Leadership redefined: an evocative context for teacher leadership

This article is a report of a low cost case study in a small primary school. The school has instituted several democratic procedures that involve pupils and staff in leadership activities such as reviewing policies and appointing staff. The study sheds light on Hargreaves (2001) capital theory of school improvement, indicating that a dimension should be added. It then examines the theories implicit in HMI (2002b) and finds that they ignore a major consequence and benefit of the citizenship education observed in the study. Finally, it is argued that if the re-culturing envisaged by Furman and Starratt (2002) was extended to include structural changes that placed value on pupils' insights and knowledge, even greater improvements in education would be available.     

Teacher professional leadership in support of teacher professional development

Counteracting perceptions of teaching as a profession with a flat career trajectory may require professional leadership opportunities for experienced teachers that differ substantively from those typically available. This evaluation study investigated the results of a professional development initiative for subject specialist teachers seconded to a leadership role in their curriculum areas. Interview and survey data supported teacher growth in subject expertise and leadership capacity attributed to the opportunities provided by the new teacher-leadership role. The findings of this study indicate expanded leadership roles may further develop experienced professionals while simultaneously supporting teacher knowledge during a period of embedding educational reform.     

Preparing teacher leaders: Perceptions of the impact of a cohort-based, job embedded, blended teacher leadership program

This qualitative study was designed to examine teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of the impact of a graduate program designed to prepare teacher leaders. Impact was investigated through interviews with 20 graduates and 6 principals. Using Mezirow’s concept of transformational learning, the study documents perceived transformation of teachers’ frames of reference: two related to teaching (adopt an inquiry stance; learn to view oneself as an autonomous professional), and two related to leadership (adopt a leadership stance; view student learning as a communal responsibility). The study includes implications for the design of graduate level teacher education programs to enhance their impact and effectiveness.     

The teacher leadership process: Attempting change within embedded systems

This embedded case study examines the leadership practices of eleven teacher leaders in three urban schools to identify how these teacher leaders attempt to change the teaching practice of their colleagues while working as professional learning community leaders and as mentors for new teachers. Using a theoretical framework integrating complex systems theory with Kotter’s (Leading change. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1996) eight steps for leading organizational change, we analyze the work and perspectives of individual teacher leaders, and we examine how teams of teacher leaders and principals function collectively in their efforts to lead instructional change. Our findings have implications for schools seeking to utilize teacher leadership as a reform strategy for authentic instructional improvement.     

Predicting teacher emotional labour based on multi-frame leadership orientations: a case from Turkey

Human behaviours in organisations are closely associated with leadership styles. The main purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between teachers’ perception about multi-frame leadership orientations of principals and teachers’ emotional labour. The study is based on Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames Model, and, therefore, the Leadership Orientation Scale and Emotional Labour Scale are used. The participants of this research are 570 teachers. The teachers’ perceptions showed that school principals tend to mostly use political and structural frames. In addition, teachers consider themselves as having a high level of genuine emotions. It was also found that school principals’ leadership orientations are significant predictors of emotional labour.     

The color of innovative and sustainable leadership: Learning from teacher leaders

In this article, I address how teachers in urban and suburban U.S. schools with multicultural and multilingual student populations demonstrate leadership both within their classrooms and schools as well as outside of them. Based on research with U.S. public school teachers in two projects (Nieto What keeps teachers going? New York: Teachers College Press 2003, Why we teach. New York: Teachers College Press 2005), various roles that teachers have in initiating, putting into practice, and sustaining change in schools are described. Implications for policymakers and administrators are then briefly explored.     

Principal leadership practices in exploiting situated possibilities to build teacher capacity for change

This paper attempts to identify leadership practices of school principals as they engaged in exploring and exploiting possibilities in and around the school contexts to build teacher capacity for change. Based on interview data of school principals, this paper shows that principals from different schools engaged in qualitatively different practices when they led their schools in building teacher capacity for school improvement. Three approaches to teacher development are identified, namely deficit approach, interactive-growth approach and participatory-growth approach, each delineating a unique set of teacher capacity building practices, teacher learning activities and contextual conditions in which they occur. Implications for developing efficacious principal leadership in teacher capacity building are discussed.     

The heart of school improvement: a multi-site case study of leadership for teacher learning in Vietnam

This study addressed the research question: How do Vietnamese principals lead the professional learning of teachers? The research was comprised of a multiple-site case study of leadership and teacher learning in four Vietnamese schools. Qualitative data analysis aimed at identifying modal practices adopted by these Vietnamese principals to lead teacher learning in their schools. The research identified four key leadership practices: moral purpose, collaboration, learning support, and motivational strategies. The findings support assertions for a broad set of globally-relevant school leadership practices as well as the need to adapt these to the cultural context of specific schools.     

The multilevel impact of transformational leadership on teacher commitment: Cognitive and motivational pathways

A growing body of research indicates that transformational leadership affects teachers’ commitment to their school. The present study aims to investigate the processes explaining this effect at the organisational level. Using a sample of 660 teachers within 50 primary French‐speaking Belgian schools, the authors test a model hypothesising that the impact of the school principal's transformational leadership (as an organisational‐level construct) on teacher commitment to school is mediated by school culture strength (cognitive pathway) and teacher collective efficacy beliefs (motivational pathway). Results of multilevel analyses largely support the theoretical model, but show that schools have a limited impact on teacher commitment.     

数量结构中的“每”和“每隔”

本文对现代汉语中由“每”和“每隔”构成的两种数量结构进行具体的分析,通过“每式”和“每隔式”的变换比较其异同,从而揭示两种表示“每”的数量结构对应式的表意特点。     

做一个迈考特那样的教书匠

《教书匠》一书的作者是普利策奖得主弗兰克.迈考特继《安琪拉的灰烬》后的最新力作,以不动声色、辛辣诙谐的文字,讲述了一个伟大的教书匠从教30年的苦涩与甘甜。     

如果我是一名教师

我如果当中学教师,决不将我的行业叫做"教书",犹如我决不将学生入学校的事情叫做"读书"一样。书中积蓄着古人和今人的经验,这些固然是学生所需要的,但就学生方面来说,重在消化那些经验,使之成为自身的经验,尤其重在能够随时随地就事事物物得到新经。说了"读书",便把这个意思抹杀了,好像入学校只需做一些书本上的功夫。因此,说了"教书",也便把