"Personal Rather Than Positional Power": Defining Teacher Leadership and Exploring Preparation

• In Event: 67.068 - MTCC Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: 67.068-1 - Developing Teacher Leadership Identities and Navigating Roles

Abstract

The purpose of this proposal is to convey the findings from a qualitative study on teacher leadership—specifically how it is defined and how teacher leaders are prepared. A survey was designed based on previous research on teacher leadership to contribute to the emerging definition of the construct and to explore teacher leadership preparation in one state. All school divisions in the state were invited to participate in the survey and follow-up interviews. The research team utilized analyst triangulation in order to analyze the data. The findings convey how administrators conceptualized teacher leadership as a quasi-administrative role at times while teachers viewed teacher leaders as motivational. Both groups of participants recognized that teacher leadership training is limited.

Authors

• Jori S. Beck, Old Dominion University

• Brandon M. Butler, Old Dominion University

• KaaVonia Hinton, Old Dominion University