Supporting leaders in early childhood education settings: an evaluation of a clinical supervision program for centre directors

Abstract

Early childhood educators’ work, especially with children and families experiencing vulnerability, is complex, highly skilled, and can place significant psychological burdens on educators. This may adversely affect educators’ well-being and contribute to the high levels of attrition seen globally. This article reports on an evaluation of a clinical supervision program supporting centre directors in Australian early learning services facing disadvantages. Drawing on data from surveys of centre directors, and interviews with centre directors and clinical supervisors, findings indicate that best-practice supervision has a range of benefits for centre directors’ well-being, professional practice, and growth. Implications for employers and policy-makers are discussed.

Keywords:

• Clinical supervision
• early childhood
• well-being
• centre directors
• leaders

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Sammy King Fai Hui
• Curriculum & Instruction, The Education University of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong

SUBJECTS:

• Sustainability Education, Training & Leadership
• Childhood
• Early Years

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We use the term ‘educator’ to refer to all educators working in early learning in birth-to-five settings regardless of their qualifications.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sandie Wong

Sandie Wong is a Professor and Co-Deputy Director of the Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education, at Macquarie University, Australia, and a Research Fellow with Goodstart Early Learning. Sandie works in collaboration with academics from a range of disciplines, early childhood organisations and practitioners, and governments, to co-design, lead, and support high quality research, evaluation, and practitioner enquiry, that contributes to best practice in early childhood. Her current work investigates: early childhood practices; workforce issues; educator well-being; and the history of early childhood internationally.

Rebecca Bull

Rebecca Bull is a Professor at the Macquarie School of Education, Australia. Before this, she was the Principal Research Scientist at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. Rebecca’s research focuses on the impact of home and classroom-based experiences on children’s learning and developmental outcomes. This includes the interactions educators have with children and how educator well-being may impact the quality of interactions. She has been instrumental in bringing together researchers from across the world to form a research alliance looking at the pan-cultural and unique contextual factors associated with well-being. The outcomes of Rebecca’s research have been published widely in the field of early childhood education and child development, contributing to work on policy, pedagogy, learning, and measurement of developmental outcomes.

Tamara Cumming

Tamara Cumming is a Senior Lecturer at the Macquarie School of Education, Australia. Tamara has worked in the early childhood sector for over 20 years. Tamara’s research concerns the complexity of early childhood practice and the well-being and sustainability of the early childhood workforce. She is co-leader of the Early Childhood Educators’ Well-being Project, and a Chief Investigator on the Exemplary Educators at Work Australian Research Council Linkage Project.

Laura McFarland

Laura McFarland is a Research Fellow at the Research in Effective Education in Early Childhood Centre (REEaCh) at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Laura has worked in the early childhood education field for over 20 years in a variety of roles including early childhood teaching, family support, consulting, and university teaching and research. The overarching theme of Laura’s research is supporting the mental health and well-being of children, families, and educators in the early childhood education context. Laura’s research focuses on supporting quality relationships among children, families, and educators, to provide the best outcomes for children. Laura’s research also recognises the importance of high-quality early childhood education settings and educator–child interactions in contributing to children’s learning and development.