A Case Study of Teacher Leadership Practices at an

Alternative Elementary School in Taiwan

Chih-Feng Lai

Graduate Institute of Public Policy

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1. Introduction

• To improve student learning is a key function of school leadership, which is mainly performed by the principal and the teachers (Leithwood & Riehl, 2005)

• Principal leadership, teacher leadership, and distributed leadership.

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• School leadership is considered to mobilize and affect the behavior of other people so as to cohere and achieve the common objective and goal of the school (Leithwood & Riehl, 2005).

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Well-prepared background trainings for teachers allow them to be an effective role in the reformation that is the system actually formed by executors. In a well-planned educational program, there is always an important position for teachers, as actions normally happen there at the end.

----Bruner

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• Teacher leadership is not a new product.• Tracing back to a century before, it existed then

with various styles: the concept of teachers participating school decisions (Danielson, 2006).

• Teacher leaders lead within and beyond the classroom; identify with and contribute to a community of teacher learners and leaders; influence others toward improved educational practice; and accepted responsibility for achieving the outcomes of their leadership (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001)

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• The complete development and operation of a school is closely related to teacher leadership

• Most teachers are not aware of the importance of teacher leadership.

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• Teacher leadership is an idea whose time has come (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001)

• Playing the role of leaders, teachers can influence their colleagues to improve educational practice so that teacher leadership might be essential for school success.

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2. Conceptual framework of teacher leadership2.1 Teachers as leaders

• Teachers should inspect their own beliefs, answer the question of “Who am I” in the educational background

• Evaluate themselves to confirm the concerns of value, behavior, philosophy, and profession (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001)

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2.2 Situation of teacher leadership

• Teacher leaders should understand the predicable stage of transformation in schools

• Answer the question of “Where am I” in the teaching situation that the question could help teachers reflect on the school and how to transform (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001)

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2.3 Skills for teacher leadership

• Teachers should develop leading skills, learn to lead a team, listen, utilize resource, and confirm the needs of others

• Ask themselves the question of “How do I lead other ?” (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001)

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2.4 Behavior of teacher leadership

• Teachers should decide “What can I do” in the school.

• Teachers applied new leadership knowledge and made action plans to improve the school, as the major purpose of teacher leadership (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001)

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2.5 Effect of teacher leadership

• Teacher leadership seldom involves in large-scale and systematic reformation (Danielson, 2006)

• The effect is basic and central, and is the infrastructure for large-scale and systematic reformation.

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• The subjects of the research, “ Nature Elementary School” (anonym), is an alternative (non-traditional) school in northern Taiwan.

• This small school, a private experimental school authorized by local government, has been established for more than ten years.

• More than 90 students• Nine teachers (one of them hold a concurrent

post of principal), and two administrators at the moment.

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3. Background of the case school

The primary characteristics of the case school:• Students autonomously learning• Selecting courses • Self-selecting homeroom teachers• Abundant campus ecology • Challenge for graduation • Life forum• School court• Teacher evaluation

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• Principal does not hold the same appointment conditions as the ones in public schools.

• There is no traditional bureaucracy in the school, all important decisions are discussed with the college of teachers

• Different from the teachers in public schools, only one of the nine teachers is qualified as a teacher in public schools. The teaching quality and the school performance are praised by parents.

• Teacher leadership play influential role in school operation.

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4. Research Method

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• Nine teachers were interviewed; document analysis

• Qualitative research; case study

• The research aimed to analyze the practice of teacher leadership in terms of the five dimensions: teacher as leaders, leadership situations, leadership skills, leadership behaviors, and leadership effects.

5. Practice of teacher leadership in the case school

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5.1 Principal and all teachers became teacher leaders naturally by means of participating the operation of the college of teachers

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• The college of teachers is considered the core of “Nature” operating the school affairs that all important decisions are made in the weekly teacher meeting.

• Since it is a small school, the principal and all teachers participate in the operation of the college of teachers.

• Everyone is equal to express opinions, affect others to improve the educational practice, play the role of teacher leader, well-know “Who am I”, and remove “the syndrome of I am just a teacher”.

