Facilitating Teacher Learning Groups as Aesthetic Leadership

• In Event: Teacher Leaders and Collaborative Inquiry

Abstract

The use of teacher peer groups is an increasingly widespread strategy for school-based professional development, instructional improvement, and school improvement. The facilitation of these groups typically falls to teachers who are identified formally or informally as teacher leaders, making facilitation of such groups a vital dimension of teacher leadership. This paper explores the perspectives of experienced facilitators on the activity of teacher learning groups and their own facilitation practice. It applies a conceptual framework derived from aesthetics of leadership. It identifies three dimensions of group activity that the facilitator as aesthetic leader helps to establish and maintain: creativity, cohesion, and autonomy. It identifies implications for the preparation of teacher leaders as facilitators, as well as directions for further inquiry.

Authors

• David Allen, College of Staten Island - CUNY

• Tina M. Blythe, Harvard University