Geteilte Führung

: Ein Modell zur Implementierung von Teilzeitführung für Leiter*innen in der Elementarpädagogik

Abstract

There is an increasing shortage of specialists in the field of early childhood education; and more and more management positions in early childhood education facilities remain vacant for longer periods of time. The motivation and interest of educational professionals to take on a management position is declining - and there are various reasons for this, such as full-time employment, too much responsibility and the sole position of management. The question arises as to how educational professionals can be motivated to take on the position of management of an early childhood educational institution. This master's thesis therefore examines the implementation of the shared leadership model in early childhood education - with the aim of enabling part-time leadership for leaders - as well as the attitudes of those responsible towards the shared leadership model. The research methodology of this thesis comprises a combination of systematic literature analysis, expert interviews with professionals from early childhood education and the analysis of good practice examples. The findings from the literature, the interviews and the good practice analysis were examined in order to identify common success criteria. This step served to develop and describe models for shared leadership in early childhood education. The results show that the implementation of shared leadership in the form of “Duale Führung” and “Führungsdual” is a promising approach to motivate part-time employees to apply for leadership positions and that both models can be implemented in early childhood education. The advantages of this form of part-time management include easy recruitment, increased employee satisfaction as they can combine work and family life, and a reduction in complexity and sole responsibility due to the division between several people. Furthermore, the results show that there are challenges regarding the implementation of this model, such as the current legal situation, the need for support from the employer and the involvement of the team in the implementation process, which need to be taken into account.

Date of Award	May 2024
Original language	German (Austria)
Supervisor	Brigitta Nöbauer (Supervisor) & Renate Sabine Kränzl-Nagl (Supervisor)