Teacher change beliefs: validating a scale with structural equation modelling

The objectives of the study were to validate a substantiated Teacher Change Beliefs Model (TCBM) and an instrument to identify critical components of teacher change beliefs (TCB) in Malaysian secondary schools. Five different pilot test approaches were applied to ensure the validity and reliability of the instrument. A total of 936 teachers from 47 high-performing secondary schools completed the survey. Structural equation modelling was applied to test the models. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to identify the underlying factors, whereas confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the measurement models. The analysis yielded a three-factor TCBM: (1) discrepancy, (2) efficacy and (3) principal support. The results demonstrated a good fit of the model: normed χ² = 3.156, Tucker-Lewis Fix Index = .987, Comparative Fix Index = .991 and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = .048. The results also provided evidence for convergent validity, discriminant validity and construct reliability. The TCBM is an empirically tested model derived in a local Malaysian cultural education setting. It provides direction for practitioners in planning and designing training programmes of change management for school principals in the enhancement of TCB among teachers in schools. Besides, Teacher Change Beliefs Scale is a promising and welcome tool for both practitioners and researchers. With only nine items, it is easy to administer and not time-consuming.     

The relationship between growth in principal leadership and growth in school performance: The teacher perspective

Using a multilevel multiset time-series model, the present study aimed to examine whether changes in teacher perceived principal leadership practices were associated with the change in school academic performance. Teacher perceived principal leadership practices tapped into various aspects of school process and principal leadership. School academic performance was measured as a school’s average in reading and mathematics at a certain grade level (Grades 5–8) in a certain calendar year (2013–2017). Change in teachers’ perceptions regarding principals’ efforts to improve parent involvement was identified as the single most important teacher perceived principal leadership practice for growth in both school reading and school mathematics performance across grade levels (moderate effect size of .481 in reading and small effect size of .254 in mathematics). Implications were discussed, including the hypothesis of “growth” factors in principal leadership practice.     

小学教师信息化领导力模型构建与应用

教师是推动教育信息化的关键群体。如何最大限度发挥全体教师的内在潜力是深度推进教育信息化工程中亟待解决的现实问题。教师信息化领导力是教育信息化领导力研究的最新发展,是校长信息化领导力的重要补充,也是教师深度参与教育信息化的重要途径。国内外研究表明理论模型是深度推进教师领导研究的重要基础。鉴于此,本研究在深度剖析教师信息化领导力内涵的基础上,从实践范畴的角度出发构建了教师信息化领导力模型,并在此基础上开发了具有较高信效度的教师信息化领导行为量表,以期对推动教师信息化领导力研究起到一定的参考作用。     

Successful secondary school principalship in disadvantaged contexts from a leadership for learning perspective

The paper we present here is part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), which is designed to analyse the characteristic traits of successful leadership in different contexts and countries [Day, C., and K. Leithwood. 2007. Successful School Leadership in Times of Change. Dordrecht: Springer-Kluwer; Day, C., and D. Gurr. 2014. Leading School Successfully. Stories from the Field. London: Routledge]. One subgroup of the Spanish research team participating in the ISSPP at the University of Granada has contributed to the project by carrying out a comparative study of the type of leadership for learning at four secondary schools in disadvantaged contexts. Following ISSPP data collection protocols and using a category system specially designed to analyse the leadership for learning carried out by the four principals, the results show that four secondary schools have principals with a similar traits, dispositions and value systems; however, the secondary schools with the best academic results employed practices and strategies more closely associated with leadership for learning than schools with poorer academic results. The data provided by this study confirm the traits and strategies that the ISSPP has been identifying in successful principals in disadvantaged contexts in various countries. It also serves as a source of reflection and discussion on the type of leadership for learning present in some disadvantaged secondary schools in Spain.     

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.     

