Addressing the Dilemmas of Challenging Leadership in Early Childhood Special Education

The problem of practice is the complex role of district-level early childhood special education (ECSE) leaders that creates high levels of stress and job dissatisfaction, causing turnover intention and turnover in ECSE leadership positions; contributing factors include role conflict and ambiguity, job demand, poor support systems, and a lack of ability to regulate difficult emotional situations at work. The context is the Early Childhood Leadership Institute, offered annually to district-level ECSE leaders in a New England state. The needs assessment findings showed that ECSE leaders experienced moral and power dilemmas that impacted effective decision-making; the type of support ECSE leaders needed and available support differed; and although they rated themselves as emotionally intelligent, they needed additional tools and resources to reduce their stress. An intervention was designed using a community of practice (CoP) to reduce isolation from job-alike peers that included content on sensemaking to support decision-making and mindfulness for stress reduction. A mixed-methods convergent parallel design study showed the intervention’s impact in addressing ECSE leaders’ ability to address challenging leadership issues. Participants showed increased awareness, understanding and use of the sensemaking skills of emotional regulation and self-reflection, and the mindfulness practices of pause and breathe. Participants found substantial value in the peer interaction and support for reducing feelings of isolation and having a psychologically safe environment for problem-solving. Findings suggest that CoPs are critical for creating access to job-alike peers for ECSE leaders. Adding sensemaking and mindfulness to leadership development opportunities to help ECSE leaders address issues of challenging leaders requires further exploration