Main Content
Session Information
01 SES 12 C, Professional Learning Cultures and Practices: Supporting teacher leadership
Symposium
Contribution
Whilst the concept of teacher leadership has been around for over twenty years, it has recently enjoyed a resurgence within Scottish education due to its promotion by the Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL). York-Barr and Duke (2004) suggest that teacher leadership can manifest itself when teachers lead professional learning communities (PLCs). However, school-based PLCs have been criticised for being stilted caricatures of what they are really supposed to be (Dewitt 2012; Berry, Zeichner and Evans, 2016). As part of SCELs work, they have developed a new tutor-mediated, blended-learning community of practice; Teacher Leadership Programme (TLP). The programme was designed to act as a collaborative space for achieving a “shared understanding” of teacher leadership and to foreground practitioner enquiry in developing participants’ leadership skills. Its main goal being to support the development of classroom practitioners’ confidence in leading pedagogy within their contexts through the design and implementation of a piece of small-scale practitioner inquiry. In this paper, we present preliminary findings of our evaluation of TLP, focused on determining the extent to which SCEL’s TLP fulfils its stated goals. Data collection tools included; online activity and network analysis, semi-structured interviews and targeted activities on participants’ blogs. Findings suggested, that while participant engagement within the programme was good, in terms of interaction, the level of critical understanding and engagement with the concept of teacher leadership and practitioner inquiry was limited. This was evidenced by the fact that many participants struggled to articulate within their blog posts a critical understanding of teacher leadership. The role of practitioner enquiry within the process needs greater focus. Many participants made strong claims for their findings but due to a lack of challenge around the nature of the inquiry being undertaken and the appropriateness of methods, processes and analysis, much was unsubstantiated. This leads to a dissonance between the confidence building attributed to the project by participants and the basis on which that self-belief is built. It remains to be seen whether it is productive dissonance (Timplerley, 2008) for these individuals moving forwards. In terms of professional learning, SCELs Teacher Leadership programme provides a useful forum for collegial discussion and support for practitioners’ developing sense of leadership within and beyond the classroom. Going forward, the programme team might reflect upon how best to support participants’ to become more constructively critical of their own and colleagues practice.
References
Berry, B., Zeichner, N., & Evans, R. (2016). Teacher leadership: A reinvented teaching profession. In J. Evers and R Kneyber (Eds) Flip the System: Changing education from the ground up. 209-225. Dewitt, P (2012). Professional Development with Andy Hargreaves. [Available online http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2012/05/professional_development_with_andy_hargreaves.html. Last accessed 14/01/2018. Timperley, H.S. (2008) Teacher Professional Learning and Development, Geneva: The international Bureau of Education York-Barr, J., & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Finding from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74 (3), 255-316.
Programme by Network 2019
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
The programme is updated regularly (each day in the morning)
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