The Management Activity of The Director of The Kin

Proceedings of the 6th International
Scientific and Practical Conference

«International Scientific Discussion: No
Problems, Tasks and Prospects»
147
(March 19-20, 2023).
Brighton, United Kingdom
PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATION
DOI 10.51582/interconf.19-20.03.2023.009
The management activity of the director

of the kindergarten to ensure the quality
of education and care in early childhood
Dimitrova Neli Atanasova1
1
Director;
Kindergarten «Birch»; Republic of Bulgaria
Abstract.
The article provides a theoretical overview of the new requirements and policies for early
childhood education and care, which ensure a high quality of educational services in
kindergarten. Key aspects of management that enable the development of children's full
potential to ensure their long-term well-being and the role of the headteacher in this
context are analysed. Adequate to the new conditions, management solutions are being sought
to ensure the children's readiness for formal education and to support the specialists in
the kindergarten to ensure the quality of training, education and socialization in early
childhood development. A management model is presented.
Keywords:
management
quality
education and early childhood care
This work is distributed under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
93
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(March 19-20, 2023).
Preschool childhood always attracts the attention of

psychologists and educators. With the development of social
psychology and pedagogical science, a number of new problems
arise and require resolution, related to the education of
children of this age and their preparation for life in the
21st century. They must possess key competencies and develop
their knowledge from an early age. In order for this to be
possible, their teachers need to have skills related to the
application of the competence-based approach and to develop
these skills in line with the latest achievements of
pedagogical science, to apply approaches adequate to the
specific and age characteristics of the children, methods and
technologies, in the game to use tasks that are close to real-
life situations in order to ensure a practical focus of
knowledge, to educate children in tolerance, mutual
assistance and cooperation, social, civic and intercultural
competences, etc. In this process, the director of the
kindergarten occupies a special place, as his role is key for
the overall organization, coordination and control of the
training, education and socialization of children, as well as
for the development of the professionalism of specialists and
their integrated interaction to ensure the quality of
education and early childhood care.
The Council of Europe defines early childhood education
and care (ECEC) as an investment in children's education and
a basis for their further development. Believes that all
children have the right to access education, regardless of
their gender, ethnicity and race. Emphasizes the qualities
that specialists must possess in order to provide ECEC.
These policies are also recognized in the Bulgarian
preschool education system and are one of the main national
priorities. Quality assessment systems have not yet been
introduced in early childhood care, but in the implementation
of an international project, their self-assessment has been
tested in selected kindergartens.
Goreva examines the concept of education and care in early
childhood in its two aspects - care and education, paying
attention to quality [Goreva, 2022]. The author relates child
welfare care, children's health education and nutrition,
health screenings, monitoring child growth, disease

94 Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
147
(March 19-20, 2023).
prevention, immunizations, protection from discrimination,

and more. It defines education as a complex and multi-layered
concept that includes learning, upbringing, inclusion and
socialization, which are achieved through a wide range of
competences that children must acquire. It indicates that in
order to ensure the quality of early childhood education, an
integrated interaction between sectors, as well as between
kindergarten specialists, as well as monitoring processes to
assess its condition and identify measures for improvement is
necessary.
The publications explore the social and medical aspect of
childcare to a greater extent, as this is a less researched
and known topic in scientific circles than the educational
one. Social policies of municipalities are analyzed, the
interaction of medical specialists with children and with
teachers in relation to health education and child care, the
role of counseling and social workers in the care of children
and families, the functions of assistant teachers in helping
teachers and the parents [Grozdeva-Foteva, 2021], [Taseva,
2022], [Chukchukov & Rusinova, 2019], [Pumpalova, 2020],
[Ilieva, 2017].
Specialists have a complex and significant role in the
awareness and impact of multiple contexts on the constructive
development and behavior of children, which requires
abandoning a strictly linear way of thinking and searching
for intriguing and integrated technologies. Important
functions in this context are managerial activities of the
director of the kindergarten, which is not sufficiently
studied and is of interest for the research practice.
The director of an educational institution has the
functions of planning, organizing, coordinating, motivating,
leading, managing, controlling. He must skillfully combine
the competencies of a manager and a leader. Management is
administration, conceptual thinking, management philosophy
and culture [Radev, 2008:17]. Leadership as a significant
part of management is the pursuit of goals in the conditions
of a competitive environment, implementation of innovations,
delegation of rights and responsibilities in the team. There
is no single correct model, which means that a successful
director must take into account the specific characteristics

