Date of Award
Fall 12-2012
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Program
Special Education
Department
Special Education and Habilitative Services
Major Professor
Flynn-Wilson, Linda; Austin, Patricia
Second Advisor
O'Hanlon, Ann
Third Advisor
Reynolds, Kate
Fourth Advisor
Kieff, Judith
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to explore how teachers described, recognized, and would potentially influence leadership behaviors in children aged 4 to 6 years. One hundred thirty-three early childhood teachers and teachers of the gifted were surveyed using a researcher-designed instrument called the Recognizing Leadership in Children (RLIC) Survey to assess if teachers could recognize leadership from classroom scenarios that were based on actual classroom observations. As part of the survey, teachers wrote how they thought they might respond to the leadership scenarios. As there is a scarcity of literature concerning children’s leadership, the results from this study contribute information to the field. Data from this study indicate that teachers describe child leaders most often as helpful and self-confident with good communication skills. Teachers generally recognize child leadership but recognize obvious leadership behaviors more often than subtle ones. Teachers are more likely to encourage child leadership when they recognize behaviors as leadership; they are more likely to respond to child leadership in a discouraging manner when they do not recognize the behaviors as leadership. Therefore, if teachers learn to recognize child leadership, they could be more supportive, thus creating more developmentally appropriate early childhood classrooms.
Keywords: child leadership, early childhood education, gifted, leaders, prosocial behaviors, social skills, teacher expectations, young children
Recommended Citation
Fox, Deborah Lee, "Teachers' Perceptions of Leadership in Young Children" (2012). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1546.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1546
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.