Leadership shortages emerging as next major challenge for ECEC sector

For several years, workforce shortages have dominated discussion across the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, with providers focused on attracting and retaining educators in a highly competitive labour market.

While workforce supply remains a significant issue, another challenge is drawing increasing attention: leadership capability.

Across Australia, filling educator vacancies can be easier than recruiting experienced centre managers, educational leaders and operational leaders. As services become more complex to run, the availability of capable leaders may become an important factor in sector stability and growth.

Why leadership matters

Leadership capability influences many aspects of service performance.

Experienced leaders often play a central role in:

• building positive workplace culture
• supporting educator retention
• maintaining family confidence
• overseeing occupancy and enrolments
• managing regulatory obligations
• driving quality improvement
• responding to incidents and change.

Where leadership capacity is stretched, services can experience higher turnover, inconsistency and greater operational pressure.

Experience and knowledge leaving the sector

A growing concern for some providers is the loss of experienced professionals from the sector.

When long-serving centre managers, teachers and operational leaders leave ECEC, services may also lose practical knowledge built over many years, including mentoring capability, regulatory experience, family relationships and operational confidence.

Unlike frontline recruitment, leadership capability is not usually replaced quickly. It is often developed over time through experience, coaching and progressive responsibility.

This means attrition at leadership level can create longer-term capability gaps.

The centre manager role has expanded

Leadership roles have changed significantly in recent years.

The modern centre manager role may include responsibility for:

• people management
• rostering and workforce planning
• recruitment and onboarding
• family engagement
• occupancy management
• pedagogical leadership
• compliance and reporting
• educator wellbeing and culture
• building maintenance and facilities oversight
• health management, including infectious disease 
• budgeting and cost control amid rising operating expenses
• supporting families experiencing cost of living pressures
• incident management and crisis response

For emerging leaders, the breadth of these responsibilities can appear challenging, particularly where leadership pathways are unclear or support structures are limited.

Succession planning gaining importance

While workforce attraction remains essential, succession planning is becoming increasingly relevant.

Leadership pipelines can take years to build. Many capable leaders develop through mentoring, stretch opportunities, acting roles and formal professional learning.

Providers that invest early in identifying and developing future leaders may be better placed to manage transitions and maintain continuity.

This may be particularly relevant for:

• large providers requiring multiple leadership layers across networks
• independent services where capability may sit with one or two individuals
• regional services with smaller candidate pools.

Emotional intelligence increasingly valued

Alongside technical capability, emotional intelligence is becoming more prominent in leadership discussions.

ECEC leaders are often required to navigate competing priorities, communicate with families, support team wellbeing and respond calmly under pressure.

Skills increasingly associated with effective leadership include:

• clear communication
• self-awareness
• conflict resolution
• empathy
• resilience
• the ability to build trust and psychological safety.

In people-centred settings such as ECEC, these capabilities can be important contributors to team stability and service culture.

Practical responses for providers

Services can explore ways to strengthen leadership pipelines. Common approaches include:

• Identifying emerging leaders early

High-performing educators may benefit from project work, acting roles or mentoring before moving into formal management positions.

• Creating visible pathways

Clear progression from educator to room leader, educational leader, assistant manager and centre manager can support career ambition.

• Reducing administrative burden

Operational support and simplified systems can allow leaders to focus more on people, pedagogy and service quality.

• Investing in mentoring

Access to experienced mentors and peer networks can assist new leaders during transition periods.

• Building leadership capability deliberately

Training in communication, wellbeing leadership and people management can complement pedagogical expertise.

A developing sector issue

Workforce shortages are likely to remain a priority across ECEC. However, leadership capability may become an equally important issue as the sector continues to evolve.

For providers planning ahead, the question may not only be how to attract educators, but how to develop and retain leaders capable of guiding teams, supporting families and sustaining high-quality services.

As operating environments become more complex, leadership depth may increasingly shape which services thrive and which face ongoing pressure.