Teacher Advocacy as Critical Teacher Leadership

• In Event: Critical Approaches to Teacher and Leadership Preparation and Development

Abstract

This paper critically explores teacher advocacy with and for students who are traditionally marginalized as a practice of critical teacher leadership. Although teacher advocacy has been examined as a practice of activism external to the school and as a practice of educational leadership, researchers have not merged these ideas by framing advocacy as a practice of leadership that teachers enact within the classroom, across the school, and in their communities. The grounded theory introduced in the paper was developed through five ethnographic case studies. Findings are used to support a theory for teacher advocacy as a practice of critical pedagogy, collaborative leadership, and ethical leadership, and to propose a theory of critical teacher leadership.

Author

• Jill Bradley-Levine, Ball State University