A Re-examination of Leadership Style for Hong Kong School-Based Management (SBM) Schools

Leadership style has always been a controversial topic in educational administration and management. Following the recommendation of the Education Commission to introduce school-based management (SBM) into Hong Kong schools in the early 1990s, discussions about the kind of leadership style that is appropriate for SBM schools have never ceased. The government holds a continuing belief that SBM schools work better if they are managed by “better” principals, and emphasises the value of transformational leadership. However, this paper articulates the limitations of that leadership style and argues for complementing it with educational leadership, which purports that principals have an obligation to learn with others about ways of promoting student learning. Secondly, the staff should also be encouraged and helped to carry out certain leadership functions. These arguments are supported by references to the most relevant literature. The discussion is useful to school principals, leaders, and teachers by offering them a better understanding of how to facilitate the implementation of SBM.     

Custom-designed and safe-space coaching: Australian beginning principals supported by experienced peers form pipeline of confident future leaders

Transition from teacher to principal involves both a technocratic response based on ‘yearning for certainty’ that requisite leadership skills will be learned, and a critically-reflexive approach to adopting a new professional identity (Crow and Møller 2017. “Professional Identities of School Leaders across International Contexts: An Introduction and Rationale.” Educational Management and Leadership 45 (5): 749–758, 750). Globally, the maintenance of pipelines of confident and capable principals is a priority, but principal preparation programmes have often been described as decontextualised and inadequate (Cheung and Walker 2006. “Inner Worlds and Outer Limits: The Formation of Beginning School Principals in Hong Kong.” Journal of Educational Administration 44 (4): 389–407). Consequently, without opportunity to develop leadership strategies and reflect critically with a trusted mentor, newly-appointed principals often leave the role prematurely (Marks 2013. “Leadership Succession and Retention: It's Time to Get Serious about a Principal Retention Policy.” Leading and Managing 19 (2): 1–14). This Australian study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a Queensland Department of Education and Training coaching programme for beginning principals, designed to secure future quality leaders. A custom-built philosophy incorporated support from local master principals and a high degree of autonomy. One-on-one interviews with programme participants confirmed that: enduring professional relationships resulted from a safe-space approach; knowledge and understanding of the Australian Professional Standards for Principals (AITSL 2014. Australian Professional Standard for Principals and the Leadership Profiles. Canberra: Australian Government) increased; and feelings of empowerment and control of leadership situations accelerated. For the benefit of leadership pipelines worldwide, new principals in other contexts may be energised to continue with the complex role of being effective school leaders through similar, autonomous and peer-supported programmes.     

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.     

‘Teacher leadership’: values and voice

This article focuses on teacher leadership, an important dimension of the work of the Leadership for Learning network which is the focus of this special issue. More specifically, the article focuses on the launch of a journal – Teacher Leadership – as a strategy for promoting key values: shared leadership, teachers’ leadership of development work, teachers’ knowledge building and teachers’ voice. Material published in the first two issues of this new journal is used to illustrate how these values are realised in action enabling teachers to lead innovation and contribute to the development of professional knowledge. The article begins with an exploration of the place of teacher leadership within the wider context of shared or distributed leadership.     

校长服务型领导如何降低教师情绪衰竭——心理安全感和不确定性规避的作用

提出并检验了一个有调节的中介模型,探讨校长的服务型领导对教师情绪衰竭的影响,以及心理安全感的中介作用和不确定性规避的调节作用。采用服务型领导、心理安全感、不确定性规避和情绪衰竭量表对427名中小学教师进行调查。结果表明:服务型领导对情绪衰竭具有显著的负向影响;心理安全感在服务型领导力和情绪衰竭之间起部分中介作用;不确定性规避调节了服务型领导对心理安全感的影响。结果启示我们要在校长领导提升中推广服务型领导方式,降低教师的工作倦怠;校长应该创造和谐融洽的工作环境,提升教师的心理安全感;校长要重视教师的个体差异,权变性地使用服务型领导。     

Teacher professional development to support teacher professional learning: Systemic Factors from Irish case studies

