Leadership research in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a
relatively new undertaking. It combines leadership concepts from school
research as well as from business. There are common aspects in the
leadership profession, but the context and the mission define the
content of leadership tasks and responsibilities. Data in this
cross-cultural study were collected in Finland, Japan, and Singapore
from 2012 to 2014. Questionnaires were used as the data collection
method and content analysis as the method to explore how leadership
tasks define leadership in the different countries. The project included
100 participants in each country. Analysis in this article focuses on
leadership tasks in ECEC settings in Finland, Japan, and Singapore. The
study revealed that the tasks of ECEC leaders in all three countries are
similar—the two most important leadership tasks are pedagogical
leadership and human resource management—though implementation of tasks
varied based on cultural context. In practice, leaders in Finland spend
most of their time in line with the two issues considered most
important, leaders in Japan spend their time on service and human
resource management, and leaders in Singapore spend their time on
pedagogical leadership and service management.