Dimensions of leadership in the childcare context

Abstract

The contextual leadership theory provides a frame to investigate the leadership phenomenon in a childcare context. According to the contextual leadership theory, leadership is perceived of as a socially constructed, situational and interpretive phenomenon. The purpose of the study was to investigate leadership in a Finnish childcare context based on the views of those people who are involved with it. The focus group method was used to gather data for the study. The results showed that the leadership context defines the leadership language and the culture. In most focus group discussions leadership was described as the position of a leader. Centre directors were seen to have multiple role positions. All in all, it seemed that the tasks and duties connected to leadership on all contextual levels were unclear.