Exploring the development of teacher leadership: learning from selected South African teachers and members of school management teams.
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Date
2021
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Abstract
The need for teacher leadership development has never been more urgent. The call for teacher leadership is explicitly embedded within South African educational policies, and amidst an ever-increasing educational crisis, the effective leadership of teachers is an absolute necessity.
The call for effective teacher leadership has therefore never been greater. The scarcity of
research on how teacher leadership develops warranted this study.
Drawing from Reichard and Johnson’s (2011) leader self-development theory, Harrison and
Killion’s (2007) ten roles of teacher leaders, and Greenleaf’s (2003) servant leadership theory, this study aimed to do the following: to explore how teacher leaders and school management team members understood teacher leadership work; to explore how teachers and school management team members understood and experienced teacher leadership development; and to determine what lessons could be learnt to inform thinking of how other ordinary teachers could develop into effective teacher leaders as a way forward for the implementation of teacher leadership development. The study employed a multiple case study methodology embedded within a qualitative, interpretivist approach. Multi-perspectival data was generated through semi-structured individual interviews with four effective teacher leaders and four school management team members from three secondary schools in the eThekwini region in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The interview data was supplemented with artefacts and reflective journal entries. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.
The work of the teacher leader participants was categorised into seven focal areas: reflective
practitioners and evolving methodologists, school-wide and community leaders, effective
teacher development agents, mentors leading by example, life and personal coaches, change
agents for school improvement, and mediating bridges between teachers and management. It
was found that their leadership roles developed as solutions to challenges with their learners,
colleagues, schools and communities and was motivated by the teacher leaders’ positive and
willing responses to developmental needs. Moreover, innate factors, such as their life
experiences, personalities, learning dispositions, innate values and personal needs, served as
internal stimuli that directed the teacher leaders’ behaviour and the way they led. The study
revealed that if teachers are willing to use what they have to initiate and nurture their
development, while looking upon contexts and situations as growth opportunities, teacher
leadership development becomes a possibility, even in challenging contexts.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.