Educational researchers contend the field must move beyond descriptions of professional development and teacher learning as linear and causal (e.g., Desimone, 2009) toward a more complex perspective; “identifying the edges of generalizability and variation that characterize the patterns of processes and interaction” which lead to sustainable change (Opfer & Pedder, 2011, p. 396). To accomplish this multidimensional analysis, Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond (2004), challenge researchers to map “the links between the macro-functions and micro-tasks” for insight into the development and enactment of leadership competencies (p. 14). Such an approach requires close examination of the bi-directional interactions among individuals’ unique learning histories and the structures or systems of their environment. Acknowledging and responding to the complexity inherent to such iterative processes provides insight into the “the initial conditions, contexts, and circumstances within which learning emerges in open systems and proposes that, under certain circumstances, it may be possible for agents to initiate certain causal sequences” (Cochran-Smith, Ell, Ludlow, Grudnoff, & Aitken, 2014, p. 16).
Arguably then teacher leadership development may be best understood and researched as an instance of organized complexity in which “recursive interactions between systems and elements… coalesce in ways that are unpredictable but also highly patterned” (Opfer & Pedder, 2011, p. 379). Using this lens, teacher leadership is an example of emergence, of how local decisions and interactions give rise to more sophisticated, systems-level order (Johnson, 2001). Adequate response from the educational research community to this contemporary conceptualization of teacher leadership requires increased attention toward questions of what facilitates the development and application of teachers’ knowledge, skills, dispositions and understandings toward transformative leadership practices (Mayrowetz, 2008). When researchers better understand the development process of teacher leaders across multiple contexts, the potential to facilitate the emergence of new leaders, and in turn enhance the capacity of a school community, enters the realm of proximal change.
Therefore, this empirical study describes the validation and expanded understanding of an emergent theory of teacher leadership development, which has demonstrated efficacy within the Unites States and Scotland (Author, 2014). The validation processes prompted self-identified teacher leaders to utilize a theoretical model to reflect upon and articulate their individual leadership transformation processes. Findings describe (a) enhanced understanding of the knowledge, skills, and experiences perceived by teachers to be critical in the development of core teacher leadership competencies; and (b) new insight regarding the recursive impact of contextual systems on individual teachers’ perceived ability to advocate for and catalyze school and community change.
