Quality of Digital Governance in Early Childhood Education Through Adaptive Leadership of Unit Heads in Rural Indragiri Hulu

Authors

  • Erawati Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta
  • Wiwik Wijayanti Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59890/ijels.v4i5.17

Keywords:

Early Childhood Education, Digital, Governance, Leadership, Adaptive, Rural, Quality

Abstract

The quality of digital governance in early childhood education in rural areas remains a critical issue because service digitalization has not always been supported by adequate leadership readiness, quality assurance systems, data literacy, and organizational capacity. This study aimed to map scientific evidence on the quality of digital governance in early childhood education through the adaptive leadership of unit heads and to formulate relevant knowledge gaps as a basis for a preliminary study in the rural context of Indragiri Hulu. A systematic literature review design was employed by referring to the PRISMA guidelines. Further selection was conducted based on abstract relevance, DOI availability, focus on early childhood education, governance, leadership, technology, quality, and the priority of empirical data, resulting in 13 core articles. The findings indicate that digital governance in early childhood education should be positioned as a quality ecosystem that integrates digital documentation, family communication, assessment, datafication, quality assurance, and adaptive leadership. In rural areas, digitalization in early childhood education needs to be designed in a simple, participatory, evidence-based manner that does not increase the administrative burden of education units. This review contributes to clarifying the conceptual foundation for developing digital governance in early childhood education based on adaptive leadership to improve the quality of early childhood services in rural areas.

References

Ali, J. A., Zeleke, B., Adem, B. A., & Golga, D. N. (2026). Normative commitment as the key to early childhood education policy implementation in Somaliland. Discover Education, 5, Article 42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-025-01050-z

Baustad, A. G., Tobiassen, M. L. O., Smeby, K. W., & Flormælen, L. S. (2025). Early childhood education and care teachers’ experiences of using Early Childhood Quality External to assess process quality. Frontiers in Education, 10, Article 1542263. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1542263

Benerdal, M., & Larsson, M. (2024). Understanding datafication in Swedish ECEC through three evaluation imaginaries. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 25(3), 304–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491241273923

Eshaghi, A., Hadley, F., & Wong, S. (2026). The role of distributed leadership in early childhood education: A case study. Cogent Education, 13(1), Article 2654917. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2026.2654917

Fonsén, E., Ruohola, V., Modise, M. R., Mampane, S. T., Phatudi, N. C., Kupila, P., Liinamaa, T., & Elhassan, H. A. M. (2024). Leadership discourses in early childhood education during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa and Finland. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 14(1), Article a1456. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v14i1.1456

Hatzigianni, M., Stephenson, T., Harrison, L. J., Waniganayake, M., Li, P., Barblett, L., Hadley, F., Andrews, R., Davis, B., & Irvine, S. (2023). The role of digital technologies in supporting quality improvement in Australian early childhood education and care settings. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 17, Article 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-023-00107-6

Haugset, A. S., & Finne, H. (2024). Governing early childhood education and care quality development among diverse private ECEC providers in Norway. Education Inquiry, 15(1), 85–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2023.2280291

Heikkinen, K.-M., Ahtiainen, R., Fonsén, E., & Kallioniemi, A. (2024). Leadership as a profession in early childhood education and care. Educational Research, 66(3), 285–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2024.2371352

Irvine, S. L., Barblett, L., Waniganayake, M., Hadley, F., Andrews, R., Hatzigianni, M., Li, H., Lavina, L., Harrison, L. J., & Davis, B. (2024). The quest for continuous quality improvement in Australian long day care services: Getting the most out of the Assessment and Rating process. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1207059. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1207059

Klaas, M. A. N. (2025). Neighborhood characteristics, early childhood education quality, and child development: Insights from rural Indonesia. International Journal of Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-025-00433-5

Kölemen, E. B., & Yıldırım, B. (2025). A new era in early childhood education (ECE): Teachers’ opinions on the application of artificial intelligence. Education and Information Technologies, 30, 17405–17446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-025-13478-9