Teacher professional learning is widely accepted as a mediating factor for enhancing student outcomes. While many teachers across the world engage in professional development (PD) to enhance their professional learning, what is less evident is how to support that learning to result in change following teacher PD. Acknowledging that not all teacher PD needs to result in new practices and change, this paper focuses on a transformative model of PD, focused on implementing and sustaining change. This paper offers evidence of successful implementation and sustainability of practices by drawing from in-depth semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in five Irish case study schools. It reports on the Systemic Factors to support implementation and sustainability of change: Support, Initiative design and Impact and Teacher Agency. Implications are drawn for bridging the gap between knowledge and practice or teacher PD and change within schools.     

A tool for capacity building: teacher professional learning about teaching writing

This paper reports on qualitative research from an Australian, K-6, faith-based school about teachers’ experience of a job-embedded professional learning initiative (the Whole-School Benchmarking of Writing, WSBoW) that was designed to improve teachers’ capacity to apply data-driven decision-making to achieve improvements in student learning. Teacher interviews provided the data about experiences and influences on teching practice. The findings demonstrated that the professional learning initiative provided teachers with a supportive pedagogical tool for focusing their teaching practices on improving student learning. A research based evaluative framework was used as a heuristic to analyse the change initiative. This study used the framework and employed a social constructivist and sociocultural epistemology that recognised the importance of leadership and school context in the development of a culture focused on collaborative communities of practice and data-driven teacher decision-making. The study has significance for leaders, schools and systems that engage teachers in professional capacity building.     

Programmed Instruction for Teaching Anthropology in the Fifth Grade

The effectiveness of an experimental program (EP) in modifying attitudes of principals, teachers, and teacher aides was investigated. Teachers participating in the EP displayed sizable and statistically significant differences in attitudes from those of conventional teachers. These differences reflected EP teachers’ adoption of the EP’s optimism and environmentalistc philosophy regarding the education of disadvantaged children. Attitudes of school principals wherein EP classes were conducted were not systematically influenced. Teacher aides demonstrated significant decrement in attitudinal levels during participation in the EP.     

Changing leadership: Teachers lead the way for schools that learn

This paper presents findings from a three-year, qualitative study of teachers enrolled in a Masters of Teacher Leadership program. Researchers sought to understand the ways teachers’ beliefs about and understandings of teacher leadership were affected by their participation in a formal teacher leadership program, as well as the kinds of actions they took up as a result of this participation. Data indicate three significant ways participants’ work as teacher leaders was developed and enhanced, including: (a) identifying and amplifying their professional voice, (b) deepening and extending their voice as they plan, and (c) reframing their work/shift responsibility through constructing widening circles of influence and impact. Authors identify implications of their research for growing teacher leaders, school improvement and change, changing school culture, enhancing student engagement, and building new structures.     

A comparison of teacher and principal perception of an outstanding biology teacher

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the level of agreement or disagreement between principals and teachers when using established criteria to measure the effectiveness of a biology teacher. To obtain information regarding their perceptions of an outstanding biology teacher, twenty-two principals and forty-one biology teachers were chosen randomly from English-speaking high schools within a 50 km radius of metropolitan Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The measuring instrument was a modified version of Dieter's questionnaire that evolved from his doctoral study of the National Association of Biology Teachers-Outstanding Biology Teacher Award Program. The data collected from the two populations were tested using one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) or by applying normal approximation. Results indicated that both the principals and teachers agree on the relative importance of most criteria, particularly those related to the teacher's classroom behavior and academic background in biology. From such results, it was possible to construct one stereotype of the outstanding biology teacher. A number of recommendations were made from the results of the study, which were directed to the (a) teachers and their professional organization, (b) principals and the school boards, (c) teacher training institutions, and (d) researchers in teacher evaluation.     

