The Leadership in Early Years Education Research Interest Group hosted an event on Thursday 17th July 2025, entitled ‘Leading a Baby Room to Make the World a Better Place’.
In this interactive webinar, guest speaker, Dr Mona Sakr, applied the Social Leadership Model (developed by Mona alongside June O’Sullivan, CEO of LEYF) to the work of baby room leaders, and highlighted how the six principles of Social Leadership manifest in the baby room every single day:
Social purpose – how to create an inspiring vision for the baby room that makes clear how babies being in nursery provision can be good for the world
Social pedagogy – how that vision translates into day-to-day practice in the baby room so that in each minute, our core values are lived out in our work with babies
Getting the culture right – baby room teams need to be STRONG, which means leaders need to create the conditions for happy, healthy, collaborative interactions
Investing in others’ leadership – the secret to happier teams is supporting everyone to develop through pedagogical leadership, so how can the team show pedagogical leadership in the baby room?
Powerful conversations – we make a difference to babies’ lives through our interactions with them but also through the powerful pick-up conversations with parents/carers; what do those look and sound like?
Living sustainably – Taking a sustainability lens on toys in the baby room, food play, waste, and getting outdoors to see how the baby room contributes to a better, greener world
If you missed this event or would like a recap, you can now watch it in full below.
Our thanks to the LEYE RIG Co-Convenors for arranging this event, to our speaker, Mona Sakr, for her inspiring presentation, and to everyone who joined us. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
