This chapter considers the approaches that may be employed in achieving effective leadership as well as quality child care and learning for young children in early childhood education and care settings, especially in Nigeria. It is expedient to focus on these issues because leadership is important in establishing quality and positive outcomes for children in childcare settings. In the light of this, several concepts relating to the topic of this chapter have been discussed under various subheadings.
Early Childhood Care and Education Settings
Early childhood care and education setting is an educational institution where children from birth to eight years are nurtured when their parents are away to their workplaces or businesses. The classification of the age range of children being served varies globally. In some countries, it is from birth to five, six or seven. In Nigeria, it is basically for children within the age range of birth to five years. Early childhood care and education comprises segments such as day care, creche, nursery, kindergarten and the lower primary classes. The essence of this educational level is the psycho-social development of children. Early childhood care and education settings should be an enabling environment for children where there would be the provision of a rich, safe space with various activities that children can explore, play, and learn with. This is because children thrive well in caring and supportive environments that give attention to the individual needs of the children.
An enabling environment for children can be divided into three; these are the emotional environment, indoor environment, and outdoor environment. An emotional environment in the ECCE setting is the atmosphere of the setting and the feelings it generates, which may be warm, accommodating, and loving or harsh and tensed. The indoor environment has to do with the resources made available at the indoor space, how accessible they are to the children and how they are being used. The third environment, which is the outdoor environment, refers to the resources made available at the outdoor space of the centers, how accessible they are to the children and how they are utilized. All these are necessary for the adequate development of children that are being served in the care centers. Nursery Resources (2015) stressed that an enabling environment will ensure that children grow and develop well to be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. The implication is that ECCE settings should be home away from home for children in tandem with one of the objectives of the programme in Nigeria, ‘to effect transition from home to school’.