Autumn 2005

Leadership

What it takes to make teachers leaders

Traditionally, school management has been autocratic, with principals as managers. Teachers have had little voice in establishing policies to improve student achievement. In this report from America, JOHN GABRIEL looks at how teachers can be given more recognition as leaders which in turn will give them more power in determining how schools are managed and organised.

MANY SCHOOLS are making changes to expand teachers’ roles as leaders. For principals, this is a shift from relying on the power of the system to seeking to empower others or, more specifically, a shift from seeking to be in control to letting go of control and building a community of relationships that tends to be self-organizing (Caine & Caine, 2000). Lending support to the need for transformation, Buchen (2000) argues that the only leadership that will make a difference is that of teachers. They alone are positioned where all the fulcrums are for change. They alone know what the day-to-day problems are and what it takes to solve them. They, not the principals, should be the ones to hire new teachers. They know what is needed.

A task force report from the School Leadership for the 21st Century Initiative (2001), undertaken in the United States, echoes these sentiments. It states: Mischaracterised though they often are as incompetent know-nothings, teachers are, paradoxically, also widely viewed as indispensable but unappreciated leaders in the truest meaning of the word. It would be difficult to find a more authentic but unacknowledged example of leadership in modern life.

The report claims that teachers are essential to reform and that they possess skills yet to be fully exploited.

Although administrators hold influential positions in guiding a school toward its goals, it is the teacher leader’s interpretation, support and implementation of decisions that move an organisation forward. They simultaneously deal with myriad obstacles and run interference so that an avalanche of issues does not deluge the main office. If a teacher leader is effective, they will rarely need to disturb an administrator, and what administrator would not appreciate more time to devote to their responsibilities? The teacher leader, in turn, will be better supported by the administrator, ultimately increasing their effectiveness.

But what is teacher leadership? Who exactly is a teacher leader? The charge of the teacher leader can be categorised into four broad areas:

• influencing school culture;
• building and maintaining a successful team;
• equipping other potential teacher leaders; and
• enhancing or improving student achievement.

To be successful in these areas, a teacher leader must be a skillful communicator who can neutralise the resistance that invariably and unfortunately arises from fellow teachers and even administrators. At the same time, teacher leaders must find ways to create a positive climate and sense of community. A negative environment—one that lacks direction, unity, cohesiveness, motivation, shared ownership and professionalism— can permeate teams and infect entire schools, which has a trickle-down effect on student achievement, standardised test scores and morale.

Heads of department in high schools and team leaders in primary schools are such leaders, and they walk a fine line—they are neither teacher nor administrator. They nurture colleagues and teach alongside them, but they also must retain allegiance to their administrators. These teacher leaders possess a semblance of authority but no formal power— only the illusion of power. For example, a department head cannot complete teacher evaluations. They cannot place a memo or letter in someone’s personal file or dismiss a teacher. As a result, they must find other ways to motivate, mobilise and lead teachers. They must rely on intrinsic leadership abilities, knowledge of group dynamics, influence, respect, and leadership by example to boost the productivity of their department.

In myopic schools, the role of head of department is limited to that of a paper pusher. These schools view the teacher leader as someone who will complete the timetable, order books and stationery, maintain inventory and pass along administrative directives to the department. These schools either don’t know how else to capitalise on the strengths of their teacher leaders or are uncomfortable doing so. True, these traditional responsibilities are critical to maintaining the wellness of a school, but in terms of improving the health of an organisation, forward-thinking schools have moved beyond this.

In schools where transformational leadership is present, administrators recognise the potential of teacher leadership to significantly affect the climate, culture and achievement of the school. They are not threatened by a teacher’s influence or exercise of leadership or giving up some control. These administrators strive to encourage and cultivate leadership and make better use of the unique strengths and contributions [that] department heads can bring to school management and improvement (Weller, 2001). At these schools, teacher leaders act as trainers and mentors, observe classrooms so that instruction can be refined and best practices implemented, and attempt to realise a vision or ’reculture‘ the environment. These teachers have a greater voice in shaping programs, supporting the mission and guiding a team toward success.

Yet not all leadership positions are formal in nature. Every school has teacher leaders who do not serve—and may never have served—as official leaders, which is a unique component of teacher leadership. Informal leaders command a great deal of respect; they have much say and sway in determining a team’s climate or the chances of a proposal’s adoption, and they are often sought after for advice. And similarly, not all leadership roles are fixed. Leadership roles will change, shift and evolve over time.

Regardless of their official role in an organisation, most people want to feel that they are part of something significant, that what they do matters and that they are contributing members to a common goal that affects achievement. Teacher leadership meets this need because it creates a greater sense of ownership and community.

Inviting teachers to leadership roles is a means of accomplishing significant change in education. Therefore, schools need to nurture leadership and adequately equip their teacher leaders with the skills necessary to move education further into the 21st century. If we can do this, then we will be well on our way toward true teacher leadership—building a better tomorrow by improving education from within.

References

Buchen, I H (2000). ‘The myth of school leadership’, in Education Week, 19(38), 1–3.

Caine, G & Caine, R N (2000). ‘The learning community as a foundation for developing teacher leaders’ in NASSP Bulletin, 84(616), 7–14.

School Leadership for the 21st Century Initiative (2001). Leadership for Student Learning: Redefining the Teacher as Leader, Institute for Educational Leadership, Washington, DC.

Weller, L D Jr (2001). ‘Department heads: the most underutilised leadership position’, NASSP Bulletin, 85(625), 73–81.

John Gabriel is an administrator at Park View High School in Loudoun County, Virginia, USA.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au