a setting, but these responsibilities would differ depending on the position of the person. The definition of a manager is a person responsible for controlling or administering an organisation or group of staff (Oxford Dictionaries,2011). Where as the term leader is defined as the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country. (Oxford Dictionaries,2011) One of the main roles of the leader within the setting, is to ensure that the team of early years workers, are able to work well together for the benefit of the children in their care. Team building is an important role for the leader within the setting. The ability to put an effective team together, is the work of the manager and the leader within the early years setting. To develop an effect team within and early years setting, there are a number of different things that need to come into consideration. People, such as Bruce Tuckman,

have come up with stages of development of team formation, looking at the stages in which a new team go though before they become effective. teams, like other living organisms, go through different stages, ( Whalley, 2011). The stages that Tuckman developed up 1965, went up in four different levels. These stages were: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Each stage of team development would have certain characteristics and issues linked to them. The first stage, Forming, would be characterised by Uncertainty and anxiety about other team members and the task/goal (Whalley, 2011). During this stage of team development, the leader would have to come up with ways for the team members to communicate, and get to know one another, so that there would less anxiety about each other. When it comes to how the staff deal with tasks, and the uncertainty that they may face, the leader of the group could introduce some method of praising the staff, so that the confidence of the staff would increase, and allow them to become more efficient when carrying out tasks. The second stage of Tuckmans group development, is storming. This is the stage where issues will arise within the group. Some peoples patience will break early, and minor confrontations will arise that are quickly dealt with or glossed over. (Chimera Consulting Limited, 2001.) This is the stage where there could be conflict between the team members. Some will observe that its good to be getting into the real issues, whist others will wish to remain in the comfort and security of stage 1. (Chimera Consulting Limited, 2001). These conflicts that arise will then give the team members the opportunity to develop their own initiative, and deal with situations independently, or they will still remain within the first area of the developmental stages. During this stage of team development, the leader of the group would need to develop a strategy, to allow the team members to communicate with each other, so that they would be given the opportunity to resolve any conflict. There are a number of team-building experiences that a leader could make sure, their team take part in. This will be explored later in the essay. The third stage, Norming, is where A sense of belongingness is established with conflict resolved ( Whalley, 2011.) The members of the group have now been able to solve any of the conflicts that may have arisen in the second stage. The role of the leader within this stage is to Recognise the groups success and rewarding this appropriately. (Whalley, 2011). By rewarding members of staff, for successful

completion of tasks, would heighten the self-esteem of the staff member, and as the other team members would be able to see that other they are doing tasks well, and deserve the praise that they are given. The forth and final stage of team development, according to Tuckman, is Performing. A growing sense of interdependence among team members and cooperation in task achievement; some risk-taking (Whalley, 2011). By this stage in the development of the team, team members feel confident that they will be able to complete any tasks that are given to them, and complete the tasks well. Also, by this point, each individual team member has developed some initiative and are willing to think for themselves with personal tasks that they may be given. Establishing the right climate in which well-designed teams can form and flourish, is the foundation stone on which more effective teamwork in the future can be built. (Sadek, Sadek, 2009.) After the members of the team have been decided on, and brought into the setting, there are a number of things that a leader or a manager would have to do to ensure that their team worked effectively. The first things that needs to be done, so that a team can work effectively within an early years setting is to ensure that the people who form the team work well together. This could be done by giving the members of staff, an opportunity to talk, and get to know one another. This could be done though a range of different activities, or days out where every member of staff would have the opportunity to get to know each other outside of the work environment. Team building activities, or days out would allow, not only for the staff to simple communicate with one another, but it would allow for relationships to be develop with in the group.There are a number of different activities that staff members could go and do, to help develop the team, and the relationships within it. Team-building and effective team leadership usually results in high-quality interaction between team members and the leader, which increases trust and openness, the development of interpersonal relationships, joint goal-setting, clarification of roles and responsibilities, and analysis of the approach process related to the teams purpose. The team approach to work in early childhood settings can also assist in staff development and in meeting the challenges of change because it provides the back drop of support for and commitment to quality service delivery (Rodd, 2006).

