Stepping Into Leadership : A ReachED Mini-Course for ECE Teachers & Leaders (to dip your toes into)

Kia ora! My name is Gaynor Clarke.

Through ReachED, I facilitate professional development on a range of topics related to early childhood education, teaching and leadership practice, and teacher well-being through mentoring, workshops and online courses.

I am a qualified, fully registered teacher and adult educator. My experience in this field includes: teaching on Initial Teacher Education degree programmes specialising in Early Childhood Education at various tertiary providers in New Zealand; facilitating leadership development for early childhood teachers through mentoring and workshops; collaborating on a project to develop and deliver the ‘5 out of 5 Leadership Series’ of workshops, building on Ministry of Education resources developed by the Continuity of Early Learning work stream; delivering professional development outcomes for the Ministry of Education as a contractor and sub-contractor i.e. facilitating mentoring, workshops and providing advice, guidance & support for a range of early childhood education services such as: centres re-licensing from the 1998 to the 2008 licence; strengthening early learning opportunities (SELO) for children, families, whānau and communities through teaching; and implementing Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa Early childhood curriculum.

My Bachelor in Education specialized in Early Childhood Teaching, and I focused on Adult Education and Adult Learners for my post-degree studies i.e. Certificate in Tertiary Teaching and Postgraduate Diploma in Education. Leadership development within the early childhood education sector has been an area of professional interest for many years, and this led me to gain a Masters in Educational Leadership (Distinction) at AUT University and a Certificate of Proficiency in Teacher Mentoring at the University of Auckland. My interest in Teacher Wellbeing led me to become registered as a coach through ANZCAL (Australia-New Zealand Coaching Alliance).

Academic journal publications include:

• Clarke, Gaynor Anne. (2009). ‘An essay on leadership, especially through South African and New Zealand cultural lenses’, International Journal of Leadership in Education,12:2,209 — 216
• Clarke, G., & Broadley, M. (2017) What do quality outcomes for infants and toddlers have to do with effective leadership?, First Years Journal, 10:1, 25-30

Research assistant in a research project led by Joce Nuttall in the following publication:

• Ord, K., Mane, J., Smorti, S., Carroll-Lind, J., Robinson, L., Armstrong Read, A., Brown-Cooper, P., Meredith, E., Rickard, D., & Jalal, J. (2013). Te whakapakari kaiārahi āhuatanga ako kōhungahunga: Developing pedagogical leadership in early childhood education. Wellington: Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa//NZ Childcare Association.