Conceptualizing Distributed Leadership: Diverse Voices of Positional Leaders in Early Childhood Education

There has been little discussion about distributed leadership through the lens of beliefs. Principals and head teachers of two case-study kindergartens in Hong Kong were invited to be participants to examine how leaders think and act. Semi-structured interviews and shadowing were employed to collect data. The findings suggest that leaders’ beliefs can be categorized into five dimensions: “understandings”; “what,” “how,” and “why” leadership is distributed; and “to whom leadership is distributed.” It is suggested that the beliefs of leaders make a difference in leadership style, practices, and the assignment of duties to their followers.