Investing in Leaders: Career Capital as a Strategy for Childcare and Early Years Quality and Inclusion

Sep 16 / Kirstie Jones
Time to invest in you, as a leader.

Be honest - how intentionally is your own professional development planned?
When time and budgets are tight, anything beyond compliance training is usually the first to go. In practice, investment in meaningful development slips down the priority list, especially for leaders and those who hold most responsibility. The EEF’s practice review, 2025, reported that 83 percent of 500 managers engaged in at least one professional development programme in the past year, but lack of budget and time remain major barriers.  Ironically, it has never been more important for those in the childcare and early years sector to be strategic in terms of building career capital, for the sake of children’s development, learning and wellbeing.
The Evidence Base: Professional Development

OECD’s 2021 ‘Starting Strong’ report spotlights a simple truth: when it comes to setting children up for success, what matters most is “process quality” - the everyday interactions children experience. These high quality moments flourish when leaders create purposeful, whole setting policies (OECD, 2021) that are intentionally planned with professional development in mind. Their research pinpoints five key levers for quality improvement, with two standing out above the rest: curriculum and pedagogy, and ECEC workforce development.

Yet, while most childcare and early years leaders champion professional development for their teams, they often leave their own growth at the bottom of the pile. This is a missed opportunity. There is robust evidence that leadership development supercharges retention, engagement and motivation, and boosts organisational performance and sector outcomes (Geerts, 2024; Sakr et al., 2014).

In other words, your professional development shouldn’t be a “nice-to-have”. It’s essential.
The Department for Education’s ‘Golden Thread’ (2021) argues that ongoing learning should run from initial training right through to the most senior leadership roles, a continuous journey, not a tick box event. Of course, with today’s pressures, that ideal can feel out of reach.
But hope isn’t lost. The Nuffield Foundation’s 2023 research highlights persistent gaps in high quality leadership development in England and calls for wider access through digital learning. Critically, they say:
“Connection and reflection, and opportunities to engage in critical and authentic professional learning...support the growth of leaders, the flourishing of their settings, and the children within them,” (Sakr et al., 2023).

Their recommendation? Training providers must build space for authentic relationships and dialogue, not just content delivery.
The Accumulated Career Capital Strategy for Childcare and Early Years Leaders

What Career Capital Means
Career capital is the accumulated mix of skills, networks, and purpose that leaders build over time, and applying it in early years leadership raises process quality and children’s outcomes when embedded through purposeful professional development. Career Capital is unique to you and your professional journey. View it as a kind of currency. Not in the financial sense, but one which, just like having savings or investments, your career capital gives you more choices, flexibility, and influence. It helps you ‘trade’ for new opportunities, better roles, or greater impact. The more you invest in growing your career capital, for example, by building expertise, connecting with others, and sharing your learning, the more valuable it becomes.

The research echoes this analogy, too. Career capital is something you accumulate and manage; you can ‘spend’ it when seizing opportunities, and you can ‘invest’ in it to help your professional life compound and grow (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994; Inkson & Arthur, 2001). It’s often described as the “currency” of modern, dynamic careers, because it’s what moves you forward when roles or environments change. And let’s face it, the sector is subject to constant change!

So, unfortunately while you won’t see it in your bank account, career capital does function as a powerful currency that helps you unlock doors, shape your own path, and create lasting impact, especially in sectors such as childcare and early years education where people, learning, and relationships matter most.

Core 'Knowings' of Career Capital
Researchers point to three “core knowings” of career capital, which is a good starting point for reflection of career capital we have already accumulated, and plan to accumulate:
  • Knowing whom: social ties and networks that unlock learning, support and opportunity.
  • Knowing why: identity, values and motivation that power choices and resilience.
  • Knowing how: knowledge, behaviours and competencies that deliver results.
Researchers later extended the lens:
  • Knowing what: how the sector works, from policy to market dynamics.
  • Knowing when: timing of moves, roles and initiatives.
  • Knowing where: where to learn, who to learn with, and where to spot openings.
That’s a lot to hold, so make it practical. Group it as:
  • Must have capital: the essentials to operate and lead well in context.
  • Nice to have capital: accelerators that differentiate and open optionality.
The rule of growth is simple: keep learning, keep visible, keep connected. Career capital builds through deliberate choices to do meaningful work, join high learning projects, widen networks and share practice. Choose activities that deepen expertise, diversify experience and raise profile. Then repeat! 

Building Career Capital in Practice
Whether your professional development has been neglected of late, or not, evaluating your career capital to date is a good place to start so you know where to grow.

Step 1 - Diagnose: run a quick self‑audit against the 'knowings' and identify gaps tied to your role goals and setting quality priorities.

Step 2 - Design: choose professional development aligned to setting goals, from structured courses to targeted, practice‑embedded modules and coaching, accounting for time and cost constraints.

