Leadership Skills in the Early Years: Making a difference

June O'Sullivan explores the concept of leadership, particularly with regards to leading Early Years centres.

In line with government initiatives, there is growing pressure within the early years sector to create staff who can lead different types of childcare and family settings in order to address two main government targets. Firstly, reducing poverty among families with small children and secondly, increasing educational opportunities for children from disadvantaged backgrounds in order to give them a better start in life. Many say that for this to happen we need people who can lead an effective team of capable, professional colleagues. This is no easy task in the modern Early Years market. O'Sullivan acknowledges the problems and provides ideas and suggestions to address the issues facing leaders so that they are supported to lead us into a future where we can all help make a big difference for a long time.

June O'Sullivan is the Chief Executive of the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), which is the UK's largest childcare social enterprise. She has over 30 years hands on experience within the Early Years, Social Services, and Social Enterprise sectors and created the first Social Enterprise Childcare Group in the UK.