Paper Title
Leadership Framework in Kindergarten Education

Abstract
This study investigated the current status of leadership in kindergarten education with an end-in-view of proposing a Leadership Framework in Kindergarten Education. The performance of leadership roles and responsibilities in the six key components by school heads from public and private schools and the traits and leadership styles they exemplified was looked into. This study made use of quantitative and qualitative research. The perceptions of the school heads and the kindergarten teachers were obtained through questionnaires and interviews. The number of participants in the study was 265. The difference in the perceptions of the participants was computed using the z-test. Results showed that the school heads were guided by RA No. 10157 (Kindergarten Education Act) in the performance of their roles and responsibilities. The professional traits exemplified by the school heads include: having a clear understanding of the vision, mission and goals of the program, maintaining one’s integrity, treating others with respect and supports staff and their professional development. The personal traits include: committed, dedicated, nurturing, kind, trustworthy, honest, and being a visionary. The leadership styles employed were: Distributive, Pedagogical, Contextual, Principle-centered and Transformational. The challenges encountered by school heads from public schools were: the lack of funds for the improvement of physical environment and for the purchase of instructional materials, the insufficient supply of resources and the shortage of qualified kindergarten teachers while in private schools these were the negative reactions of parents towards a play-based execution of the lessons; and the confusion in the use of the Mother Tongue as medium of instruction. Based on the results, it is recommended that teachers should qualify themselves in the field, leadership responsibilities should be shared with other stakeholders, linkages with them must be established and a playground for kindergarten pupils should be present in the program. Index Terms - Kindergarten Education, Leadership Roles, curriculum, school heads, kindergarten teachers, challenges