Leadership in Early Childhood Education from a Cultural Adaptation Perspective: An Effective Integration of Distributed and Pedagogical Leadership

© 2025 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

This study explores the key elements of effective leadership in early childhood education (ECE) and examines the integration of distributed leadership and pedagogical leadership within different cultural contexts. The findings indicate that while distributed leadership promotes collaboration and teacher empowerment, its implementation can be constrained in cultures with strong hierarchical traditions. In contrast, pedagogical leadership focuses on teaching quality but may limit teacher autonomy. To address this, the study proposes a Culturally Adaptive Integrated Model, where pedagogical leadership establishes a shared educational vision, ensuring alignment in teaching practices, while distributed leadership progressively fosters collaborative decision-making within this framework.

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