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Contemporary Teacher Leadership

Critical Reflection

Teacher leadership is described by Neumerski (as cited in Cheng & Szeto, 2016) as independent

from the formal leadership roles within the school. According to Cheng & Szeto, (2016), a teacher

leader is any teacher that contributes to the improvement of the school, or overall educational practice

(p.141). In our group task, we made a video presentation aiming to persuade principals to implement

our designed school improvement program. Through planning this activity, we have become teacher

leaders (Cheng & Szeto, 2016, p.141). This reflection is based on Schon’s (1983) work and takes the

stance of an ‘on-action’ reflection, which is looking back on our process. Our program was aimed at

improving the student’s personal and social capabilities, by having the students reflect on various topics

in a writing activity implemented during their daily roll call class. Our group worked well together and

did not require many meetings to finalise our implementation timeline for the video presentation.

During our plenary meetings, we collaboratively discussed the expectations of our program outcomes.

We decided, through democratic processes, how we would divide tasks amongst ourselves. The aim

was always to bring overall school improvement to Camden High School.

Hypothetically, our Principal has decided that Camden High School requires a boost in students’

Personal and Social Capabilities. He/she announces this to the staff meeting, where teachers are then

invited to share their ideas. In this circumstance, our group would present their idea to the staff. Once

it is approved, the timeline of implementation can begin in the last term of the year, in order to begin

Week 2, Term 1, of the new year. Planning involves the creation of daily topics for the journals, which

will revolve around the development of the skills demanded in the Australian Curriculum and Reporting

Authority (ACARA) model for Personal and Social Capabilities. All school staff will need to be shown

the procedure. Additionally, written instructions will be created, and taped into all the roll call folders,

so that every staff member, even casuals, can implement the program during roll call. This program for

school improvement will be measured and adjusted, as necessary, after one term of implementation.

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For this process to begin, the Principal simply had to highlight the area for improvement, and his/her

staff stepped-up to improve the school culture. Cheng & Szeto (2016) highlight the assistance of

informal teacher leaders as a “useful strategy for school improvement” as they are usually open to

sharing ideas for innovations (p.140). Furthermore, Zepeda (2013) states that “the Principal […] and

organisational structure of the school must be ready to support teacher leadership. Supporting and

nurturing leadership across the school can help make the work of school improvement more

meaningful” (p.49). Therefore, only through the support of the Principal, and fellow roll call teachers,

can this program work towards school improvement.

Throughout this hypothetical process above, our group of student teachers collaboratively

discussed ideas, and researched them, to arrive at that detailed timeline for implementation. Our group

work was guided by the question of how to improve personal and social capabilities within a school

where there is already a Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) policy, which is not very strongly

referenced in their existing behavioural management. The student’s reflection, demanded in the daily

roll call activity, will influence the overall impact of PBL in improving the school’s culture.

As previously established, through this planning process, we would be labelled as teacher leaders;

Forrest & Moquett (2016) explain that “teacher leadership occurs when teachers collaboratively

participate in decision making in their quest of shared goals and purposes” (p.180). As mentioned

above, we worked well together towards this goal, even when we found it difficult to physically meet

up. We communicated using email, and shared any documents, research, audio file or visual files via

google drive. This collaborative relationship could be replicated within a school environment, as

teachers usually have little time. Our hypothetical situation outlined above will deliver the outcome of

increased Personal & Social Capabilities, because we would constantly improve the program based on

participant feedback at the end of each term. The act of implementing this program would mean the

school’s teachers are learning more about their students, and they are “facilitating communities of

learning, growing and developing professionally and being enquiry based” (Lai & Cheung, 2015,

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p.676). Our program is based on data from academic research, and demands the collaboration of all

school staff, to improve student’s behaviours and capabilities, specifically for their futures.

Teacher leadership involves collaborative interactions. In fact, any action undertaken by groups

of teachers which is aimed at the improvement of the school, or overall educational practices, is

considered by Cheng & Szeto, (2016), to be teacher leadership; whether you are in a ‘formal’ leadership

role or not. The improvement of a school depends upon the innovations of teacher leaders (Cheng &

Szeto, 2016). Any recommended improvements to the school, by teacher leaders, require support to be

implemented; by the Principal and then consistently throughout the school (Zepeda, 2013). Sterrett

(2015) explains; “the bottom line is that each leadership role depends on us moving forward and

growing together to accomplish the goals of the entire school” (p.2). The implementation of the

recommended program will move forward by building teacher relationships; student relationships with

the teachers; and also working towards developing the teaching profession with this form of action

research (Lai & Cheung, 2015). Teacher leaders are useful for providing their individual expertise, and

insight, to implement programs to improve their schools; as Principals cannot do it alone.

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References

ACARA. (2016). General Capabilities. Retrieved Jun 20, 2018, from Australian Curriculum Assessment and

Reporting Authority: http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/general-capabilities

Cheng, A. Y., & Szeto, E. (2016). Teacher Leadership Development and Principal Facilitation: Novice Teachers'

Perspectives. Teacher and Teacher Education, 58, 140-148.

Forrest, S. N., & Moquett, K. D. (2016). Improving Writing of College-Bound Students With Rubrics: An English

Department's Collaborative Journey through Teacher Leadership. The Clearing House, 89(6), 179-184.

Lai, E., & Cheung, D. (2015). Enacting Teacher Leadership: The Role of Teachers in Bringing About Change.

Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 43(5), 673-692.

Schon, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner : How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Sterrett, W. (2015). Igniting teacher leadership : How do I empower my teachers to lead and learn? Virginia:

ASCD.

Zepeda, S. J. (2013). Instructional leadership for school improvement. New York: Routledge.

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