Interventions in the field of early childhood education policy, drawn from global policy flows, are reconfiguring the work of early childhood educators in Australia. One such intervention is the requirement to designate an "educational leader" (EL) in each service for young children and their families. This policy intervention has its origins in England's Early Years Professional Status initiative. This paper compares the pedagogical leader imagined in regulatory reforms with the educational labour described in interviews with childcare educators in Queensland and Victoria, Australia. The paper argues these educators are being called upon to navigate the tension between "imagined" and "actual" policy effects and that this is a key part of the work of educational leadership. Such leadership includes re-constituting "teachers" in early childhood services as "learners" who are "led" by "ELs", requiring major shifts in professional knowledge and practice.