What's a Teacher Leader? A Metasynthesis of Contemporary Literature

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating Teacher Leadership

Abstract

Use of the term teacher leader has become ubiquitous over the past few decades. School principals consistently rely on teacher leaders to support school functions and provide instructional leadership. Yet, researchers have not reached consensus on a common definition of teacher leadership nor determined who becomes a teacher leader and what teacher leaders do to enact leadership. In this systematic literature review, metasynthesis was applied to examine published qualitative studies on teacher leadership from years 2013 to 2018. Data analysis through extensive coding resulted in three common categories of teacher leadership, and informed who teacher leaders are, what they do, and in which contexts they typically enact leadership in schools.

Authors

• Robert Michaels-Johnson, Houston Independent School District

• Rebecca McBride Bustamante, California State University - Long Beach

• Julie P. Combs, Sam Houston State University