Collective leadership and co-creative teaming

Abstract

The problem of practice under investigation in this study was that the organizational learning culture in this small, traditional public school district was not resulting in teacher professional collaboration about instruction. The purpose of this study was to develop that learning culture toward collective leadership and co-creative teaming to enhance student learning and growth. Cycle 1 data collection included observations of meetings designed to support instructional collaboration, a survey of teachers' professional collaboration experiences, and interviews of administrators intended to elicit their perceptions of teacher collaboration and the conditions surrounding it. Cycle 1 findings indicated that teachers and administrators were engaged in a two-way cycle of paternalism, part of a performative culture that encouraged perfectionism. In this culture, teachers were unwilling to try new instructional techniques because those techniques might result in failure. The lack of risk-taking prevented learning and undermined organizational growth. To foster a new paradigm, teachers were asked to design a professional learning and collaboration plan that would support the achievement of the district's strategic goals. Cycle 2 of the research included observations of collaborative planning sessions and co-created lessons, interviews and focus groups with teachers involved in the study, and a review of related artifacts created by students and teachers as a result of the instructional collaborations. Participants identified resources, including agency and support for experimentation, a trusting collegial community, and opportunities to reflect on practice, individually and collectively, as vital to the success of their instructional collaboration routine. Further, the collaborative group evolved into a collective leadership team as they sought to spread what they learned to other colleagues. The impact of the collective leadership team's networking was a shift in the learning culture of the focus district to one of empowered organizational learning. The team seeks to continue their work and study the maintenance and expansion of organizational learning culture in the focus district and beyond.--Author's abstract