Call for Papers: Leadership in early childhood education and care

2022-09-28

Submission deadline for abstract: 12 December 2022

We hereby invite everyone who researches and develops knowledge about leadership in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) to submit research contributions to this special issue on ECEC leadership. The invitation is inspired by the Norwegian ECEC Research Conference 2022 which was held in Bergen 26–28 October. The main theme of the conference was leadership in an ECEC context. The purpose of the special issue is to inspire discussion across disciplines and between actors to expand and deepen ECEC leadership theory and practice. Below we provide an overview of current topics in ECEC leadership and outline possible areas where contributors can make a new contribution to the field.

ECEC leadership

In recent decades, we have seen an increasing attention to leadership as an important aspect of kindergartens' activities. Strengthening leadership competence is a key tool for ensuring the quality of the kindergartens' work, and for realizing important goals for the sector. Research that addresses various aspects of ECEC leadership is also growing. We welcome a wide range of contributions with different theoretical and empirical focus and methodological approaches. Relevant topics include:

  • guidelines and political-administrative leadership aimed at organization and leadership in the kindergarten
  • kindergarten as a learning organization
  • leadership of development work
  • leadership, collaboration on professional development
  • moral and ethical aspects of ECEC leadership
  • pedagogical leadership
  • knowledge management
  • formal roles and responsibilities
  • relational and distributed leadership
  • division of labor and professionalization
  • leadership and ECEC quality

We hope that these ideas will inspire further reflections and to write and submit a contribution to this special issue.

Important dates

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 12 December 2022

Submit an abstract of max. 1 page to the editors of the special issue.

Submit the abstract here. Please note you need to follow the instructions for submitting an article, although this is an abstract. Mark you abstract with the prefix LED, ex: LED_Barnehagen som læringsarena

Deadline for submission of full article: 15 March 2023

Publication of special issue ultimo October 2023

The authors must comply with the author guidelines found on the website of the journal. For further details on the aims, scope and submission guidelines of the journal, please visit https://nordiskbarnehageforskning.no/index.php/nbf/guidelines

Special issue guest editors are the coordinating team from the Norwegian network for leadership research in ECEC https://nelba.usn.no/, which consists of:

  • Professor Marit Bøe (marit.boe@usn.no)

  • Associate professor Karin Hognestad (karin.hognestad@usn.no)

  • Associate professor Elin Birgitte Ljunggren (elin.birgitte.ljunggren@dmmh.no)

  • Assistant professor Alona Krieken Laski (alona.laski@oslomet.no)

  • Professor Kari Ludvigsen (kari.ludvigsen@hvl.no)