Date of Award
5-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School
College for Education and Engaged Learning
Department/Program
Teacher Education and Teacher Development
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Jeremy Price
Committee Member
Kathryn Herr
Committee Member
Eric Weiner
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the ideas of transformative leadership when applied to the context of early childhood education, creating opportunities and challenges for the directors who lead the schools. More specifically, to better understand how ECE directors, who were trying to be transformative, interpreted their experiences and constructed corresponding realities as leaders. Through a series of individual and group interviews, I tried to answer the guiding research question about how ECE directors, working in private, preschool settings, navigate the tensions between a neoliberal system of schooling and the practices of transformative leadership. While there is a tremendous amount of research literature in the field of K-12 leadership, including a focus on transforming the system, there is very little research about the complexity of leadership in the context of early childhood education. To better explore that idea, I used the lens of intersectionality as a social critical theory to guide my research and understanding of the participants’ lived experiences (Capper,2016; Hill-Collins, 2019). Intersectionality provided a framework to consider the ways in which identity and power exist together. I used a multiple case study methodology to better understand the experiences of early childhood directors trying to use their positions of power to create a more equitable experience of education. Purposeful sampling was used to find four directors who worked in private preschools across the country and were committed to creating change in the field of ECE. Data was collected through individual, semi-structured interviews, and a group interview with open-ended questions. The findings from this study illustrate some of the challenges they faced trying to navigate the gap between the limitations of working in a hierarchical, neoliberal, system of schooling while also trying to create space for democratic, accessible, and culturally relevant early childhood education. The findings of this study also illustrate how leadership practice is strongly influenced by sociocultural identity constructs and lived experiences in the different domains of power.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Wasserman, Sara Jill, "Transformative Leadership: Possibilities and Contradictions in the Lives of Four Early Childhood Directors" (2024). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1478.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1478
Included in
Early Childhood Education Commons, Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Educational Leadership Commons