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of the institution and apply approaches that improve the

activity according to identified negatives or unfulfilled
goals.
In the context of the research topic, these functions can
be considered specifically. Figure 1 provides a visual
representation of the director's functions for quality
assurance in early childhood education and care. They are
interrelated and cannot be considered in isolation from each
other. Correspond to Deming's quality assurance cycle, which
is concerned with planning, executing, checking, acting, with
other intermediate functions inserted (Figure 1).
Planning and organizing activities in the context of
quality assurance of early childhood education requires
defining indicators for measuring the child's development.
The main dimensions are the child's physical, social,
cognitive, spiritual, emotional, linguistic, aesthetic,
creative development. They cover three main areas: bio-
social, cognitive and psycho-social. In them, indicators
should also be sought, through which progress can be
objectively evaluated.
Figure 1
Functions of the kindergarten director to provide ECEC

147
(March 19-20, 2023).
The bio-social area is related to physical growth and the

factors that influence it – the specific characteristics of
the parents and the environment, the culture of the family,
the relevant geographical area in which the child grows, etc.
The psycho-social domain includes various relationships of
the child with the family, with other children, with adults
outside the family and the cultural influence that
communication has, as well as the emotional state of the child
and the emotions he expresses. The cognitive field is related
to the process of learning and the formation of competencies
necessary for successful school education and, accordingly,
the development of thought processes, communication skills,
learning skills, etc. An appropriate approach for developing
the necessary skills in children is the competence approach,
as it allows turning knowledge into skills. In this context,
it is necessary to continuously improve the competences of
specialists (educators, social workers, medical personnel)
and their joint work. However, the director must have
previously determined what knowledge and skills the
specialists need in order to specify the correct, targeted
and tailored trainings. This can be done with a survey,
forming focus groups, using a brainstorming approach,
individual and team meetings or other appropriate methods.
The planning of collaborative and assisted teaching
situations would support the teamwork of specialists, as well
as the exchange of experiences and practices for best care
and training. In the process of working together, medical
professionals will transfer their competences to teachers and
vice versa, social workers to teachers and nurses, teachers
to other professionals. Joint pedagogical situations are
conducted between teachers in the same age group or between
different age groups on a common topic. Assisted pedagogic
situations are an interesting phenomenon and are less known
and widespread, but particularly useful in the context of
childcare and education. The pedagogical situation in which
the teacher and the teacher's assistant participate is natural
and everyday, since they traditionally work at the same time
in a team. Аssisted situations can be conducted between the
kindergarten medical personnel and the teachers. In this way,
an opportunity will be provided for children to acquire

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complex competencies related to health education. Teachers

will form and develop competences related to health, sports
and the maintenance of a sustainable environment, and medical
personnel will provide skills for their practical application
by teaching children to take care of their personal hygiene,
a healthy way of eating, the implementation of sports
exercises necessary for their development or others.
Children's perception of the surrounding reality and the
creation of skills for taking care of their own health or
nature is recommended to be carried out through outings in
nature and observation of objects and phenomena. Another type
of assisted pedagogical situations can be those between
teachers and social workers in the kindergarten. This
interaction would be useful in the context of forming social,
civic and cultural values in children, along with "soft"
skills - initiative, creativity, critical thinking,
controlling emotions, teamwork, problem solving, etc.
Combinations can also be made between the same type of
professionals who provide care and education (only between
teachers or only between medical professionals or only between
social workers), as well as between medical professionals and
social workers, depending on the specific needs of the
children and their social status. However, these specialists
(pedagogical, medical and social) are the main ones who take
care of the children and educate them. Integrated interaction
together with the introduction of innovative practices is a
good start for quality care and education of children.
The next step in the actions of the director of the
kindergarten is to motivate the staff, both for improvement
and qualification, and for integrated interaction,
implementation of the set goals and indicators for assessing
the child's development, and activity and commitment to these
processes. In this regard, the director has a significant
role, and along with granting rights and responsibilities and
supporting team interaction in planning and developing
innovations, creates conditions for quality development. His
visionary mission is to lead the team on the right path and
set goals, activating them to follow him and participate in
the activities. The authority of the director in this case is
very important, because if the leader has no influence over

