How to Put Slow Pedagogical Leadership into Action
- Sarah Moore
- Oct 17
- 4 min read
As the final quarter arrives, many early childhood leaders feel that time starts to speed up. The list of things to finalise before the end of the year can feel endless, transition planning for children moving to school, end-of-year events and celebrations, staff rostering and leave management, progress reports and documentation, compliance checks, quality improvement planning, and budget and enrolment forecasting for the year ahead, all layered on top of staff shortages and a team that’s starting to feel like it’s running on empty.
Beneath all those end-of-year tasks and responsibilities, our nervous systems start to move faster too. The combination of time pressure, competing priorities, and emotional load can take its toll. When the pace and pressure rise, it’s common for educators and leaders to shift into protect mode, reacting, firefighting, or withdrawing, rather than connecting, staying open, and maintaining a growth mindset.
This isn’t a personal failing; it’s biology. When pressure builds and the nervous system stays switched on, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for empathy, reasoning, and perspective-taking begins to go offline, and stress responses take the lead.
In early childhood settings, this often shows up in familiar ways:
Staff fatigue and disengagement
Strained communication
Lower trust and psychological safety
Staff gossiping and easily offended
Less capacity to be fully present with children and families
And because stress is contagious, research linking educator burnout with elevated cortisol levels in children reminds us: the adult state sets the tone for the room.
Conscious Leadership: A Brain-Aligned Approach
In my work, Conscious Leadership is the umbrella. It’s an approach grounded in neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and relational trust-building. Conscious leaders are aware of their own internal state, how it shapes communication, and how it influences the collective tone of their team.
This brain-aligned way of leading is especially powerful in times of pressure. When leaders are calm, attuned, and predictable, they help keep everyone’s nervous systems in a state that supports trust, collaboration, and higher-order thinking. In this way, Conscious Leadership isn’t just a concept, it's a daily practice of presence.
Slow Pedagogy as a Leadership Practice
Slow Pedagogy is one of the practical expressions of conscious leadership in early childhood. By valuing depth over speed we build in time for reflection, honouring the relationships that drive our service and it enhances our ability to show up effectively for everyone who relies on us. When applied to leadership, this becomes more than a way of working; it becomes a way of being with others.
In practice, this looks like:
Communication that builds trust through attunement and consistency
Emotional regulation that makes co-regulation possible
Breathing room for creativity, collaboration, and reflective practice
A team environment where educators feel seen, heard, and valued
This isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s a strategic, evidence-informed leadership capacity that supports educator wellbeing, workforce sustainability, and improved outcomes for children.
Example: At one service, weekly planning meetings had become rushed and task-focused. Educators ticked boxes but left feeling depleted. When the Educational Leader slowed the process down, focusing deeply on just one or two learning stories each week, something shifted. Deeper insights emerged, team reflection strengthened, and meetings flowed with more intention. Educators left feeling inspired, and the program became more meaningful and responsive.
This is what happens when leaders intentionally align slow pedagogy with relational, brain-aligned leadership: trust grows, culture strengthens, and the work feels more human again.
Relational Leadership: The Heart of the Work
At its core, leadership in early childhood is relational. The quality of our relationships, with educators, children, and families, shapes everything else. When leaders embody presence, prioritise relationships over tasks, and communicate with care, they set a tone where others can thrive.
Relational leadership isn’t separate from brain-aligned leadership or slow pedagogy; it’s the heartbeat that runs through both. It’s what allows teams to feel safe enough to be curious, reflective, and courageous.
Future-Proofing Early Childhood Teams Through Conscious Leadership
The world is changing rapidly, socially, technologically, and environmentally with increasing climate-related disruptions and their ripple effects on communities and workplaces. Across futurist and developmental research, the same capacities rise to the surface: attention and presence, self-regulation and resilience, relational and communication skills.
Investing in these capacities isn’t indulgent. It’s future-proofing for our teams, our services, and the children at the centre of our work.
This is where Conscious Leadership and Slow Pedagogy intersect: they offer a grounded, human-centred way to navigate complexity, support educator wellbeing, and strengthen the relational culture of early childhood settings.
Join the Brain-Aligned Leadership with Slow Pedagogy Webinar
On Wednesday, 22 October, I’m hosting a free 60-minute professional development webinar (register anyway even if you can't make the webinar so you'll be sent the session recording, or if you're reading this after the webinar has run sign up to the mailing list so you will be notified next time we run one) :
Brain-Aligned Leadership with Slow Pedagogy in Early Childhood.
Together we’ll explore:
Why fast-paced leadership triggers protect-mode communication
How slowing down supports trust-building and emotional regulation
Brain-aligned leadership strategies grounded in self-awareness and presence
Real-world practices that reshape the tone and culture of your team
When you register, you’ll also receive The Spaces Between Us, a guided discussion tool to help your team explore how presence and communication shape trust and wellbeing.
If this conversation resonates, I’ll also share how the Conscious Leaders Mastermind can support you to embed these leadership practices throughout next year, with structure, community, and spacious accountability (no extra overwhelm required).
In the flurry of year’s end, consider this a pause:
“When the pace picks up, the power of your leadership lies in slowing down.”
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