The Pedagogical Coordinator: moving towards transformational leadership to generate quality for ECEC

The contribution presents reflections from a PhD research investigating the pedagogical coordinator's role in the ECEC transformation, particularly in Italy. A strong correlation between ECEC quality and the presence of leadership figures capable of triggering and maintaining reflexive and research processes is the emerging hypothesis. The pedagogical coordinator can become a guarantor element of the Integrated System of Education and Care that is today strongly promoted and demanded by national and international policies. In the light of a construct of quality as a continuous process of improvement, it becomes necessary to define methods and tools that enable the pedagogical coordinator to become a key figure in influencing change embracing the challenge of developing sustainable systems of education and care, promoting a kind of research aimed at the continuous improvement of these practices within the ECEC. The study connects international policies that highlight the need to create competent systems and research on quality and pedagogical leadership in ECEC centers. Considering these elements, it is shown that research may open the way to finding definite methodological criteria and tools to support the quality of reflection and research processes in services and, thus, the quality of ECEC centers.