An explorative study of followership, followers and following practices in early childhood education sites in Australia

The premise of this thesis is there are few prevailing understandings of followership and leadership in Early Childhood Education (ECE) settings, revealing a potential discrepancy. While leadership is often hailed as the catalyst for change, followers are typically perceived as passive implementers of those changes. This perception can be further reinforced by the challenges that many leaders face in ECE, including the burden of leadership and under-preparedness for the role. In Australia, neoliberalism, hierarchical structures, and the professional identity of educators create further challenges for both followers and leaders. Recent studies in management literature have shed light on the power of followership in driving meaningful change in organisations. This thesis investigates followership with hopes to address these challenges noted above in meaningful ways.
To date, research literature on leadership in ECE tends to overlook the potential of followership and following practices, adopting a leader-centric approach. Shifting the focus to a follower-centric lens is necessary to recognise the significant role of followers in shaping outcomes and their importance in the leadership process. However, deeply ingrained leader-centric ideals from traditional leadership perspectives hinder the potential recognition of the power of followers in ECE.
Motivated by these challenges, this empirical research aims to explore, interrogate, and articulate the followership practices of educators in ECE. Ethnographic methods were employed to provide an insider perspective during this exploration. The study utilises the theory of practice architectures as a theoretical, methodological, and analytical tool within a practice approach to interrogate followership. Drawing upon the perspectives of 26 educators from two long day care sites and a kindergarten setting, the research seeks to develop understandings of followership by examining language, behaviours, and relational patterns shaped within the complex practice architectures in ECE settings.
The theory of practice architectures also guided the data analysis of the cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements at each site and how these enabled and constrained following practices. I also explored and interrogated the active role of materials and artefacts, such as government documents.
This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on followership in a novel way. It uncovers a paradox in educators' beliefs that following equals passivity, obedience, and a lack of motivation, which contrasts with their actual proactive following practices. It also uncovers the pervasive influence of hierarchies, where it is assumed that following practices involves top-down rules of how things should be done. This stands in contrast to followership practices that emphasise the application of praxis in followership, highlighting the embodied moments when educators are guided by their moral commitment to supporting the development of young children. Overall, the findings emphasise ways that the contextual and situational nature of ECE, significantly influence followership practices. By adopting a follower-centric perspective, this research thus contributes important understandings of the role of followership in the leadership process within ECE settings. It challenges traditional leadership perspectives and provides insights into the complex dynamics of followership and highlights implications of paving the way for transformative practices and improved outcomes in the ECE sector.