The concept and practice of teacher leadership have gained momentum in the past two decades. Teachers are assuming more leadership functions at both instructional and organizational levels of practice. Empirical literature reveals numerous small-scale, qualitative studies that describe dimensions of teacher leadership practice, teacher leader characteristics, and conditions that promote and challenge teacher leadership. Less is known about how teacher leadership develops and about its effects. In addition, the construct of teacher leadership is not well defined, conceptually or operationally. Future research focused on the differentiated paths by which teachers influence organizational capacity, professionalism, instructional improvement, and student learning has the potential to advance the practice of teacher leadership. A conceptual framework is offered to guide such inquiry.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3516026.pdf

What Do We Know About Teacher Leadership? Findings From Two Decades of Scholarship

This paper examines the effects of principal leadership and peer teacher influence on teachers’ instructional practice and student learning. Using teacher survey and student achievement data from a mid-sized urban southeastern school district in the United States in 2006-2007, the study employs multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the structural relationships between student learning and theorized dimensions of principal leadership, teacher peer influence, and change in teachers’ instructional practice. The findings confirm previous empirical work and provide new contributions to research on the chain of hypothesized relationships between leadership practice and student learning. Both principal leadership and teacher peer influence were significantly associated with teachers’ instructional practices and English language arts (ELA) student learning. A major contribution of this research is the strong and significant indirect relationships which mediate education leadership and student learning. The results indicate the importance of principals work for student learning because of their indirect influence on teachers’ practices through the fostering of collaboration and communication around instruction.

/pdf/how-principals-and-peers-influence-teaching-and-learning-utb5khrn97.pdf

How Principals and Peers Influence Teaching and Learning

As the limitations of the `charismatic head' theories of leadership in schools have become ever more apparent, there has been a move towards teacher leadership, characterized by a form of collective leadership in which teachers develop expertise by working collaboratively. In this article, the possible benefits of teacher leadership are explored, as well as the possible barriers to and opportunities for making teacher leadership work in practice. It is concluded that teacher leadership could have beneficial effects on school improvement, school and teacher effectiveness and teacher motivation and retention, but that the right conditions need to be in place in order for teacher leadership to flourish. The lack of research on teacher leadership in the UK is noted.

Teacher Leadership: improvement through empowerment? An overview of research.

Teacher leadership is a concept that is gaining increasing interest from both practitioners and researchers. This article presents findings from three case studies in the UK that can be characterized as exhibiting developed, emergent and restricted teacher leadership. Differences and similarities between the schools were examined, leading us to conclude that purposive action by the head, school culture and school structures were the key distinguishing factors. Teacher leadership requires active steps to be taken to constitute leadership teams and provide teachers with leadership roles. A culture of trust and collaboration is essential, as is a shared vision of where the school needs to go, clear line management structures and strong leadership development programmes. In the developed and emergent teacher leadership schools, barriers to teacher leadership were mainly external to the school. In the school we described as exhibiting restricted teacher leadership, internal factors were also key barriers.

Teacher Leadership in (In)action Three Case Studies of Contrasting Schools

This book provides an international review of the current state of teacher education, with chapters from an international group of teacher educators. It focuses on major issues that are confronting teacher educators now and in the next decade. These include the impact of globalization on the profession of teaching, and how teacher education must deal with changing accountability requirements from governments and establish a set of minimum standards acceptable to enable a person to teach. The work also considers aspects of the three major phases of teacher education: the period prior to commencing in the profession, successful induction into the profession, and the ongoing professional development of teachers. Finally, it identifies ways in which new technologies can be used to improve the training and ongoing development of teachers. Cases from different countries are used to provide a rich base of data to help us understand how the profession is moving onwards.

Handbook of teacher education : globalization, standards and professionalism in times of change

The study reported in this article described teachers leaders' views of their roles. In order to explore teacher leaders views, the primary research question was: How do teacher leaders perceive themselves and others as they work in their teacher leadership roles? Using the constant comparative research methodology, the researchers collected interview data from five teacher leaders. When the study results were connected to need disposition theory and the literature in the field, new information on teacher leadership issues emerged. The most important finding was that teacher leaders' simultaneous needs for achievement and affiliation create a conflict in the school workplace that has negative outcomes. Additional findings identified and discussed were: Job satisfaction promotes teacher leadership; a collaborative role is important for teacher leaders as collaboration is the primary method for teacher leadership; and resources are needed to support teacher leadership, especially time. The authors ...

Teacher Leadership: The Needs of Teachers.

Nigel King and Christine Horrocks (2010) provide a functional discussion of multiple topics related to interviewing in their book, Interviews in Qualitative Research. However, the authors present more than just a useful discussion of how to design, conduct, and analyze interviews. They simultaneously introduce the importance of philosophical approaches and ethics in relation to the topics discussed, making connections between these important notions and the qualitative research process they describe. Their practical approach to the topics presented makes their book a wonderful resource for novice researchers.

/pdf/a-practical-approach-to-qualitative-interviews-3rtargxzrt.pdf

A Practical Approach to Qualitative Interviews

This article focuses on the success of the instructional initiative of cooperative learning. It differs from other articles on cooperative learning since it views this instructional initiative as a part of recent school reform, specifically the democratic schools movement. As a classroom level reform initiative, the application of this universal pedagogical method is recommended as a vehicle for teaching democratic principles. However, the actual use of any instructional initiative is typically based on teachers' judgments about its viability. Therefore, we stress the importance of theory, research, and modeling when making judgments about the application of cooperative learning. We hope that this information will enable teachers at all levels to make positive judgments about the use of cooperative learning methods in the classroom. By doing so, teachers have the opportunity to support classroom-level reform toward democratic schooling.

Support for Democratic Schooling: Classroom Level Change via Cooperative Learning.

/pdf/advocacy-for-all-a-21st-century-community-learning-center-19ylgugzki.pdf

Patrice R. Leblanc

Papers

Teacher Leadership: The Needs of Teachers.

A Practical Approach to Qualitative Interviews

Support for Democratic Schooling: Classroom Level Change via Cooperative Learning.

Advocacy for All: A 21st Century Community Learning Center for At-Risk Students.

Youth Court: Advocating for All Children.