Lo, H.-C., Wang, T.-H., & Chen, R.-S. (2024). Enhancing critical digital literacy of preservice preschool teachers through service learning: The moderator of online social capital. Sustainability, 16(6), Article 2253. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16062253

Luo, W., He, H., & Li, H. (2024). Chinese model of digital leadership in early childhood settings: A grounded theory study. Early Education and Development, 35(1), 42–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2023.2203614

Merjovaara, O., Eklund, K., Nousiainen, T., Karjalainen, S., Koivula, M., Mykkänen, A., & Hämäläinen, R. (2024). Early childhood pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards digital technologies and their relation to digital competence. Education and Information Technologies, 29, 14647–14662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12237-y

Mulyaniapi, T., Permana, J., Soemarto, S., & Nurdin, D. (2024). Digital leadership influencing the capabilities of early childhood education organizations in School Mover I Bandung. Mimbar Sekolah Dasar, 11(1), 78–102. https://doi.org/10.53400/mimbar-sd.v11i1.63875

Nakajima, N., Hasan, A., Jung, H., Kinnell, A., Maika, A., & Pradhan, M. (2021). Built to last: Sustainability of early childhood education services in rural Indonesia. The Journal of Development Studies, 57(10), 1593–1612. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2021.1873283

Öqvist, A., & Cervantes, S. (2024). Principals in preschool management and leadership: A necessary combination to ensure that preschool teachers are given conditions to be responsible for teaching in preschool. Education Sciences, 14(11), Article 1206. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111206

Paananen, M., Archer, N., Albin-Clark, J., Roberts-Holmes, G., Chung, J., & Siippainen, A. (2024). Staying with the trouble of datafication in early childhood education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 25(3), 285–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491241290587

Papavlasopoulou, S., Undheim, M., & Shinas, V. H. (2024). Early childhood pre-service teachers’ preparation for using technology with children: A systematic literature review. European Journal of Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2024.2341935

Phillips, A. (2025). Supporting early childhood education and care workforce and service quality through governance practices. Education Sciences, 15(3), Article 267. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15030267

Prommaboon, T., Boongthong, S., Pinthong, K., Seesun, P., & Nuangchalerm, P. (2026). Development external quality assessment utilization model for improving internal quality assurance system of the child development center. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 15(2), 1353–1364. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v15i2.34726

Ravines Merino, A. L., Armas Zavaleta, J. M., Mejia Manrique, A., & Castro Mejia, P. J. (2025). Evaluating governance structures in the implementation of early childhood policies: A pathway to sustainable development. Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology, 9(1), 453–467. https://doi.org/10.55214/25768484.v9i1.4158

Riddersporre, B., & Stier, J. (2022). Preschool heads’ notions of digitalized staff-parent communication: The need to move from monocultural to intercultural communication in multicultural Sweden. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 22(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v22i1.24

Sosa-Alonso, J. J., Hernández Rivero, V. M., Sanabria Mesa, A. L., & Bethencourt Aguilar, A. (2025). Adoption of digital educational resources by early childhood education teachers: A fad or a conviction? Computers & Education, 238, Article 105396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105396

Syarifudin, A., & Muttaqin, M. A. (2025). Tech-supported strategic management, digital leadership, and play-based interactive learning: A multilevel survey of quality improvement in early childhood education. International Journal of Educational Qualitative Quantitative Research, 4(1), 47–60. https://doi.org/10.58418/ijeqqr.v4i1.142

Toivonen, H. (2024). Embodied with data: Early childhood education and care centre director’s stories about living with datafication. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 25(3), 333–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491241266317

Undheim, M. (2022). Children and teachers engaging together with digital technology in early childhood education and care institutions: A literature review. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 30(3), 472–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2021.1971730

van der Werf, W. M., Slot, P. L., Kenis, P., & Leseman, P. P. M. (2021). Inclusive practice and quality of education and care in the Dutch hybrid early childhood education and care system. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 15(1), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-020-00079-x

Published

2026-06-02

Issue

Section

Articles