Abstract
The notion of teacher leadership is implicit in official documentation in the South African education system post 1994, which emphasises a move towards a more shared and participatory approach to the practice of leadership and management in schools. The concept of teacher leadership is embedded in a distributed leadership theoretical framing which emphasises that leadership need not be located only in the position of the principal but can be stretched over a range of people who work at different levels in a school. We report on a study in which the perceptions of teachers’ on their understanding and experiences of teacher leadership were explored. The study adopted a survey approach and utilised closed questionnaires to gather data from 1,055 post level-one teachers across a range of schools of diverse contexts in KwaZulu-Natal. We found that while teachers supported the notion of shared leadership and believed they were equipped to lead, their leadership was largely restricted to their classrooms. There was some evidence of teacher leadership amongst teacher colleagues in certain curricular and extra-curricular activities. However, teacher leadership in relation to school-wide and community issues was almost non-existent. We signal two problematics regarding the leadership of school teachers and consider the implication of these for the distribution of leadership, and therefore change, in schools. Keywords : distributed leadership; education leadership; power; school management teams; teacher leadership; teachers
Highlights
A major step forward in the South African education system post 1994 has been its move, at a policy level, towards more participation and collaboration in the practice of school leadership and management. the field of Education Leadership and Management in South Africa, determined by the Department of Education, stresses “participative, ‘democratic’ management, collegiality, collaboration, schools as open systems and learning organisations, and, importantly, sitebased management” (Van der Mescht, 2008:14)
We argue that teacher leadership, as but one manifestation of a distributed approach to leadership can be a powerful tool in bringing about school change
Based on the survey data, the study confirmed that teacher leadership was supported at a level of rhetoric, most likely because the concept can be justified because of its ‘representational power’ (Harris & Spillane, 2008) and its leaning towards democratic ideals in schools
Summary
At the heart of this democratising process, is the decentralisation of decision-making in schools (Department of Education, 1996) This policy shift towards a more democratic and participatory decision-making process in schools offers the possibility of and opens up the space for the emergence of teacher leadership. Teacher leadership has as its core “a focus on improving learning and is a model of leadership premised on the principles of professional collaboration, development and growth” (Harris & Lambert, 2003:43). Central to the concept of teacher leadership is the notion of the expert teacher who continually works to elevate her own teaching This view is endorsed by Zimpher who describes how teacher leadership is “an outgrowth of expert practice and expert knowledge” (1988:54). Further roles include but are not limited to reflective practitioner (Day & Harris, 2002), coach (Joyce & Showers, 1982), professional developer (Zimpher, 1988), action researcher (Ash & Persall, 2000) and decision-maker (Griffin, 1995; Muijs & Harris, 2003)
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