‘Dissensus’ and the emergence of activist leadership in the baby room of UK early childhood settings

In the context of a chronically under-funded and fragmented Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector in England, there is an urgent need for models of leadership that emphasise action and advocacy. In the baby room, where pay, conditions and status are at their lowest, this is particularly the case. In this article, building on the model of activist leadership put forward by Woodrow and Busch, we consider ‘dissensus’ as a foundation for activist leadership among baby room leaders working in English nurseries. Dissensus is the willingness to express and explore differences, disagreements and tensions. In gathering the perspectives and experiences of 15 baby room leaders, we identified three threads of dissensus which we consider in this article: (1) the desire for baby room educators’ contributions to be recognised as more than ‘just care’, (2) feelings of resentment around being overlooked and undermined by ECEC colleagues outside of the baby room and (3) questions around pay and conditions in the baby room. We consider these threads of dissensus as a potential starting point for activist leadership in the baby room.