Moving teacher leaders to the front line of school improvement: Lessons learned by one Australian research and development team

Edited book (chapter)


Conway, Joan M. and Andrews, Dorothy. 2023. "Moving teacher leaders to the front line of school improvement: Lessons learned by one Australian research and development team." Webber, Charles F. (ed.) Teacher Leadership in International Contexts. Switzerland. Springer. pp. 301-309
Chapter Title

Moving teacher leaders to the front line of school improvement: Lessons learned by one Australian research and development team

Book Chapter CategoryEdited book (chapter)
ERA Publisher ID3337
Book TitleTeacher Leadership in International Contexts
AuthorsConway, Joan M. and Andrews, Dorothy
EditorsWebber, Charles F.
EditionStudies in Educational Leadership
Volume35
Page Range301-309
Chapter Number12
Number of Pages19
Year2023
PublisherSpringer
Place of PublicationSwitzerland
ISBN9783031257629
9783031257636
ISSN1572-3909
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25763-6_12
Web Address (URL)https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-25763-6_12
Abstract

This chapter presents the work of the Leadership Research International (LRI) team at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), Australia, with a deliberate focus on placing teacher professionals at the forefront of school improvement initiatives. This action emerged from early LRI research findings in Australian projects identifying factors contributing to school effectiveness. Findings of the 1990s, followed by field-based research from 2000 to 2002, established the importance of teacher leaders influencing beyond the classroom working closely with principals to enhance student-learning outcomes. Two decades of research and development by the LRI_UniSQ have continued to strengthen the earlier published teacher leadership framework and a concept of whole school leadership termed Parallel Leadership for school improvement. Research that is more recent has raised questions about sustaining the role of teacher leaders, especially their informal role in schools. It has also become obvious that the sustainability of action depends on the capacity of the principal and systems to sustain processes within schools to enable teacher leaders to thrive.

Findings from current LRI_UniSQ research highlight a movement toward a structural response to the phenomenon of teacher leadership. We posit that, more than ever before, teacher leadership through principled action needs to shape meaning for children, youth, and adults. This calls for an urgent need to reinvigorate the organic nature of teacher leadership and embrace the importance of advocating and providing agency for teachers leading beyond the classroom.

KeywordsTeacher Leadership ; School Improvement; Educational Leadership; Research and Development
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390401. Comparative and cross-cultural education
390305. Professional education and training
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Byline AffiliationsUniversity of Southern Queensland
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