This document summarizes a study on teacher leaders in Sweden. The study followed 35 teacher leaders over five months as they participated in an eight-day education course on teacher leadership. Through self-reports and interviews, the study examined how the teacher leaders described their work leading professional learning communities, how they managed their leadership roles, and what enabled and limited them in their work. Over time, the teacher leaders expressed a desire to develop skills in facilitating discussions and focusing on problem-solving rather than negativity. The study contributes to understanding how teacher leadership roles evolve and the importance of collaboration between teachers, leaders, and principals.

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BECOMING A TEACHER LEADER
AND EDUCATING OTHER TEACHER
LEADERS
CHRISTINA LÖFVING, UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG, HTTP://HDL.HANDLE.NET/2077/57757

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Becoming a teacher leader
Teacher leader: Wenner & Campbell (2017) The study: Löfving (2018)

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The purpose of the study is to understand what enables and
limits teacher leaders in their work as teacher leaders, in order
to meet their needs during a course in teacher leadership.
Settings
35 teacher leaders
Upper Secondary School
Eight days of education during a period of one year. The study was conducted during five
moths during the first four occasions.
The purpose of the study
Löfving (2018)
The study: Löfving (2018)Teacher leader: Wenner & Campbell (2017)

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• How do the teacher leaders describe what is happening in the professional learning
communities (PLC) they are a part of at their school?
• How do the teacher leaders describe how they manage their assignment to function
as a teacher leader?
• What enables and what limits the teacher leaders in their work as teacher leaders?
• How does this change over a period of five moths?
A special focus was on how the education the teacher leaders attended made an
imapct on what they were describing.
Research questions

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• notes, so called self reports (22-31 teacher leaders at four occasions during a period
of five months)
• interviews (5 teacher leaders)
• logbook
Tools
Self report: Davidsson (2007)

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Sayings Doings
Relatings
Cultural-discursive
arrangements
Material-economic
arrangements
Social-political arrangements
Project
Kemmis och Grootenboer (2008, s. 57)
The Theory of Practice Architectures
Mahon, Kemmis, Francisco and Lloyd (2017)Kemmis and Grootenboer (2008)

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First occasion
Sayings
Wanting to have tools
to moderate the
discussions in the
PLC:s.
Doings
Wanting to learn
different models for
effective meetings.
Relatings
Wanting to
learn how to
stop negative
patterns.
Relatings
SayingsDoings

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Fourth, and last, occasion
Sayings
”I, as a teacher leader,
can affect the
discussions in the
PLC:s”
Doings
Active work to
develope the PLC:s.
Wanting to focus on
how to solve
problems.
Relatings
Wanting to involve
the collegues. Also
focusing on the
relationship
between the
teacher leader and
the principal.
Relatings
SayingsDoings

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Sayings Doings Relatings
Cultural-discursive
arrangements
• Self reflections and
discussions between the
teacher leaders
• Using models for
discussions in the PLC:s
Material-economic
arrangements
• Contracted time for the
PLC:s to meet
• Pronouncedly planning for
the year
• Time for development
Social-political
arrangements
• Colleagues and teacher
leaders talking through the
purpose of the meetings
• Having supporting
colleagues
• Description of what the
teacher leaders are
supposed to do.
• The principals presence and
absence

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• It is important for me as an educator to listen to the teacher leaders during their
education in order to take action.
• Teacher leadership is not something that is constant and and it can be a
complex situation being both a colleague and a leader.
• It is important for teachers to listen to and discuss what other teacher leaders
reflect on.
• Teacher leaders in this study want to be a part of a network focusing on their
assignments.
• It is important for teacher leaders and principals to find ways to collaborate.
The contribution of this study

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Davidsson, B. (2007). Self report – att använda skrivna texter som redskap. In J. Dimenäs (Ed.), Lära till lärare. Att
utveckla läraryrket – vetenskapligt förhållningssätt och vetenskaplig metodik. (pp. 70–81). Stockholm: Liber.
Kemmis, S., & Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situating practice in praxis. In S. Kemmis & T. J. Smith (Eds.), Enabling Praxis.
Challenges for Education (pp. 37-62). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Löfving, C. (2018). Lärare som leder sina kollegor. En aktionsforskningsstudie om möjligheter och begränsningar i
mellanledaruppdraget (Master thesis). Göteborg: Göteborgs Universitet.
Mahon, K., Kemmis, S., Francisco, S., & Lloyd, A. (2017). Introduction: Practice Theory and the Theory of Practice
Architectures. I K. Mahon, S. Francisco & S. Kemmis (Red.), Exploring Education and Professional Practice. Through
the Lens of Practice Architectures (pp. 1-30). Singapore: Springer Nature.
Wenner, J. A., & Campbell, T. (2017). The theoretical and empirical basis of teacher leadership: A review of the
literature. Review of Educational Research, 87(1), 134-171.
References

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Christina Löfving
christina.lofving@gu.se
http://hdl.handle.net/2077/57757