Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program Team:Perspectives from the Principal

The Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten(FDK) Program has expanded the role of the principal andhas altered the teaching dynamics of the classroom with theintroduction of an early years team. The early years teamconsists of a certified teacher with the Ontario College ofTeachers and a registered early childhood educator fromthe College of Early Childhood Educators. The schoolprincipal is the third member of the early years team and isresponsible for guiding and overseeing team collaborationand program delivery. The study explores how principalsperceive their role and the role of the early years team inFDK. The lived experiences of the principals were inves?tigated using semi-structured interviews and data wereanalyzed through Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.Five themes emerged from the data: program awareness,role as a leader and learning partner, informal assessmentand evaluation, navigating the roles of educators andbuilding a team culture. The themes present a generalconception of how principals identify their leadership rolewhile providing evidence of their supportive nature of theprogram. Issues in building team relationships and indelineating the roles of the educators in the FDK programcontinue to be an area of concern