The Pedagogical Leadership in the Early Years (PLEY) Quality Rating Scale

With an increasing spotlight on early childhood education and care (ECEC), it's crucial that leaders and teachers in ECEC can evidence their intentions and show how they support the learning of both children and staff, through the promotion of excellent practice, improved child learning and family support. The Pedagogical Leadership in the Early Years (PLEY) Quality Rating Scale will help leaders working in centres with children aged birth to six to achieve their full potential and enjoy the benefits and pleasure of delivering high-quality early education and care, as well as acting as a scaffold to improve their understanding of high-quality leadership for learning.
The Quality Rating Scale (QRS) is a unique tool to uplift leadership quality in ECEC. It is designed to support systematic quality improvement processes in a centre or class and enhance children's learning and development. It supports leaders to be self-reflective; lead and manage themselves; change process quality in their centres; promote intentional and relational learning, pedagogy and curriculum development with staff; and forge diverse partnerships. It democratises assessment, as educators use it for self-assessment, and will be an invaluable classroom tool for all early years leaders of classrooms and centre managers.

Iram Siraj is Professor of Child Development and Education at the University of Oxford and Research Professor at the University of Maynooth, Ireland. She is the co-author of each of the Curriculum, Leadership and Interaction Quality Rating Scales (CLIQRS) and has led several RCTs on effective professional learning. She has previously published The Movement Environment Rating Scale (MOVERS) (2024, Routledge), The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being (SSTEW) Scale (2024, Routledge), Early Childhood Matters (2010, Routledge), Doing Early Childhood Research (2010, Routledge) and Early Childhood Quality Rating Scale - Emergent Curriculum (ECQRS-EC) (2025, Routledge).
Denise Kingston is senior researcher at Oxford University and an honorary research fellow at the University of Sussex. She is a specialist in children's development, with a background in educational psychology. Her research focus is on effective professional development and EC pedagogy and practice. She has previously published The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being (SSTEW) Scale (2024, Routledge) and Early Childhood Quality Rating Scale - Emergent Curriculum (ECQRS-EC) (2025, Routledge).