The Relationship between Teacher Leadership and School Climate: Findings from a Teacher-Leadership Project

Abstract

A positive school climate and teacher leadership have both been shown to have beneficial effects on student achievement. This study was part of a wider research effort designed to assess the effects of a teacher-leadership development project. We hypothesized that there was a positive relationship between teacher leadership development and school climate. Seventy project participants from two cohorts responded to a teacher-leadership survey and 891 personnel from 42 schools from which participant teachers were drawn responded to a school climate survey. We found that, generally, there was little relationship between school climate and teacher-leadership development. However, a more fine-grained analysis showed that, for Cohort 2, schools that encourage teacher-to-teacher interactions are likely to see personal growth and development in teacher leaders in their staff. Additional findings suggest that if teacher-to-teacher interactions are encouraged, then teachers will increase their development as teacher leaders. However, as the results are correlational and not causal, it may be that, as teachers engage more in professional development activities, they encourage more positive teacher-to-teacher interactions in their school.