International Study of Teacher Leadership: A Rationale and Theoretical Framework

International Study of Teacher Leadership: A Rationale and Theoretical Framework

Previous studies and literature reviews provide a strong base for the International Study of Teacher Leadership (ISTL) (www.mru.ca/istl) (for example, Bond, The power of teacher leaders: Their roles, influence, and impact. Kappa Delta Pi and Routledge, 2015; Frost, International teacher leadership project: Phase 1. University of Cambridge, 2011; Lambert, Leadership capacity for lasting school improvement. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003; Nguyen, Res Educ Adm 58(1): 60–80, 2020; Wenner and Campbell, Rev Educ Res 87(1): 134–171, 2017; York-Barr and Duke, What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255–316, 2004). This chapter begins with a description of the important connections among these seminal works to closely related concepts, such as formal and informal leadership, school culture, professional development, and school improvement.

The chapter continues with an exploration of the levels of comfort and discomfort that existing teacher leadership literature elicits among some members of the international educational community. There are disquieting questions emerging from beyond Western contexts, such as “Are we doing something wrong?” or “Are we trying to force frameworks onto our contexts?” or “Shouldn’t we resist forcing square pegs into round holes?” These uncomfortable questions led to the identification of important needs that are shared in this chapter.

This is followed by a description of the study origins and the formation of the research team. The research design for examining teacher leadership across cultures is offered. The design draws upon previous theoretical and empirical reports but also the mostly unanswered questions that emerge from non-Western contexts: How do school-based educators in my context conceptualize teacher leadership?; How do systems leaders in my context conceptualize teacher leadership?; What are the values, beliefs, and assumptions underpinning teacher leadership discourses where I work?; and How prepared are classroom teachers in our schools to serve as teacher leaders?

The overarching purpose of the ISTL research design and its guiding research question is offered, along with a summary of the multi-year, multi-stage study that is the foundation for this book.

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