147
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the collective, is not respected and his word is not

respected, then the development of leadership is impossible.
Of course, it is necessary to develop leadership skills in
all professionals who work with children. For this purpose,
it is appropriate to include them in committees, teams or
other groups to develop documents, proposals, programs,
innovations, projects, etc. and offer solutions to problems.
Horizontal management (as opposed to vertical, hierarchical)
creates much better conditions for the commitment and empathy
of specialists to the goals and their achievement. This does
not exclude the leading role of the director, who must define
the vision and guide, motivate, support the collective on the
way to the desired future state. One of the most important
and urgent tasks of the director, as Peter Drucker writes, is
the development of teamwork, and together with it, the idea
of the so-called "learning organization". Learning can be
from each other (within discussions in professional
communities, during assisted and collaborative pedagogical
situations) as well as in collaboration with other
kindergartens or partners.
All plans and processes (activities) are subject to
performance control. In modern conditions, a softer form of
control that predisposes to teamwork and empathy is
monitoring. The monitoring needs to be carried out in two
main directions - children and specialists. On the one hand,
the children's knowledge and skills are subject to assessment
according to the previously determined indicators. The
assessment is part of the quality of education, upbringing
and socialization that is provided in the kindergarten. It is
particularly important because it allows analyzes of
children's achievements in different sections. Based on the
conclusions drawn in the analyses, future goals can be
planned, improvement of some of the skills, improvement of
separate parts of competences according to their integration
or as part of the state educational standards, upgrading of
knowledge and skills, etc. This stage is key and the director
must approach monitoring carefully and purposefully. The
future actions of specialists depend on the established
progress, development of one area of competence over another,
delays in development and experienced difficulties or

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(March 19-20, 2023).
established gifts. The other side of monitoring, related to

personnel, is aimed at their improvement and development.
Indicators can be set here as well, but it is more important
that the director is convinced that the right staff trainings
have been set, that effective team meetings or joint
pedagogical situations have taken place and that they have
contributed to the development of the quality of ECEC.
Monitoring can take various forms. One of them is the control
activity of the director through visits to pedagogical
situations. The variety of situations is great and All plans
and processes (activities) are subject to performance
control. In modern conditions, a softer form of control that
predisposes to teamwork and empathy is monitoring. The
monitoring needs to be carried out in two main directions -
children and specialists. On the one hand, the children's
knowledge and skills are subject to assessment according to
the previously determined indicators. The assessment is part
of the quality of education, upbringing and socialization
that is provided in the kindergarten. It is particularly
important because it allows analyzes of children's
achievements in different sections. Based on the conclusions
drawn in the analyses, future goals can be planned,
improvement of some of the skills, improvement of separate
parts of competences according to their integration or as
part of the state educational standards, upgrading of
knowledge and skills, etc. This stage is key and the director
must approach monitoring carefully and purposefully. The
future actions of specialists depend on the established
progress, development of one area of competence over another,
delays in development and experienced difficulties or
established gifts. The other side of monitoring, related to
personnel, is aimed at their improvement and development.
Indicators can be set here as well, but it is more important
that the director is convinced that the right staff trainings
have been set, that effective team meetings or joint
pedagogical situations have taken place and that they have
contributed to the development of the quality of ECEC.
Monitoring can take various forms. One of them is the control
activity of the director through visits to pedagogical
situations. The variety of situations is great and the manager

