When university faculty nurture teacher leadership: ‘horizontal’ practices and values in a professor’s work with teachers

Abstract

Content-area university faculty can play a critical role in the trajectories of K-12 teachers into leadership. The purpose of this study is to examine the practices and values of one university faculty member with a long record of work with K-12 teachers, with an aim to offer some guiding considerations as to the potential role of university faculty in developing teacher leaders and/or creating supportive systems in which teacher leadership capacity can develop. Case study data were generated over a three-year period, primarily through interviews with 14 informants who had worked with the case study individual in her interactions with a network of teachers. Findings reveal that at the heart of this professor’s influence on teacher leaderships is an inquiry stance and a ‘horizontal’ orientation to relationships with teachers, both of which can mitigate the anti-collaborative effects of the power differences built into work that cuts across the institutional boundaries of the K-12 and university worlds. These findings suggest some concrete practices that other university professors might adopt in their interactions with teachers; further, they have implications both for further research and for the ways professional learning communities might be inspired and nourished.