• The principal is a member of the teacher team, a teacher, and a colleague with other teachers.

• There is no apparent leader-member relation that the teachers will not receive any task instructions or assigned errands.

• The principal, as a communication key, representing the school participates in various meetings and appears as important as others in public schools, without any differences.

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5.2 It is the situation that was suitable for the development of teacher leadership when teachers and administration have ambiguous lines in dialogic and collaborative culture.

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• The principal and the teacher team coexist in the organization of “Nature”. In spite that they are in different positions with various functions, they still closely cooperate.

• The principal merely possesses few power of discretion, while the teachers can participate in decision-making.

• The principal is also a teacher and a member of the teacher team so that the boundary with the teachers is ambiguous.

• The administrative organization is flattened and the leading power is dispersed, but the cooperation is mutual.

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• The school appears the atmosphere of security that the discussed culture is established. The teachers well-know “Where am I” and are willing to make decisions with dialogues.

• Although there have been conflicts, they are functional conflicts. The school stresses on teachers having their own styles but being able to cooperate with other teachers.

• In this case, the school cultures of dialogue and cooperation “Nature” as well as the ambiguity between the administrators and the teachers have generated a suitable situation for teacher leadership.

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5.3 The abilities of independent action, operation, and reflection are the must-have

skills for teacher leaders.

• “Nature” is an alternative school that the educational objective is different from traditional schools.

• It focuses on teachers being independent and cooperative as the keys to select teachers that how to integrate independence and cooperation has become a challenge for the teachers.

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• The teachers are required to know their own limits as well as to continuously reflect and self-grow in facing the feedback from students and parents.

• The abilities of independence, cooperation, and reflection are the necessary skills to be a teacher leader, as well as the key to “lead others”.

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5.4 The practice of teacher leadership was manifest on collegial leadership approach, teacher autonomy and self-control, teaching innovation, and effective teacher professional development.

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• “Nature” applies collegial leadership to have the college of teachers manage the school where the principal and the teacher team are the colleagues.

• Based on consensus, they make decisions, closely contact, and share power with each other.

• The teachers are in charge of the large-scale activities in the school and divide the work with active adoption that the in-charge teacher plans and other teachers assist.

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• With the dense cooperation among teachers, the activities are operated in order and the teachers do not avoid the responsibility so that the teachers present professional autonomy and self-discipline. 

• “Nature” is an alternative school, with continuous review and innovative teaching, teacher meeting is the major place for discussions, and teachers are enthusiastic, innovative, and courageous to challenge.

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• Senior teachers, with teacher leadership capability, are willing to assist the new teachers in improving the instruction;

• Teachers, on the other hand, would develop the profession with dialogues, readings, seminars, reflection, class observations, and external advisers.

• Collegial leadership, teacher professional autonomy and self-discipline, innovative teaching, and effective professional development are the measurable characteristics for teacher leadership, which could respond to the question for a teacher leader, “What can I do” and is the practice of teacher leadership.

• Transformative intellectual is indeed the image of a teacher.

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5.5 The effect of teacher leadership included close interactions among teachers and students, teachers’ sense of achievement, innovative culture, and friendly environment.

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• The interaction between the teachers and the students in “Nature” is close that the relationship between them is more like friends, and the students learn autonomously.

• The teachers have higher autonomy that they are allowed the trial teaching, teacher-student interaction, and exploration. Those might be full of challenge, but teachers acquire the sense of achievement.

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• With the school system being flexible, teachers are collaboratively managing the school that the educational environment of the school is friendly, as someone is always there to help.

• Teachers are responsible for certain accountability and have to accept teacher evaluation and teaching opinion survey.

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6. Conclusions

• Teacher leadership is closely related to teacher cooperation, reflection, learning community, and professional development that would affect the classrooms and the whole of the case school.

• Teacher leadership can grow in schools, especially in the case school with small-scale, alternative, and without bureaucracy, where the teachers present leadership ability.

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• Even though most teachers are not qualified teachers, the case school still presents the energy of teacher leadership that is worth referring for public schools.

• Substantive research to inform the practices of teacher leaders is needed.

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Thanks for your attention

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