Project News
Project Video: Developing Early Years Leadership Through Digital Professional Learning
We know that the quality of leadership in early years (EY) education has an impact on children’s outcomes and that investing in leadership development in EY makes a positive difference. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation and housed in Middlesex University and the Education Policy Institute, in this project, we examine the potentials of digitally mediated…
Early Years Leadership Development in Northern Ireland: The Current Landscape
In 2022, we hosted design thinking workshops as part of a Nuffield Foundation project on advancing leadership development in the UK early years (EY) sector. Workshop participants asked us to do some research on the similarities and differences between the four nations. In a series of blogposts, we will discuss the key features of the…
Early Years Leadership Development in Wales: The Current Landscape
In 2022, we hosted design thinking workshops as part of a Nuffield Foundation project on advancing leadership development in the UK early years (EY) sector. Workshop participants asked us to do some research on the similarities and differences between the four nations. In a series of blogposts, we will discuss the key features of the…
Early Years Leadership Development in England: The Current Landscape
In 2022, we hosted design thinking workshops as part of a Nuffield Foundation project on advancing leadership development in the UK early years (EY) sector. Workshop participants asked us to do some research on the similarities and differences between the four nations. In a series of blogposts, we will discuss the key features of the…
Early Years Leadership Development in Scotland: The Current Landscape
In 2022, we hosted design thinking workshops as part of a Nuffield Foundation project on advancing leadership development in the UK early years (EY) sector. Workshop participants asked us to do some research on the similarities and differences between the four nations. In a series of blogposts, we will discuss the key features of the…
Online Leadership Development: What to Look For – our recent publication for Under 5 Magazine
Our research with UK training providers of EY leadership development has shown that while virtual courses can be a useful tool for accessing leadership development, it’s important to know what to look for in online learning. In February 2023, we published an article with Under 5 Magazine outlining three main things to look out for…
Project Downloads
Final Project Report: Advancing Leadership Development in Early Years Education via Digitally Mediated Professional Learning- read the report now
Strand 3: The future of EY leadership development (design thinking workshops) – read the briefings now
Strand 1: Systematic review of global research –
read the report now
Strand 2: Case studies of 24 UK training providers –
read the report now
About the Project
We know that the quality of leadership in early years (EY) education has an impact on children’s outcomes and that investing in leadership development in EY makes a positive difference. Despite that understanding, there is a lack of high-quality leadership development opportunities in EY across the UK and professional development budgets are severely constrained. In this project, we examine the potentials of digitally mediated professional learning (DMPL) to open up, expand and improve leadership development opportunities for EY leaders across the UK. The pandemic has increased people’s willingness and capacity to engage in DMPL, but we need to take a systematic approach to understanding the current landscape of leadership development via DMPL and the opportunities within it.
Watch Mona & Kayla talk about the project…
Research Team
Principal Investigator: Dr Mona Sakr
Middlesex University
m.sakr@mdx.ac.uk
Co-Investigator: Dr Kerris Cooper
Education Policy Institute
kerris.cooper@epi.org.uk
Research Fellow: Kayla Halls
Middlesex University
k.halls@mdx.ac.uk
developingearlyyearsleaders.co.uk 