The Interplay Between Principal Leadership and Teacher Leader Efficacy

• In Event: 65.079 - Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: 65.079-8 - Supportive Contexts for Teacher Leadership

Abstract

Researchers assert that the influence of teacher leadership on school change is highly contingent on the actions and beliefs of school principals. Self-efficacy theory also suggests that the extent to which teacher leaders feel they can impact change will influence how they engage with leadership opportunities. This study considers the interplay between these two forces and uses eleven embedded case studies to examine how principal leadership style – transformational, transactional, or laissez-faire – influences teacher leader efficacy. Findings suggest that teacher leader efficacy is rooted both in the teacher leaders’ self-perceptions and in how those perceptions influence principals’ expectations and leadership behaviors toward them. Analyses also show that teacher leaders often adopt their principal’s leadership style as their own.

Authors

• Kristy S. Cooper, Michigan State University

• Michael Macaluso, Michigan State University

• Randi N. Stanulis, Michigan State University