Introduction

This chapter identifies the pedagogical leadership approaches that support the needs of learners in the implementation and embedding of a setting-wide communication project into practice. It focuses on how learning in the adults within the setting led to a community of practice with an improved communication environment for staff and children alike. The chapter presents an understanding of good practice in the current context, examining enablers and barriers to collaborative working and considering the centrality of leadership of learning in this area. It draws on what the research findings suggest for the wider public health agenda, bringing it back to the practitioner and the child’s learning environment at the centre. Research into the communication environment and the knowledge and skills of early year’s practitioners suggests a significant degree of variation in the quality of the communication environment encountered by children in early years settings.