Leadership as Attunement

Sometimes, the true intention of a piece of work only reveals itself through the doing. After many years of talking about the kind of book we both wished we had on the shelf, we decided to write one together. We set out with a clear purpose—never imagining that the work would be easy. We knew we had much to learn about the writing process itself, and that the path would be iterative, demanding, and at times uncertain. Still, our intent was crystal clear: to create something that could genuinely support educators to think together, reflect together, and build shared understandings about pedagogical beliefs and practices.

Our desire to write grew from a grounded and practical place. We wanted to create something genuinely useful: material that teams could return to over time, ideas expanded enough to be worked with rather than skimmed over. We imagined educators reading together, pausing, disagreeing, testing language, and using the text as a companion as they worked out not only what they do, but how they want to work, together.

As we wrote, listened, revised, and returned to questions again and again, something unexpected emerged. This was not only a book about collaborative practice—it was also a book about leadership. Not leadership as position or authority, but leadership as human attunement.

Through our work alongside teams, it became increasingly clear that developing shared values, beliefs, and understandings about learning and teaching is not a technical task. It is deeply relational work. At the heart of this process lies the challenging and exhilarating task of cultivating a common sense of purpose—and this is where authentic leadership matters most.

Pedagogical leaders play a critical role in bringing a team’s purpose into the open. They create the conditions for important conversations that might otherwise remain unspoken, and they actively design opportunities for all voices to be heard. This kind of leadership demands patience, careful listening, and a willingness to stay with complexity rather than rush toward quick solutions.

Such leadership is not a solo act. It does not sit above the team; it emerges between people. Direction and meaning are shaped through dialogue, collaboration, and shared agency—not through one person holding all the answers. In these dynamic partnerships, connections deepen, and there is a felt sense of attunement: to one another, to the work, and to the children at the centre of it all.

Leadership grounded in attunement calls for courage. It asks leaders to create space for vulnerability and dialogue, guiding teams toward deeper relationships and a collective vision that honours both individuality and shared responsibility for children’s flourishing. It resists certainty and embraces curiosity. It trusts the process, even when the path is not yet clear.

In practice, this means fostering a culture of inquiry in which educators can navigate uncertainty with bravery, curiosity, and trust in one another. Choosing curiosity and collaboration over compliance and control challenges dominant paradigms that are often rooted in hierarchy and compliance. Leaders who take up this stance understand that rich, lasting change emerges over time, through continuing dialogue, inquiry, and the construction of shared purpose. This is deliberate, values-driven leadership, a practice that makes room for difference, welcomes uncertainty, and allows new understandings to surface and evolve over time.

Reflection points for leaders

·       How are you cultivating a culture of curiosity and creating a shared sense of purpose as a team?

·       Whose voices shape your thinking, and whose might remain unheard?

·       How does your shared purpose come alive in your everyday work with children, families and colleagues?

Leadership, when grounded in humanity and attunement, becomes an act of genuine care. It is about listening deeply, holding space thoughtfully, and trusting that when people think together with intention and respect, they can find their way—together.

Fiona and Anne