The phrase ‘leadership and management’ can seem daunting. I have no doubt that simply hearing those words is enough for some educators to decide against progressing up the career ladder.

Whether you are considering taking on a leadership role for the first time or are already a leader or manager, it is a constant learning process. It is vital to reflect regularly on your experiences, positive or negative. Anyone who works in Early Years is aware of the power of reflections for staff, children and their families.

It is a word I use a lot, reflect. It is a thread throughout this article and throughout my practice. Reflection is a skill. On a personal level this is a hugely important part of my character, to reflect and be the best version of myself in everything I do. This includes my professional role.

I have been a manager for nearly 6 years and part of a management team for over 8, across age ranges from 0-11 including nursery, pre-school, and wraparound provision. I have opened new settings and closed settings too, but I am still evolving. Each role is different, the structure of the staff team, the cohort of children and the socioeconomics of the area may all differ but irrespective of this I believe there are some basic guiding principles that remain the same.  

First and foremost, you HAVE to spend time in the room regularly. Whether this is in ratio or not. I prefer a mixture of both - time in the room in ratio (then you can't get distracted and dragged elsewhere) and time in the room out of ratio. But regardless of whether it's in ratio or not, spending time with your colleagues and children and their families is what matters the most.

Why is time in the room important?

As with the majority of key decisions in Early Years over recent months, this in part links directly to the Early Years Foundation Stage 2021 reforms. I suspect most people reading this will already know that as part of the reforms it is down to individual settings to design their curriculum - what they want children to learn and when in addition to the emphasis continuing to be on the setting to decide their pedagogy - how they are going to educate children and deliver their curriculum.  

Whilst it is important that the development of both the curriculum and pedagogy is a whole team approach, it's also important to remember leaders and managers are part of this team too. 

The curriculum is an ongoing evolution. The intent, the way it is implemented and the impact will need to be constantly reviewed and adapted. The curriculum in your setting will directly influence your provision, the layout, the resources included within it. To analyse the effectiveness of your provision, how the children engage with it and whether it supports the children to build the skills you have laid out in your curriculum then you need to be on the ground, witnessing this first-hand.  

Leaders and managers also make decisions daily which have a direct impact on the day-to-day experiences of the staff, children and their families. It can be easy to make changes based upon the intent of your ethos and attempt to evaluate the implementation and impact of these changes from afar, but I would argue you can't get a true understanding if you haven't seen it in action. We acknowledge that children engage in the most meaningful learning when it involves first-hand experiences so why, as adults would that be any different? Without those first-hand experiences of the changes you have planned you can quickly become disengaged from the process and your team.  

When reflecting on anything in life it is preferable to try and see things from the view of others. This applies to Early Years too. Being an effective leader requires the ability to consider the experiences of others in comparison to your own. With this in mind, ask yourself these questions: what is it like to be a child / member of staff in the setting? How does your daily routine impact their experience?

Another reason for leaders to be involved in the day-to-day practice within in the room is to help ensure the needs of all children are being met. Especially children with learning differences. Enhancing and adapting your provision, routines and practice to best support all children is a collective effort. When evaluating the impact of support provided to children with learning differences, it is usually the role of the child's key person and the settings SENCO, however I would also say to all leaders / managers that if neither of those roles are yours that you should be involved too. I ensure I am involved in all such evaluations. There are a couple of reasons for this but the main one is accountability.

What do I mean by accountability?

The role of a leader / manager in any industry comes with great responsibility and with that also there's accountability. You are ultimately accountable for the safety of both your colleagues and children and ensuring the children are properly supported and make developmentally appropriate progress. Therefore, it is only natural to want a first-hand understanding of this.

What about supporting your colleagues’ well-being and development?

Leaders / managers are not just responsible for progressing the development of the children and supporting their well-being, they also support the well-being of the whole team.

This can take many forms and as with every aspect of Early Years there is no blanket approach that will fit every setting and every team. On social media there are so many wonderful and calming staff spaces and ideas to support staff well-being in addition to so many CPD opportunities beyond the usual mainstream providers.

Unfortunately, some settings, like mine (privately-owned but based in a school) do not have the space available which we can use to create our own calming staff area but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to support their well-being and professional development. In my setting I try to instil a calming and natural aesthetic. As many inspirational leaders point out, staff often spend the majority of their lives in work, so it is essential to ensure your environment is comfortable and meets the needs of your colleagues too. Despite not having a staff space we can call our own in our setting, I have created a CPD library for staff in an area of the room too high for the children to access (it is on Instagram if you want inspiration.) Even simple ideas such as having a coffee machine, a treat box or a sharing library for books that aren't related to CPD are just some ways to help staff feel valued and unwind.

Furthermore, as a leader / manager you must always be ready to listen. Your team must feel you are approachable. I understand that staff are given the opportunity to speak to managers in private roughly every half term during supervisions when their well-being and training needs etc are discussed. I do, however, consider this to not be enough. If a colleague is struggling with their mental health, personally, professionally or both, would you really want them to wait weeks before sharing this with you? I certainly wouldn't.

Instead, I would want my colleagues to feel they can ask for a chat any time they want. Whether they want this to be during the working day or even before or after it. We are here for them as well as the children.  

It is also crucial that we as leaders and managers also look after ourselves. I do admit that this is a flaw of mine, I am terrible at prioritising my own mental health and well-being. It can be hard to take time for yourself, especially when you are so focused on improving the outcomes and experiences for your colleagues, children and their families. But you are just as important, even though there might not be a leader above you in your setting who is able to look out for your well-being.

How can you help to embed the ethos in your setting?

The answer to this question links directly to the purpose of this article. Spend time with your staff and children. This is the most powerful way to embed your ethos. By choosing to do this you can model how you envisage it will work in practice.

To help further you should observe the interactions in your setting, the interactions between staff members, between staff and the children and how the children interact with their peers. These interactions will enable you to understand how successful you are being at creating the desired experience for your colleagues and children. They will also clearly demonstrate if your ethos is building on your children's knowledge and skills and if they are making progress.

The other critical impact that spending time in the room can have on how effectively you are able to embed your ethos is the opportunities for immediate analysis and discussion it provides. It is becoming more widely accepted that for children, the most powerful learning takes place 'in the moment', when engagement is highest and learning is scaffolded and built on there and then, not planned for a week’s time. I firmly believe that is exactly the same for adults. With this in mind, observing practice and being in the room means leaders / managers can reflect and have those discussions as a critical friend 'in the moment' when it is most relevant.

I hope over the course of this piece I have provided some useful tips on why I believe spending time in the room on a regular basis is absolutely essential for all leaders and managers and that I have highlighted the huge scope of the role we undertake. Reflecting on our practice and the impact of it is so important - for every aspect of Early Years and we as leaders and managers are no different. But finally, I hope I haven't put any future leaders / managers off accepting the role. While the responsibility is vast, the rewards it brings are far greater.