Professional leadership contributes significantly to children’s learning by enabling effective pedagogy that supports all children.

The phrase, “leadership for learning” encompasses a broad definition of leadership which involves shared collective responsibility. This means that all kaiako need to have clear focus on how they lead learning for all children, lead the learning of other kaiako, and, by implication, whānau too. This is sometimes known as “distributed” or “shared” leadership.

The role of leaders in any learning context is too big for one person alone. Leadership for learning is a shared effort. Leaders are essential but they need to have strong teams with them, supporting the kaupapa of this service.

This is about the concepts of whanaungatanga, me kotahitanga. It is important to note though, that while distributed leadership can be fostered and promoted, somebody, somewhere still has to lead this and be accountable for monitoring the quality of education and care provided for children.

The resources in this section support leadership for learning.