147
(March 19-20, 2023).
should plan the supervision activity so as to cover all types

as well as all ages of children who are enrolled in the
groups. It is more important in this case that criteria are
recorded in the protocols of visits, which track what of the
attended trainings within the framework of the qualification
activity is applied in the situations and whether it is useful
for the development of the children. Another form of control
(monitoring) that the director can apply is monitoring the
work in the methodical associations and how they communicate
experience to each other, how they share it, whether practical
instructions are given and whether the shared knowledge is
then applied should plan the supervision activity so as to
cover all types as well as all ages of children who are
enrolled in the groups.
In relation to the early learning and development of
children, the role of parents is also significant. Again, the
leader is the main figure who unites the efforts of the
participants in the educational process, encourages them and
motivates them for activity and empathy in caring for the
development of children. The teachers (and in most cases also
the medical professionals who welcome the children to the
kindergarten) are in daily contact with the parents, providing
them with information about the day's activities and the
children's progress. However, the director creates a focus of
interaction in favor of quality. It is important that parents
are convinced that their children should be educated, as they
give preference to their formation as healthy, emotionally
stable, responsible and independent individuals, creative and
understanding the arts, over the development of knowledge
related to a certain educational field. It is also important
that parents participate in the activities, along with
teachers and other professionals. In this way, they get
immediate information about their children and see how they
contact and communicate with their friends, what behavior
they have, what is valuable to them. And this is one side of
the benefit of parental involvement. The other is related to
the fact that they support ECEC activities with their own
participation and in cooperation with specialists.
The significance of the assessment of the quality of ECEC
is not yet fully realized in the Bulgarian education system.

101
147
(March 19-20, 2023).
It is not normatively introduced either, but it depends on

the director's leadership skills to implement at least
elements of self-evaluation at the institutional level. In
other words, a good manager examines and tracks how the
planned activities are carried out and what is the result of
them, whether there are improvements in quality or there is
a lag, whether the objectives are met and whether this
implementation is effective and efficient, whether the
specialists have good competencies to take care of children
and educate them, etc. The reflexive approach in the activity
of the director - planning and monitoring of the
implementation, as well as analysis of the activity, together
with the systematic approach, to a large extent provide
conditions for the effectiveness of the activities in the
kindergarten. The integrated nature of the interaction
between the management and the specialists, between the
specialists themselves, between the specialists and the
parents, the partnership and with other interested parties,
as well as the continuous vision for the formation of key
competences in children leads to a high quality of their
education and care for them.
The outlined functions of the director of a kindergarten
in modern conditions and in the context of providing early
childhood education are good management experience with the
application of a leadership style of management, community
formation and cooperation, which are the basis of
effectiveness. This experience should continue to develop and
expand with more concrete models and good practices. At the
present time, it is most urgent to ensure buy-in to the
systematic monitoring and evaluation of quality in early
childhood care, so that it is possible to discuss these
processes between institutions, at the regional and national
level, and to make consensual and informed decisions for
development of the theory and practice of early childhood
education and care.
References:
[1] Chukchukov, М., & Rusinova, M. (2019). A conversation for the
children's lunch in Stolichna municipality. Social Medicine, 27(4),
25-29.
[2] Drucker, P. (2003). The effective leader. Sofia: Classics and style.

147
(March 19-20, 2023).
[3] Grozdeva-Foteva, D. (2021). Nurseries in Support of the Parents for

Establishing Healthy Habits in Children. (Doctoral dissertation,
Medical University of Varna).
[4] Gyoreva, R. (2022) A competency approach to quality management of
early childhood education and care. Pernik, "Palace of Culture"
Publishing House.
[5] Ilieva, M. (2017). Interaction with the Roma family in a
multicultural educational environment. ISBN 978-954-691-077-6.
[6] Pumpalova, E. (2020). Pedagogical counseling as a tool of the social
worker in the field of work with children and families. Social Work,
8(1), 44-55.
[7] Radev, Pl. (2008). Basics of internal school management. Plovdiv. P.
Hilendarski.
[8] Taseva, D. (2022). Interaction Between Nurses and Families of
Children with Disabilities in Providing Integrated Care. (Doctoral
dissertation, Medical University of Varna).

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PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATION