The role of a room leader
- Ensuring the welfare of all children in their room
- Deploying staff and resources effectively
- Reflecting on practice and routines
- Leading planning and provision
- Ensuring quality observations and assessments are conducted
- Supporting and monitoring colleagues and ensuring they fulfil their responsibilities
- Working in partnership with parents by disseminating information and contributing to the resolution of any complaints
- Co-operating and working with the management team
One day you are working alongside your friends, the next you are managing them. This is a realistic scenario for many early years practitioners as they take their first step on the career ladder and are promoted to room leader.
It can be a tricky job to undertake as they, for the first time, balance the children’s needs with dealing with staffing problems and liaising with parents – with little specific training.
‘It’s rare to find a room leader who is not in ratio, so they have their own responsibilities and key children and they function alongside the staff they lead. It’s a really big job because they have to deploy staff in the room, speak to parents and conduct housekeeping,’ says Imogen Edmunds, principal HR consultant and managing director at Redwing Solutions.
‘I describe our room leaders as the “secret weapons” of our organisation because they make the day-to-day operations happen,’ says Angela Southworth, training and development manager for Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Group. ‘A good room leader is someone who is confident and knowledgeable in the role. They need to communicate well with parents, the staff team and management. Good organisational skills are needed along with the ability to share a vision with their team. It’s a difficult role because they are in a position of working alongside colleagues while also overseeing them – they may be involved with staff supervisions or appraisals.’
Louisa Devonport, professional development consultant at Bright Horizons, describes a good room leader as someone who wants to make a difference. ‘They need a proactive approach and to see change as a positive opportunity, and really want to work in partnership,’ she says. ‘The role of room leader inspires others and impacts on all, most importantly the children.’
SKILLED UP
Level 3-trained practitioners can lead a room and become a nursery manager despite the training not covering specific management issues. Ms Edmunds says inexperienced room leaders are often left feeling ‘awkward’ and small problems can escalate.
‘Because they are dealing with situations out of their comfort zone they will often defer to their manager when it would have been better addressed in the room when it was a small matter,’ she explains. ‘They have junior skills but not management skills, and this is a training need that has to be addressed.’
Skill gaps identified in room leaders include:
- Communication and conflict management – the need to be more confident when handling difficult conversations with unhappy parents/team members.
- People and performance management – knowing how to conduct peer observations and staff appraisals, deciding when to have an informal chat rather than deal formally with a situation.
- Continuous improvement – looking at how to raise standards in the room, cascading training and information and leading by example.
In order to address these issues and provide ongoing support for their room leaders, some nursery chains, such as Kiddi Caru and Bright Horizons, have developed in-house courses. There is limited online training for room managers, but HR consultancy Redwing has developed some (see box, below).
Kiddi Caru has taken a wholehearted approach to its room leader programme, which delivers a recognised Level 3 apprenticeship in Team Leadership from which successful students graduate at a gala dinner and award ceremony.
‘A lot applied for the training as they wanted to progress and gain further skills,’ says training and development manager Ms Southworth. ‘They were excited to fill the gap in their training from childcare practice to customer relations and management.’
Ms Devonport was previously a room leader at Bright Horizons so understands the difficulties of the ‘huge role’. She wanted to invest in room leaders by developing a programme, which she hopes will also aid retention. ‘[We wanted to] reflect what we are looking for and how we set expectations so people feel fully capable to understand the job role, the culture of Bright Horizons and to lead a team,’ she says. ‘We’ve received lots of feedback from settings who say their room leaders are buzzing with new ideas.’
The programme begins with a webinar that provides an overview and key information. Face-to-face workshops over three months on different themes then follow
Course content
Bright Horizons: Room Leader Programme
Current or aspiring room leaders with a Level 3 qualification are encouraged to apply. Eight groups, totalling 134 practitioners, completed the programme in 2018 and 85 have since had internal promotions. Demand has been so high this year that 508 practitioners in 20 groups are undertaking it.
The four-month training course comprises three face-to-face learning sessions, two webinars and independent eLearning modules focusing on topics including:
- Professional leadership behaviours, e.g. culture, vision; as well as identifying the professional behaviour of a room leader and exploring inspirational leadership
- Initiating and managing difficult conversations with staff and parents
- Pedagogical leadership, e.g. understanding of pedagogy, how theoretical influences and development approaches can develop learning/and how to develop staff to become pedagogical leaders
- Making sense of statutory frameworks
- A ‘strengths finder’ masterclass – an opportunity for delegates to identify their key strengths, discuss how this supports them as leaders and explore how they can build and maintain strong-performing teams.
Qualification: not externally recognised.
Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Group: Room and Team Leader Progression Programme
The annual programme is open to applications from existing room leaders. Once past the application and interview process, each receives a laptop and goody bag filled with stationery items, toiletries and ‘other items to maximise well-being’.
Ten practitioners have already successfully completed it and will be mentors for the next cohort.
The 15-month programme is delivered through a mix of face-to-face training sessions, webinars and online tutorials. It aims to enable participants to develop business skills needed for being a successful manager, including:
- Project management
- Managing yourself
- Effective teams
- Impactful communication.
Qualification: Level 3 Team Leader/Supervisor apprenticeship
Redwing Solutions: SHINE Programme
‘The programme is a 24-module online training resource. We’ve developed it as an open-ended and relaxed resource for room leaders which is affordable for nurseries,’ says Redwing’s Imogen Edmunds. ‘Settings that have used it report that their room leaders are happier, more confident and refer to the materials when they need a refresher.’ Topics include:
- Dealing with someone who is not performing in their role
- Handling difficult conversations
- Running a team brief
- Motivational words
- Sharing best practice
Cost: £147 (including VAT)
Further information: https://www.redwing-solutions.co.uk
Case study: Saffron Blevin, Bright Horizons Teddington Cedar Road Day Nursery 
and Preschool
‘Becoming a room leader was initially daunting, despite having the opportunity to shadow the practitioner that I replaced. It’s a busy setting so I learned on my feet and was in the role for around two years before getting the opportunity to undertake the programme last year. I hadn’t previously had specific room leader training and wanted to learn more about tackling difficult conversations with parents and staffing issues, especially what to do if staff don’t see eye-to-eye,’ says Saffron Blevin.
‘Through the course I was able to reflect on my daily practice with parents, children and practitioners and develop skills that have enabled me to build my confidence when dealing with potentially challenging situations. I’ve found learning management models really helpful, such as the L.A.S.T. model of listening to the individual, acknowledging the situation, helping to find a solution and thanking them for bringing it [up].
‘The training has been a big learning curve but I now know my own strengths better. This helps when drawing on everyone’s skills when working in a team.
‘I enjoyed the studying, much of which I could do during work time, and found the chance to network with practitioners from other settings valuable.’
