Driving programme quality with pedagogical leadership: A case study in Singapore

Authors

  • Sandra Wu
  • Catherine Chua

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/ijll64

Keywords:

Pedagogical Leadership, Leadership Roles and Practices, Programme Quality, Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The preschool education landscape in Singapore comprises diverse operators that offer various care and educational services for children from birth to six years of age. This diversity has resulted in varying levels of quality and standards in early childhood education. Since positive child outcomes are strongly linked to high quality early childhood educational programmes, this paper discusses how a competent preschool leader establishes quality programmes through pedagogical leadership. The authors posit pedagogical leadership as a key driver for programme quality. By examining the effectiveness of pedagogical leadership using a case study, this article offers valuable insights into the roles and practices of a childcare centre principal that contribute to good teaching and learning practices in her centre curriculum. The case study investigates the enactment of pedagogical leadership through multiple perspectives – the principal, a kindergarten one teacher, six kindergarten one children and eight parents. Employing purposeful sampling, an exemplary childcare centre with the Singapore Preschool Accreditation Framework (SPARK) Commendation Award was chosen for this study. Data collection included artefacts, classroom observations, questionnaires, interviews and a survey. Analytic induction, coding and qualitative content analysis were used for data analysis. Through detailed descriptions, the narrative account provides insights into how an effective pedagogical leader has advanced programme and centre quality. Overall, the findings illustrate how this pedagogical leader had led her centre to achieve the SPARK Commendation Award for teaching and learning, and provided high quality programmes for the children in the centre.

Author Biographies

Sandra Wu

Change) at the Policy, Curriculum and Leadership department in the National Institute of Education, an institute of the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is involved in teacher education and professional development programmes. She currently teaches preservice teachers, postgraduate students, and supervises doctoral students. She conducts professional development for educational leaders such as the Management and Leadership in Schools programme for key personnel in schools and Principal Matters Plus programme for early childhood education leaders. She also serves at the Singapore Centre for Character and Citizenship Education. She has conducted research in the local pre-school and primary school contexts. Her research interests include policies and leadership in education and character education. She has published on the image of the Singapore child, quality of infant-toddler programmes, various pre-school curriculum models, values education in early childhood, pedagogical leadership in early childhood education, religious harmony and multiculturalism in Singapore.

Catherine Chua

Dr Catherine CHUA is a Senior Education Fellow at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. Her research expertise includes educational policy, work-integrated learning, leadership development, language policy and planning, globalisation and educational reforms. She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Queensland, an MA in English from the University of New South Wales, and a professional teaching qualification from the National Institute of Education Singapore. Catherine worked as an Assistant Professor with the National Institute of Education Singapore from 2006 to 2016. In 2016, she joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, where she taught graduate courses in leadership and policy studies. Her current research focuses on the impact of SkillsFuture initiative on continuous learning, skills development, and workplace transformation in Singapore. 

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Published

28-04-2025

How to Cite

Wu, S., & Chua, C. (2025). Driving programme quality with pedagogical leadership: A case study in Singapore. International Journal for Leadership in Learning, 25(1), 79–111. https://doi.org/10.29173/ijll64

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 1 (2025): There are Multiple Forms of Leadership. You Might be Surprised

Section

Articles