Unlocking the Power of Collaboration: Do Teacher-Led Learning Communities Hold the Key to Increased Teacher Leadership and Efficacy?

• In Event: 46.045 - Teacher Leaders Engaged in Collaborative Learning

Abstract

The overarching goal of this study was to investigate authentic, continuing professional teacher learning that informs and transforms teaching and learning in schools. This article draws on data collected with two teacher cohorts from K-12 schools in Michigan, USA, and Ontario, Canada. Teachers met monthly via online videoconferences and a three-day annual summer institute to support critical, self-critical, action research investigations. Findings revealed that participation in distributed forms of leadership vis-à-vis teacher-led learning communities (Author, 2013, 2014) promotes teacher leadership. Over the course of a three-year study period, approximately 80% of participants assumed leadership positions outside the classroom. Developing teacher agency and ownership leads to teachers engaging in diverse leadership roles and responsibilities in the classroom, school, board, and beyond.

Authors

• Mary Kooy, University of Toronto - OISE

• Naomi Rebecca Hughes, University of Toronto