The survey of 39 teachers at institution X explored teacher leadership. It found that while teachers frequently collaborate and build relationships, many rarely engage in leadership tasks beyond their classroom like participating in decision-making, designing professional development or partnering with the community. The majority agreed there are leadership opportunities but some noted a lack of autonomy and nurturing of skills. To strengthen teacher leadership, the institution could improve teacher agency, professional development support, and influence beyond the curriculum level.

1. Bernadette Rhodes

2. The primary research questions addressed in this study were:
1. What are the teachers’ conceptualisations of teacher leadership?
2. What are the roles, responsibilities and tasks of teacher leaders?
3. What are the facilitators and inhibitors of teacher leadership?

3. Domain Questions used
I: Fostering a collaborative culture
to support educator development
and student learning
Developing positive, trusting, professional relationships with my peers
Collaborating with other teachers to co-teach a course, subject or unit
Being involved in whole college decision-making
Serving on committees for this college
II: Accessing and using research to
improve practice and student
learning
Carrying out action research to support developments beyond my classroom
Collaborating with a higher education faculty or staff member
III: Promoting professional
learning for continuous
improvement
Providing in-service training to my colleagues, for example about successful classroom strategies
Helping design whole college staff development programmes
IV: Facilitating improvements in
instruction and student learning
Developing curriculum resources for use by my colleagues
Providing curriculum development knowledge to my colleagues
Observing and providing feedback to other teachers
Mentoring or coaching other teachers
Modelling new developments or lessons through being observed by my peers
Ordering supplies or seeking resources to support students
Do you carry out any of the following roles (range of formal leadership roles)?
V: Promoting the use of
assessments and data for school
and district improvement
Collaborating with colleagues about the analysis and interpretation of student data to improve
student learning
Leading the professional development of colleagues for assessment development or the use of
assessment data
VI: Improving outreach and
collaboration with families and
community
Working with families to build stronger links between college and home
Being involved with creating partnerships with the wider community, eg. businesses, higher education
institutions
VII: Advocating for student
learning and the profession
Presenting to different groups, for example college leaders, to gain support (financial or time) for
teaching developments
Providing curriculum development knowledge to teachers in other schools or colleges
Coordinating subject meetings with other schools or colleges

4. Teacher leaders were identified as managing “people and/or
the curriculum”.
Different dimensions of teacher leadership were recognised
including:
“Bottom up initiatives where senior leaders support views of
teachers and allow them to influence changes in policy”
“showing and sharing best practice for teaching”
“communication, collaboration and positive impact on not
only your class but the wider department and school/college”
“teachers leading their peers”
“acting as a catalyst for change”.

5. Teacher leadership was associated with formally appointed posts,
specifically heads of faculty or course leaders.
Support or developmental functions were recognised, such as managing
budgets, nourishing and encouraging talent, coaching and mentoring. Two
participants viewed it as “beyond formal hierarchies prevalent in all
institutions” to teachers working collaboratively in departments.
Although the majority of participants were teacher leaders because their
influence extended beyond their own classes to improve pedagogy, the
role of informal teacher leaders was not always recognised even by the
individuals themselves. This supports the findings of Muijs and Harris
(2006) because many teacher leaders without formal teacher leadership
roles do not describe themselves as leaders.

6. 18
11
7
1 2
0
5
10
15
20
Never Rarely Sometimes Regularly Often
Number
of
Respondents
How frequently the task was carried out
Figure 1: Being involved in whole college decision-making
(n=39)
The majority of respondents (24/39, 62%) regularly or often collaborated with their
peers to co-teach a course and 35/39 (90%) made efforts, regularly or often, to
develop positive, professional relationships with their peers.
However, at the level of the college, the majority of respondents (29/39, 74%) were
never or rarely involved in whole college decision making (figure 1), and 30/39 (77%)
never or rarely served on committees. Only the two Union Learning Representatives
(ULRs) stated that they were often involved in both, with one stating that, “As a Union
rep I am very involved in decision making and Union involvement is encouraged and
valued”.

7. 11
18
8
2
0
0
5
10
15
20
Never Rarely Sometimes Regularly Often
Number
of
Respondents
How frequently the task was carried out
Figure 2: Carrying out action research to support developments
beyond my classroom (n=39)
The majority of teachers surveyed at institution X never or rarely carried out
action research to support developments beyond their classroom (29/39,
74%: figure 2), nor collaborated with higher education (31/39, 79%).
Teachers may not have the “capacity, confidence, expertise or time” to carry
out action research to improve their practice (Robson, 2002 cited in James
and Augustin, 2018, p.344).

8. 23
6 7
3
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
Never Rarely Sometimes Regularly Often
Number
of
Respondents
How frequently the task was carried out
Figure 3: Helping design whole college staff development programmes
(n=39)
29/39 (74%) of respondents were never or rarely involved in the design of whole
college staff development programmes (figure 3), with 27/39 (69%) never or rarely
providing in service training to their colleagues.
Teacher leadership is encouraged when teachers are involved in professional
development activities, and the development of a professional learning community
leads to improved student outcomes. However, some teachers lack confidence and
experience when taking on leadership roles (Muijs and Harris, 2006).