As well as team building activities, where the team goes out of the setting to build their professional relationships, there are also a number of strategies that the leader can use from within the setting to develop their team. Becoming a team demands effort from every member of the group, and requires that the leader relate to the group in a certain way. (Rodd, 2006). There are a number of things that a leader would have to do within the setting to build a team. The first stage of team building that could be used within the setting, is to set achievable goals that have been mutually agreed on my all members of the team, and also to ensure that that every team members get the chance to have their say. As soon as all of the staff members have been given a fair chance to express their opinions, through discussions and other communication methods, the leader of the team, should then clarify roles for the other team members. (Rodd, 2006). Team members work most effectively when their roles are clear to all and free of conflict. Each staff member should be aware of who is responsible for what (Rodd,2006). When everyone knows what jobs they have to do, it will not cause and tension and arguments, about responsibilities within the setting. The leader within the team, should be able to see what strengths and weaknesses each team member has, and assign responsibilities accordingly. For the leader to be able to handle the responsibility of assigning tasks, the leader must be able to observe the members of staff to ensure that they are able to handle the responsibilities that are given to them. If each team member is given a certain responsibility, due to their strengths, then this will ensure that every responsibility that the leader has assigned will be done to the best of the team members ability. But, this method of assigning responsibilities for each staff member could also be used as a challenging exercise. For members of staff to grow and develop within an early years setting, they must have to opportunity to do things that they are not use to. So, the leader could give each team member a responsibility that they were not use to, this would allow each team member to grow and develop. As well as having the ability to build an effective team within the setting, the leaders and the manager within the setting, also have to deal with conflicts that will arise in the setting. However hard the manager works to build the team and support it through its development, conflict still arises in every early year setting. Sometimes the conflict is

dysfunctional, more often mildly irritating. Some theorists argue it is actually a positive feature of nursery life. (Sadek, Sadek. 2009). Conflict is an inevitable part of working within a setting such as nurseries. There will be a number of people, who will have a range of different opinions about how things should be done within the setting. There are both positive and negative aspects of conflicts within an early years setting. The positive aspects of conflict within a setting would be Indicated lively involvement, Refutes burn out, Reduces complacency, Pinpoints issues in the staff team (Sadek, Sadek, 2009). The negative aspects of conflict within a early childhood setting would be, Creates poor morale, High staff turnover, High absentee rate, Poor staff development. (Sadek, Sadek, 2009). As conflict can cause both positive and negative effects form within the early year setting, a leader or a manager of the setting would have to asses the issues, and decide if it will cause positive effects on the setting where the staff would have the opportunity to develop their professional skills, or whether the issue would cause negative effects and would have to be dealt with. If there is conflict within the setting, there are a number of ways in which a leader could deal with it. The way in which a leader resolves conflict, has to benefits all members of the team, so that the issue that caused conflict between the team members, does not cause any more damage to the team. There are a number of ways in which a leader can deal with conflict. The following three-steps framework of assertion, negotiation and problem-solving is simple and easy to implement for leaders in early childhood settings. (Rodd, 2006). The first step in this framework, for resolving conflict, assertion, allows the leader, or another member of the group, to give a perspective on current events, that another member of staff might not have seen. If the leader or any party involved in the incident can make an appropriately assertive statement which describes the behaviour, problem, performance, issue or action and associated feelings, this signals that one part has a different perception of incident to that of other people. (Rodd, 2006). Being assertive on a issue, that may cause conflict, will give the leader a chance to discover a number of different perspectives on a situation, which in turn will help the conflict be resolved.

If assertiveness is not enough to solve a situation, or conflict, the next stage of the framework should be implemented. In this step, the unsatisfactory nature of the situation is highlighted along with the motivation to achieve a mutually acceptable solution to the problem (Rodd,2006). This stage will allow staff member to talk about what has happened, and to help the leader figure out the best way to handle the conflict. This can be done through a staff meeting, where every one will have the opportunity to have they say about the situation. A meeting to discuss the issue needs to be set for a time when both parties are free and there is sufficient time to work through the issue. (Rodd, 2006). If the first two stages do not work, when trying to come to a solution for a conflict within the setting, then the final stage would be implemented. The problem-solving stage is a win-win situation, where everyones views and needs are respected, until a solution has been found. (Rodd, 2006). It is important that a leader recognises any signs of conflict as a challenge for the setting, and uses the results of the conflict, to help the staff in the setting develop with their professional development.

Reference list Characteristics of a leader, Characteristics of a leader 2012.

http://www.characteristicsofaleader.net/ [Accessed on 29/12/2011] Chimaera Consluting Limited Famous Models Stage of Group Development 2001. http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/tuckman.htm [Accessed on 30/12/2011] Oxford Dictionaries Leader 2011. oxforddictionaries.com

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/leader [Accessed on 29/12/2011] Oxford Dictionaries Manager 2011. oxforddictionaries.com

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/manager [Accessed on 29/12/2011] Quinn Mills, D.How to lead, How to live Place of publication unknown; Publisher unknown 2005. (PDF). Rodd, J. Leadership in Early Childhood, Berkshire; Open University Press, 2006. Sadek, E. Sadek, J. Nursery Management. Cheltenham; Nelson Thornes 2009. Stacey, M. Teamwork and Collaboration in Early Years Settings. Cornwall; Learning Matters 2009 (Kindle edition) The Teal Trust, What makes a good team leader? date unknown. www.teal.org.uk http://www.teal.org.uk/et/page5.htm [Accessed on 2/1/2012] Whalley, M E. Leading Practice in Early Years Settings. Exeter; Learning Matters 2011.