Introduction

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, global initial teacher preparation and development has shifted towards enhancing teacher leading in the pedagogical spaces (Heikka et al., 2021). Teacher leaders are responsible for creating a community of learning within their teams where leadership responsibilities are distributed among themselves (Heikka, 2014). The concept of distributing pedagogical leadership roles to teachers empowers teachers to enact leadership roles thereby improving the pedagogical functioning of the multiple professional staff (Heikka et al., 2021). Initial teacher education programs intend to prepare competent teacher leaders who can influence pedagogical leadership, learning, and learning needs, participate in collective decision-making, resources mobilization for teaching and learning as well as involvement in quality pedagogical improvement (Alsubaie, 2016; Contreras, 2016; Male & Palaiologou, 2015). Through the distribution of pedagogical leadership roles, future teachers are able to design ways of creating and evoking synergy within their pedagogical spaces, where collaborative and collective practices are developed within a focused relationship (Afalla & Fabelico, 2020; Jäppinen & Sarja, 2012). According to Contreras (2016) without proper preparation of high-performing future teachers with pedagogical leadership competencies in school management as well as necessary autonomy in decision-making, there can never be a good school or quality pedagogical improvement in the school. This paper there aimed at exploring the ways through which teacher leading is fortified at the initial stages of teacher preparation in the pre-service teacher education programs in Kenya. 

Research Questions

The study was guided by the following questions:

1. How do pre-service teacher education professionals perceive the functions of distributed pedagogical leadership practice?

2. What are the roles of the principal in enhancing teacher leadership through distributing pedagogical leadership responsibilities?

3. What are the challenges faced in the enhancement of teacher leadership through distributed pedagogical leadership practice during initial teacher education preparation?

Theoretical framework

The study was guided by a theoretical framework as advanced by Heikka et al. (2021) and Contreras (2016). According to Heikka et al. (2021) distributing pedagogical leadership is involving teachers in enacting pedagogical leadership to foster curriculum reforms thereby improving the pedagogical functions among the teaching staff. Leadership in a community of practice is a combination of individual and collective responsibilities. This creates an interdependence that helps teachers reach the goals set. Distributed pedagogical leadership is the innermost characteristic of multiple professionals in a learning community where joint tasks and goals are shared (Heikka, 2014). Contreras (2016) opined that teacher leadership is the active participation of teachers in school management in order to generate ideas and ways of improvement and innovation in the community of learning in the school. Teachers and their pedagogical performance in class is the first factor of influences the students' learning (Contreras, 2016).

Context of the study The study was conducted in a public pre-service teacher training college in Kenya. Sample size Data was collected from 257 teacher education stakeholders consisting of the principal, deputy principal, deans, heads of faculties and departments, teacher educators, and student teachers. Method A mixed method approach was employed with an explanatory sequential design used. Data was collected using quantitative inquiry (online questionnaires for teacher educators and student teachers) and qualitative inquiry, four (4) semi-structured interviews were conducted with the principal, deputy principal, the college registrar, and the dean of students.

Teacher leadership was enhanced by empowering teachers to hold various leadership positions as distributed or delegated by the principal. Teacher leadership is highly dependent on the years of experience of the teachers as well as the guiding principles designed by the teachers' employer (Teachers Service Commission). Student teachers acquire pedagogical leadership skills through fellow students’ apprentices in their daily learning situations. Several challenges were cited as those that are faced during the fortification of teacher leadership in initial teacher education. they included limited leadership practice training, resistance and rejection among the stakeholders, limited time to implement curriculum, heavy workforce for teacher leaders, lack of synchronized coordination between the principal and the teacher leaders, lack of parental involvement as well as few teacher educators as compared to the students’ population. The mitigation measures employed included regular consultative meetings, involving as many teachers as possible in delegated leadership responsibilities, collaborative engagements, as well as engaging one teacher educator in more than one leadership responsibility.

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