The intensification of work has become a defining feature of contemporary working life across many sectors. Growing expectations, accelerated work rhythms, and the increasing complexity of daily tasks shape how professionals experience and make sense of their work. In early childhood education and care (ECEC) centre leaders’ work is increasingly characterized by simultaneous demands, extensive administrative responsibilities, pedagogical leadership, and the need to respond rapidly to changing organisational and societal expectations. As ECEC units have expanded and expectations regarding pedagogical quality have risen, leadership work has become more complex and demanding (Heikkinen et al., 2022). Against this backdrop, it is critical to understand how leaders themselves discuss and make sense of their work in an era marked by intensifying demands. 

The aim of this study is to examine how ECE centre leaders describe their work within a rapidly changing professional landscape and how a work-related sense of coherence (work-SoC) is reflected in their accounts. In addition, the study explores the types of arrhythmias or disruptions that challenge or undermine centre leaders’ sense of coherence at work. 

 The central theoretical concept in the study is work-related sense of coherence (work-SoC), which is based on Aaron Antonovsky’s concept of sense of coherence (SOC; 1979, 1987). The work-SoC consists of three dimensions. Comprehensibility, referring to the extent to which one perceives work-related experiences as structured and predictable; manageability, the perception of having the resources to meet work demands; and meaningfulness, the sense that work is worthwhile and emotionally engaging (Bauer & Jenny, 2007).  

In this study, disruptions that weaken work-SoC are approached through the concept of arrhythmia (Lefebvre, 2004). Arrhytmias refers to moments where the flow, order, or logic of work appears disrupted, reflecting the tensions that arise when intensified work rhythms collide with the need for clarity, manageability, and meaningfulness. This phenomenon is known to involve multitasking, the compression of tasks into shorter time frames, and the accelerating pace and efficiency demands that shape everyday work. By analysing how these elements surface in leaders’ descriptions of their work, the study contributes to understanding how intensified working conditions affect leadership in ECEC and how leaders make sense of—and strive to maintain coherence within—their increasingly demanding roles.  

Prior research has consistently shown that a strong work-SoC is associated with better work-related wellbeing, greater resilience in the face of stress, and improved coping with demanding situations. Thus, examining how these dimensions appear in leaders’ speech offers insight into their work-related wellbeing in a rapidly changing environment. Also, by addressing the moments of fragmentation in center leaders’ accounts, the research aims to understand the conditions under which work-SoC is strained or restored within the complex context of ECE leardership. 

Research questions are: 

1. What kinds of interpretative frames regarding the work-related sense of coherence can be identified in the speech of ECE centre leaders? 

• In what ways do these interpretative frames reflect comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness in work? 

2. How do arrhythmias become visible in the interpretative frames of work- SoC? 

While previous research on work-related sense of coherence has relied primarily on quantitative methods and validated scales, this study adopts a qualitative approach to foreground the temporal dimensions of work. The data for this study is comprised of focus group interviews conducted with ECE centre leaders, collected during the evaluation project Current State, Strengths, and Development Areas of Leadership in Early Childhood Education, conducted by the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC). The dataset includes a total of nine focus group interviews, each involving 3 to 5 participants. The duration of the semi-structured interviews was 1 to 1.5. hours each. The discussion themes were provided to participants in advance. Data collection was carried out partly via Microsoft Teams and partly through face-to-face interviews. The conversations were recorded by the interviewers, and an external party transcribed the recordings. These transcripts were obtained from FINEEC for the purposes of this study. The themes addressed in the interviews included, for example, management structures, expectations related to the work, and the support provided at various levels. The researcher first familiarised herself with the data by reading the interview transcripts in full, which allowed the identification of preliminary components and supported the more systematic frame analysis. In the actual evaluation project, however, this data was not analysed from the perspective of work‑SoC. Using frame analysis (Goffman, 1974), the study aims to identify the interpretative frames through which ECE centre leaders construct, negotiate, and narrate their sense of coherence at work. In addition, Lefebvre’s (2004) rhythmanalysis is employed as a complementary analytical lens to examine how the rhythms of time, space, and everyday practices structure leaders’ work and how disruptions or arrhythmias in these rhythms challenge their sense of work-related coherence.

In the preliminary findings, four distinct frames were identified in how ECE centre leaders talk about their work-SoC. Across these four frames, ECE centre leaders describe varied ways of making sense of their work in the context of intensifying demands. The first frame, Negotiating and Resisting Demands from Higher Organisational Levels, shows how leaders position themselves differently when responding to topdown directives. These positions reflect differences in work-SoC, particularly manageability and meaningfulness: influence and negotiation strengthen work-SoC, while imposed obligations weaken it. The second frame, Constructing the Meaning and Scope of Work Tasks, captures how leaders define what is essential in their role. Some feel distressed about lacking time for everyday interactions with children—moments that they regard as meaningful in their work. Others emphasise building competent teams that allow them to focus on broader responsibilities, such as development of the pedagogy. These contrasting understandings of meaningful work are related to work-SoC: alignment with personal values strengthens coherence, whereas drifting from meaningful tasks reduces it. In the third frame, The Simultaneous Presence of the Past and the Future, leaders compare current work with the past to make sense of increasing demands, while also expressing constant pressure to anticipate future reforms. Past, present, and future intertwine in their narratives, shaping a multitemporal experience of leadership. Work-SoC is stronger when leaders can situate changes in their work within a coherent temporal trajectory; contradictions or unpredictability weaken it. The fourth frame, Structural Arrangements Within the Organisation, highlights how organisational structures can either support or undermine leaders’ ability to manage their work. Participatory and well justified structures strengthen work-SoC, whereas unclear or imposed structures reduce comprehensibility and control. Finally, ongoing analysis suggests that work-related arrhythmias—such as interruptions, strict deadlines, and technology driven disruptions—further shape leaders’ experiences of coherence in their intensifying work environments.

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