The Case of Australia: Team Enactment of Teacher Leadership in Whole School Improvement

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: The Challenges and Possibilities of Teacher Leadership: International Perspectives

Abstract

This presentation reports on the experiences of educators engaged in leading a process which focuses on whole school improvement. The process used is based on the assumptions that whole school improvement is contextual, is every educator’s business, and within schools there is a need to develop leaders, teacher leaders, who work in a mutualistic relationship with the principal. Building personal, social (relational), and organizational capacity within the organization (Fullan, 2005; Hargreaves, 2001; Harris et al., 2003; Mitchell & Sackney, 2001) is required if improvements are to be sustained. Vital to this process is the development of a school team that leads the whole school professional community towards a collaboratively developed improvement goal, a strategic initiative based on data collected from students, parents, and staff.

The process adopted by the school is a whole school revitalization process developed by researchers in Australia. The revitalization initiative is called the Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools (IDEAS). This initiative is based on six underpinning assumptions and five interrelated concepts. The assumptions are: (1) Teachers and their pedagogical practice are the key to improvement as they have direct impact on student learning; (2) Professional Learning is the key to professional revitalization; (3) Adopting a no blame culture enables experiments and risks to be addressed when viewed as school inhibitors to improvement; (4) Acknowledging success-breeds-success builds on realized successes to encourage innovation; (5) Alignment of school processes is viewed as a collective responsibility; and (6) Alignment of school processes requiring a system–school alignment should respect the needs of the local context. These assumptions are collectively important in respecting the professional community, engaging in innovation, and as Fullan and Quinn (2015) found, successful schools pay attention to context, they “find their own pathway to success” (Fullan & Quinn, 2015, p. 15).

These efforts have shown that processes that develop the capacity for teacher leadership often lead to timely creative and innovative decision-making that enhances the quality of classroom experiences and hence the lives of students. Let us never forget the inspirational work of Wrigley (2003) where he claimed that teaching is a profession of hope, “where teachers are driven by a desire – for students to discover a taste for learning, a feel for justice and care for each other. . .children who are thoughtful, creative and concerned citizens” (p. 1). Furthermore, in the current school climate where there is a dearth of school leaders and the lack of desire to apply for leadership positions, the development of teacher leaders provides a capacity to grow leadership both within context and beyond.

Authors

• Dorothy Andrews, University of Southern Queenlsand

• Joan Margaret Conway, University of Southern Queensland