Accepted to be published in Educational Management, Administration & Leadership 2014 a) Department of Teacher Education, University of Helsinki b) School of Education, University of Tampere Contact: Tuulikki Venninen, tuulikki.venninen@helsinki.fi Distributed leadership as administrative practice in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care Venninen, Tuulikki a Leinonen, Jonna ab Ojala, Mikko a Introduction Well-educated and well-trained professionals are the key elements in providing high quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) and thus ensuring the most favourable cognitive and social outcomes for children (Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford & Taggart, 2010). Their findings could show that the quality of leaders and managers of ECEC services is related to their level of education and professional development. In addition, quality leadership had positive effects on children’s short and long-term outcomes in both cognitive and social domains. An effective strategy for supporting leaders and managers can be consultation that provides opportunities to receive feedback. Although there is an increasing need for the development of leadership skills, leadership has received only marginal attention by ECEC researchers. Even more important to the impact on child outcomes than the qualification of professionals per se is the ability to create and develop a high-quality pedagogical environment and practices (Taguma,