Step 3 - Do: create protected cycles of practice, feedback and reflection that link back to process quality markers and curriculum priorities.

Step 4 - Demonstrate: evidence gains through observation, monitoring and child outcomes to compound credibility and open next opportunities. Use the evidence you glean from this to build a bank of examples to present during inspection, demonstrate why you deserve a pay raise, boost credibility on your CV, or for use in interviews to secure a new post.

Your 90 Day Starter Plan Weeks

Weeks 1–2: Undertake a baseline audit of the knowings, plus a team skills inventory and current professional development engagement.

Weeks 3–6: select one professional development with clear implementation steps and either coaching or peer network to strengthen “knowing whom”.

Weeks 7–12: implement, collect evidence of interaction quality and share learning in a short internal showcase to build cultural momentum in your setting. Share wider with your peer network to frame discussion, motivate others and build collective knowledge.

Make the case for investing in professional development
If time and budget feel tight, remember this: investing in leadership development pays back in quality, confidence, and credibility. Use these points when making the case to senior leaders or a board.

Inspection readiness
Professional development is non‑negotiable across inspectorates and is treated as a core driver of quality, not a nice‑to‑have. Show that professional development is intentional, implemented, and evaluated; keep clear records of plans, participation, and impact so evidence is easy to surface during inspection. Translate learning into practice. Link training to specific improvements in interactions, curriculum implementation, and children’s experiences. This demonstrates both intent and results.

Quality provision
OECD highlights that ECEC quality “matters critically” for reducing inequality and improving outcomes, with staff qualifications and staff‑to‑child ratios among the key structural indicators that underpin quality settings (OECD, 2025; van Huizen and Plantenga, 2018).

As Andreas Schleicher (OECD, 2025) notes, “Participation in professional development is crucial for all staff to refine and expand their knowledge and skills, as well as bring new research‑based practices to life in the classroom or playgroup.” When professional development is purposeful and aligned to setting goals, it strengthens the daily interactions that matter most.

Leadership development is a force multiplier. There is strong evidence linking leadership learning to higher retention, engagement and motivation, improved organisational performance, and better sector outcomes (Geerts, 2024; Sakr et al., 2014; Douglass, 2019). Leaders set the climate for implementation, coaching and sustained improvement.

What this means in practice
Make professional development strategic: align to curriculum and pedagogy priorities, children's needs and improvement plans.

Protect time: schedule short cycles of practice, feedback and reflection so learning sticks.

Measure impact: monitor changes in interactions, staff confidence, family feedback, and child outcomes; share quick wins and next steps.

Invest in leaders: prioritise leadership PD alongside staff training. The OECD emphasises that leadership is “key to improving and sustaining process quality in ECEC settings,” (OECD, 2025; Douglass, 2019).
 The Business Case

Better leadership learning, better interactions, better outcomes. Expect stronger inspection readiness, improved retention and morale, and a more attractive, capacity-filled setting for families choosing quality.
Key takeaway

Treat career capital like an investment and a currency. The more you build, the further it takes you.
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References

Douglass, A. (2019), “Leadership for quality early childhood education and care”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 211, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6e563bae-en.

Education Endowment Fund (2025) Six things we’ve learnt about the early years professional… | EEF 

Geerts JM. Maximizing the Impact and ROI of Leadership Development: A Theory- and Evidence-Informed Framework. Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Oct 16;14(10):955. doi: 10.3390/bs14100955. PMID: 39457826; PMCID: PMC11505461.

Ince, Amanda; Bullough, Liz; Sahlin, Susanne; (2024) Professional learning for leadership in early years: Comparing Sweden and England. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood , 49 (4) pp. 358-371. 10.1177/18369391241282677. 

OECD (2025), Reducing Inequalities by Investing in Early Childhood Education and Care, Starting Strong, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b78f8b25-en.

OECD (2021), Starting Strong VI: Supporting Meaningful Interactions in Early Childhood Education and Care, Starting Strong, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/f47a06ae-en

Sakr, M., Halls, K. & Cooper, K. (2023) Advancing Leadership Development in Early Years Education via Digitally Mediated Professional Learning: Final Project Report. Available online: https://developingearlyyearsleaders.co.uk/final-project-report/

Sutherland, M.; Naidu, G.; Seabela, S.; Crosson, S. (2015) : The components of career capital and how they are acquired by knowledge workers across different industries, South African Journal of Business Management, ISSN 2078-5976, African Online Scientific Information Systems (AOSIS), Cape Town, Vol. 46, Iss. 4, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v46i4.10

Wohlgezogen, F., & Cotronei-Baird, V. S. (2023). In Search of Responsible Career Guidance: Career Capital and Personal Purpose in Restless Times. Journal of Management Education, 48(2), 180-200. https://doi.org/10.1177/10525629231218941 (Original work published 2024)