Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Master of Education

School

School of Education

Faculty

Faculty of Education

First Supervisor

Associate Professor Collette Tayler

Second Supervisor

Associate Professor Dr Len King

Abstract

The incorporation of pre-primary centres into Western Australian government primary schools has shifted the responsibility for administrative, managerial and educational leadership from the kindergarten director to the primary school principal. Several pre-primary teachers and specialists in Early Childhood Education have expressed concern that principals lack theoretical and practical background in early childhood, have not been provided with professional development assistance, are providing inadequate educational leadership to pre-primary teachers, and yet a responsible for appraisal of pre-primary teachers. Similar concerns have been expressed in the United States, and resulted in the swing towards early academics and acknowledgment of the significant differences between early childhood education and primary education. However, no study of these leadership issues has so far been conducted in Western Australia.

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