How Teacher Leadership is Demonstrated

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 How Teacher Leadership is Demonstrated

Teacher leadership may be exercised in any area of school life. This framework for teacher leadership is divided into three areas, school-wide policies and programs, teaching and learning, and communications and community relations. Each area contains three or four smaller areas, as illustrated in Figure 2. 1. For example, Margaret's concept of the big lesson initially involved a different relationship with a community agency that later affected instructional practice. Tom's interest in differential participation rates by different groups of students focused initially on instructional practice but had implications for student assignment to classes.  And Elena's looping project squarely concerned the school's organizational structure.

Furthermore, teacher leadership is exhibited in any number of settings in the school, within one's own instructional team or department, throughout the school, or beyond the school in the district, the state, or oven the entire nation for example, Tom's effort in his high school was conducted. Primarily within the math department, although it spread to the entire school and beyond. Fianna's efforts in looping affected the entire school right from the outset. Margaret's BIG Lesson began as a project in her own class but has now spread across the state. Teacher leaders who operate at the state and national levels are the voice of teachers on state policy boards. Or on broader curriculum committees.

None of these settings is to be preferred over any other, they are simply different locations of work. Furthermore, it is sometimes more of a challenge to convince one's close colleagues to attempt a new approach than it is to promote something on a state or even national level, a department or team is more like family and may be more critical of one's ideas These settings, together with the areas of School life in which teacher leadership might be demonstrated, are summarized in Figure 2.1 In part II of this book, examples of teacher leadership activities in each of the three settings will be provided for each area of school life.

The concept of teacher leadership recognizes the daunting challenges confronting Schools of the 21st century and the need for schools, as organizations, to meet those challenges through innovative Structures. Clearly, the strict bureaucratic hierarchy is not sufficient, nor are other approaches that place teachers in the role of receiver of accepted wisdom, rather, to bring the best to bear on the Challenges of education, the engagement of teacher leaders in the enterprise is an important component of any improvement strategy.

Teacher leadership is an idea whose time has definitely arrived. The profession, through the work of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, has identified the Characteristics of accomplished teachers and has devised methods for recognizing that level of performance. In recognizing that level of performance leadership. The time has come to render the same service for those teachers who choose to remain primarily teachers of students, but who have the inclination and the skill to extend their reach. The framework for teacher leadership represents a movement in that direction.

Teacher leaders, as described, can make a substantial contribution to a school's mission of educating all students, but to make that contribution, teacher leaders must emerge. There are several issues involved in promoting and sustaining teacher leaders in schools. That is if educators find the description of teacher leadership in the chapter we learned persuasively and they want teachers to develop and exhibit the skills describes in another chapter, in a positive culture outlined in a particular chapter, in the areas of school life described in some chapters, it is essential that both the conditions and capacity of the school support these teachers. There are many factors involved. Including the actual skills of teachers.

Several factors can inhibit the development of teacher leadership. Again, there are both cultural and structural factors. Cultural Factors.

Culturally, inhibiting factors are primarily related to traditional norms of privacy and the solidarity of teachers in a hierarchical structure.

Administrators are threatened by teacher leadership. Teacher leaders cannot emerge if principals and assistant principals jealously guard their turf and insist on maintaining rigid control. The hallmark of teacher leadership, after all, is taking initiative. Teachers will seldom act on an idea if they sense that they will be beaten down at the outset by a principal who can't tolerate an invasion of her perceived area of sole responsibility. Teacher leadership can't thrive in an atmosphere of fear. As noted, earlier administrators' reluctance to cede control over key functions of their role is self-defeating in the end. The vast and complex responsibilities of site administrators have evolved in such a manner as to extend beyond the expertise and energy of all but a very few extraordinary individuals. Administrators need the active engagement of teachers on their staff in school beyond teaching students. Furthermore, in one of the enduring paradoxes of leadership, when principals when the conversation and permit teachers to take initiative in important matters of practice, their own authority is enhanced.

Some administrators may fear that when teacher leaders take initiative with a new project or approach, they will stir up a hornet's nest. That is, if there are underlying and unresolved tensions in the school, principals may fear that opening the door to greater teacher expression and leadership may release negative energy that they would prefer to keep under control. This could be seen as a real obstacle to teacher leadership, but the true obstacle lies in the underlying tensions, indeed, great, teacher expression and initiative might prove to be the first step in resolving them.

Teacher reluctance, many teachers are reluctant to step up to propose a new program or idea, they feel, they are stepping over the line of acceptable behavior. Alternatively, some teachers simply don't see themselves as leaders and would never describe themselves using that word. One teacher even said that if the term were used, she would run the other way ''I see myself as a third-grade teacher, not a teacher leader" she said in fact, some teachers who achieve certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards don't even announce it in their school for fear of being looked askance by their colleagues. The Australians have a vivid term for this phenomenon. The 'tall poppy syndrome' is when poppies that grow too tall get cut off so they are the same height as the others.

One source of teacher reluctance is captured in the phrase 'I just want to teach...' Indeed, teaching well and engaging in ongoing professional improvement can be a lifelong endeavor. Teachers who elect not to become teacher leaders in the sense described in this article are no less professional than those who are, they are just putting their emerging into refining their craft within their own classrooms rather than extending beyond it. But this does lead to the question of whether teachers should be spending their time on projects requiring leadership when they could be improving their teaching this question has no definitive answer, although the ability to teach to at least a certain standard of excellence is an essential characteristic of a teacher who is considering taking on leadership activities. However, the projects undertaken by teacher leaders typically serve to improve the teaching of the teacher leaders themselves while enabling them to extend their influence in the school that is, by taking initiative in their schools, teacher leaders generally reflect on their own practice, resulting in improved teaching, indeed, it is precisely their expertise that gives credibility to the efforts of teacher leaders with other teachers.

Another source of teacher reluctance to assume leadership activities results from a lack of confidence. A teacher might believe that he simply does not have professional insight or expertise that could be of value to others, in addition, some teachers might believe that even if they were to suggest a project, others would not be interested in becoming involved. This may be simply a matter of confidence, alternatively, it could be a matter of skill unless teachers have somehow acquired the complex planning and facilitation skills involved in leading others, they may not know how to go about its administrative support can resolve both of these issues, the matter of leadership skills.

Cultural Factors

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Chamuditha Lanka