Managing change in an integrated school--a Hong Kong hybrid experience

Following the world trend of inclusion in education, many schools in Hong Kong have started including students with special needs in the regular classrooms. Given the unique educational context of Hong Kong as 'East meets West', and given that inclusion is essentially a concept from the West, this paper argues that Hong Kong's integration has its unique hybrid features. This paper reports the experience of one primary school in the process of change in areas of stages of integration, leadership and whole school approach, during a two-year implementation period. Change processes at the school, classroom and individual levels are discussed. A case study methodology is used so that unique characteristics of the school in its naturalistic settings can be captured. Data were obtained from observation, documentary analysis, individual and group interviews of different school stakeholders: the principals, parents, teachers, resource teachers, and guidance personnel. Implications of findings to schools in Hong Kong and other countries facing similar issue in parallel and mixed cultural settings are discussed.     

Theoretical perspectives on mathematics teacher change

In this review essay we critically examine issues raised by authors whose work is published in the two Special Issues of JMTE (Part 1, 13.5 and Part 2, 13.6) on Mathematics Teacher and Mathematics Teacher Educator Change—Insight through theoretical perspectives. While the authors have drawn on a wide range of theories and approaches, we have chosen to view their articles through a single socio-cultural lens to explore responses to the two questions that motivated these Special Issues: (1) How are opportunities created for teachers to change themselves? (2) What do (university-based) researchers learn from working with teachers?     

Scaling up strategies for change: change in formative assessment practices

This article discusses some of the results of the CATCH (Classroom Assessment as a basis for Teacher Change) project. CATCH was meant to develop, apply and scale up a professional development programme designed to change teachers’ instruction by helping them change their formative assessment practices. The authors focus on the analysis of three consecutive rounds of structured interviews with CATCH teachers in two US school districts. Regarding teacher changes through participation in this programme, changes in attitude toward assessment as well as in their classroom practices were found for all participants from both research sites. Some striking attitude changes were related to the so‐called assessment pyramid, a crucial element of the CATCH professional development programme. The interviews also revealed which sources of support teachers thought were important to help sustain these changes in their classrooms, schools and school districts. Evidence of scaling up and dissemination of presented ideas, ideas ‘travelling’ to other curriculum areas, larger groups of teachers and other grade levels was also found. Appropriate organizational structures have enabled ‘travel’ on a district level.     

The influence of high-stakes testing on teacher self-efficacy and job-related stress

In the United States, teachers’ job-related stress and self-efficacy levels across all grades are influenced in some manner by the demands of high-stakes testing. This sequential mixed-methods study aimed at examining the dynamics among assigned subject matter, teacher job-related stress, and teacher self-efficacy in a large south-eastern Texas school district. Quantitative data were collected via the High Stakes Testing on Self-Efficacy and Teacher Stress Survey from a convenience sample of 145 teachers, while qualitative data were gathered during focus-group sessions at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Findings indicated that assigned subject matter did not influence teacher self-efficacy, but did influence teachers’ job-related stress. Additionally, a relationship was found to exist between teacher job-related stress and teacher self-efficacy. Teachers reported lack of time, modifications to curriculum, and testing of special education populations as contributions to their job-related stress, and school leadership and educational triage as impacting their teacher self-efficacy.     

Empowering teacher leadership: a cross-country study

ABSTRACT

The contextual, purpose-driven challenges facing schools and school systems across the world call for creative and innovative responses to revitalize school practices. The process of revitalization will require new thinking, new mindsets within an adaptive school culture and new leadership roles (formal and informal). Often the perception of leadership held within a school is that it is the province of the principal; however, if we move from a top-down model of leadership we can ulitize the capacity of others within to lead the learning. To enable this to happen, teacher leaders need to work with agency and principals need to nurture and grow their formal and informal leadership roles within the school. For many teachers, the question is how they can establish and commit to leadership roles and responsibilities within the school community while remaining in a teaching position. This case study examined the practices of teachers as they experienced leadership across three cross-cultural contexts: Colombia, Canada and Australia. It presents exemplars of teacher leadership in action and provides images of teacher leadership as enacted in addition to an understanding of the factors that were important in supporting their leadership actions.