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Problematising the educational leader policy in Australian early childhood education and care.

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Title: Problematising the educational leader policy in Australian early childhood education and care.
Authors: Wu, Bin1 (AUTHOR) bin.wu@rmit.edu.au, Cook, Kay2 (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of Education Policy. May2026, Vol. 41 Issue 3, p374-395. 22p.
Subject Terms: *Early childhood education, *Educational leadership, Governmentality, Equality, Labor market, Policy analysis, Socioeconomics, Policy discourse
Abstract: This paper applies Bacchi's 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' (WPR) approach to critically examine the educational leader policy in Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC). The sector has experienced a persistent shortage of qualified staff, largely due to its traditionally low social and professional status. This shortage is framed in policy discourse as a key barrier to achieving the government's vision of high-quality education. In response, the 2012 introduction of the educational leader role was positioned as a solution, tasked with leading pedagogy and mentoring peers to lift quality. However, utilising the WPR approach to policy analysis reveals a deeper contradiction rooted in capitalism: while dependent on socio-reproductive labour such as care work, the system simultaneously devalues those who perform it. The policy's proposed solution reinforces dominant discourses of care and productivity. It operates as a form of governmentality, using educational leadership as a cost-efficient mechanism to tackle workforce 'deficiencies' without addressing structural inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Education Policy is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Availability: 0
Header DbId: ehh
DbLabel: Education Research Complete
An: 192954211
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
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  Data: Problematising the educational leader policy in Australian early childhood education and care.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wu%2C+Bin%22">Wu, Bin</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> bin.wu@rmit.edu.au</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cook%2C+Kay%22">Cook, Kay</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Education+Policy%22">Journal of Education Policy</searchLink>. May2026, Vol. 41 Issue 3, p374-395. 22p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Early+childhood+education%22">Early childhood education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+leadership%22">Educational leadership</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Governmentality%22">Governmentality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Equality%22">Equality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Labor+market%22">Labor market</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Policy+analysis%22">Policy analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Socioeconomics%22">Socioeconomics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Policy+discourse%22">Policy discourse</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: This paper applies Bacchi's 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' (WPR) approach to critically examine the educational leader policy in Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC). The sector has experienced a persistent shortage of qualified staff, largely due to its traditionally low social and professional status. This shortage is framed in policy discourse as a key barrier to achieving the government's vision of high-quality education. In response, the 2012 introduction of the educational leader role was positioned as a solution, tasked with leading pedagogy and mentoring peers to lift quality. However, utilising the WPR approach to policy analysis reveals a deeper contradiction rooted in capitalism: while dependent on socio-reproductive labour such as care work, the system simultaneously devalues those who perform it. The policy's proposed solution reinforces dominant discourses of care and productivity. It operates as a form of governmentality, using educational leadership as a cost-efficient mechanism to tackle workforce 'deficiencies' without addressing structural inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Education Policy is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=192954211
RecordInfo BibRecord:
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/02680939.2025.2569039
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 22
        StartPage: 374
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Early childhood education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational leadership
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Governmentality
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Equality
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      – SubjectFull: Labor market
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      – SubjectFull: Policy analysis
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      – SubjectFull: Socioeconomics
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      – SubjectFull: Policy discourse
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      – TitleFull: Problematising the educational leader policy in Australian early childhood education and care.
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            – D: 01
              M: 05
              Text: May2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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