Bringing together valuable insights from research and practice undertaken at the world-famous Pen Green Centre, Democratising Leadership in the Early Years illustrates how settings and practitioners can develop and maintain forms of leadership which foster collaborative practices across and within settings and services. Effective leadership is key to establishing socially inclusive and democratic practices and as such, it has become a key concern for policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care. Drawing on authors' first-hand experiences, on systems theory, psychological theory and neuroscience, chapters in this book illustrate the role of highly effective leadership in ensuring that services are accessible, inclusive and innovative. Practical advice will support professionals in overcoming destructive systemic and psychological dynamics to flatten hierarchies, improve relationships, learning and educational outcomes, and to encourage staff, parents, and children to contribute creatively to collaborative enterprises. Accessible and insightful, Democratising Leadership in the Early Years will improve understanding of approaches to leadership and support early years practitioners, students and managers as they develop their leadership skills and build capacity within settings and the wider community.

This comprehensive textbook provides a modern, self-contained treatment for upper undergraduate and graduate level students. It emphasizes the links between structure, defects, bonding, and properties throughout, and provides an integrated treatment of a wide range of materials, including crystalline, amorphous, organic and nano- materials. Boxes on synthesis methods, characterization tools, and technological applications distil specific examples and support student understanding of materials and their design. The first six chapters cover the fundamentals of extended solids, while later chapters explore a specific property or class of material, building a coherent framework for students to master core concepts with confidence, and for instructors to easily tailor the coverage to fit their own single semester course. With mathematical details given only where they strengthen understanding, 400 original figures and over 330 problems for hands-on learning, this accessible textbook is ideal for courses in chemistry and materials science.

Bringing together valuable insights from research and practice undertaken at the world-famous Pen Green Centre, Democratising Leadership in the Early Years illustrates how settings and practitioners can develop and maintain forms of leadership which foster collaborative practices across and within settings and services. Effective leadership is key to establishing socially inclusive and democratic practices and as such, it has become a key concern for policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care. Drawing on authors' first-hand experiences, on systems theory, psychological theory and neuroscience, chapters in this book illustrate the role of highly effective leadership in ensuring that services are accessible, inclusive and innovative. Practical advice will support professionals in overcoming destructive systemic and psychological dynamics to flatten hierarchies, improve relationships, learning and educational outcomes, and to encourage staff, parents, and children to contribute creatively to collaborative enterprises. Accessible and insightful, Democratising Leadership in the Early Years will improve understanding of approaches to leadership and support early years practitioners, students and managers as they develop their leadership skills and build capacity within settings and the wider community.