Nursery leaders and nursery managers: what’s the difference?
Explore the difference between nursery leaders and nursery managers and understand the vital role each plays in making a fantastic early years setting.
Effective leadership and management skills are vital to providing high-quality childcare. Crucially, inspectors will make a judgement on how effectively these skills are put into practice for the benefit of the children.
Key differences between nursery leaders and nursery managers
A nursery manager can be considered as ‘operational’. They look at the day-to-day picture and ensure that statutory requirements are adhered to, e.g. staff to child ratios, breaks for staff etc.
A nursery leader creates and actively pursues change through sharing their vision and ideas for the continual development of the setting.
In an early years context, it is often the same person who combines these functions, skills and attributes to make the setting a success.
Nursery manager responsibilities:
- Ensuring the smooth day to day running of the setting
- Meeting the needs of the practitioners, children and parents on a daily basis
- Compliance with legislation.
Nursery leader responsibilities:
- Planning how the vision for the setting will become a reality
- Reflecting and evaluating on practice in the setting to make plans for the future
- Driving quality and engaging the whole team or organisation.
Although an effective leader must also be an effective manager, good management does not always require strong leadership qualities.
Managers maintain stability, assessing past achievements and mistakes, and taking reactive steps to improve or develop the setting.
This is different to leaders who share their vision and aims for the setting and then engage the whole team to ensure the change happens.
Looking for more support on nursery leadership and management?
See our ‘Effective leadership and management‘ online course and face to face or live virtual ‘Leadership and management’ training.
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