9. 0
4
11
12 12
0
5
10
15
Never Rarely Sometimes Regularly Often
Number
of
Respondents
How frequently the task was carried out
Figure 4: Developing curriculum resources for use by my colleagues
(n=39)
Teacher Leadership Domain IV: Facilitating
improvements in instruction and student learning
The majority of teachers surveyed regularly or often facilitate improvements in
instruction by developing resources for their colleagues to use (figure 4), with many
(18/39, 46%) regularly or often providing curriculum development knowledge to
their peers.
However, only a minority mentored or coached other teachers, modelled new
developments by letting their peers observe them, observed their peers and
provided feedback and ordered or sought resources to support students.

10. 0
4
14
16
5
0
5
10
15
20
Never Rarely Sometimes Regularly Often
Number
of
Respondents
How frequently the task was carried out
Figure 5: Collaborating with colleagues about the analysis and interpretation of student data to
improve student learning (n=39)
The majority of teachers surveyed (21/39, 54%) regularly or often collaborated with
colleagues to analyse and interpret student data in order to improve student
learning (figure 5).
However, only 6/39 (15%) regularly or often led the professional development of
their colleagues in this context. Assuming the barrier is not time, it is feasible that
teacher leaders need more nurturing to build their confidence to lead the
professional development of their colleagues: only nine respondents agreed that
senior leaders nurtured their leadership skills.

11. The perception of the majority of teachers surveyed at
institution X is that they are rarely or never involved in
creating partnerships with the wider community (26/39,
67%) or with building stronger links between college and
home (23/39, 59%).
Teacher leaders need a range of leadership skills that
extend beyond the skills that teachers develop in the
classroom. To pull their attention away from the classroom
would be counterproductive if they are not supported to
make a difference in other roles (Berg et al, 2014).

12. The majority of participants had never coordinated subject
meetings with other schools or colleges, presented to
different groups to gain support (financial or time) for
teaching developments or provided curriculum development
knowledge to teachers in other schools or colleges.
This domain involves ‘system leadership’ as teacher activities
extend beyond the institution they work in (Boylan, 2016).
Genuinely collaborative teacher cultures take far more time,
sensitivity and care to build than contrived collegiality within a
bureaucratically driven system (Hargreaves and Dawe, 1990).
Institution X only became part of a multi-academy trust (MAT)
in November 2019.

13. Teachers who hold formal or informal leadership roles
would not be expected to perform in all the domains but
perhaps just in one, several or many (Berg et al, 2014).
There is evidence that teachers surveyed at institution X
between them carry out functions related to every domain.
Possible constraints to teacher leaders carrying out some of
the tasks include time and confidence. Therefore senior
leaders may need to nurture the development of teachers’
leadership skills.

14. Teacher leadership can occur if certain conditions are in place. Time (Harris,
2003),opportunities for teacher leadership professional development, and to
improve the self-confidence of teachers as leaders in their institution.
The majority agreed (21/39 of respondents, 54%) that there were opportunities for
professional development, with only nine disagreeing, which could be due to
whether the development opportunities provided are differentiated to support the
full range of experience and expertise within the teaching staff .
In addition, 24 participants agreed that staff meetings could be used by teachers to
share best practice which would enable capacity building for teacher leadership.
Teacher leadership can transform institutions into professional learning
communities therefore, in the context of these three conditions at institution X,
consideration needs to be given to maximising the use of meeting time for teachers
to collaborate, ensuring that professional development is targeted to the needs of all
individuals and nurturing teachers to help improve their confidence as leaders.

15. Teacher leadership is facilitated at institution X:
•through the collaborative culture, including the use of staff
meetings to share best practice
• the distribution of leadership, as senior leaders share their
vision and trust the ability of teachers to lead and value
their opinion
•effective communication between senior leaders and
teachers with a “principal who does seem to listen to
feedback”
•the support provided by senior leaders, including
opportunities for professional development.

16. Teachers highlighted:
•A lack of time to work with other teachers: “There is never enough time to do
the things you want to do/ are expected to do. Constant introduction of new
policies/ procedures creates tension as well, as it takes a while for new things
to embed”.
• Their leadership skills were not nurtured by senior leaders which could lead
to teachers lacking confidence in their ability to lead, so they are not
motivated to take on leadership responsibility at organisational level.
•A minority of respondents drew attention to an authoritarian leadership
approach: “Top down decision-making diminishing the role of the teacher
and course leader – individuals made to feel they have to submit to a set of
general expectations that they feel may not best suit their subject area”, and
“not being given enough autonomy at times and belief that some things are
one size fits all. Lack of consultation on some things like timetabling and
staffing.”

17. To move teacher leadership forward (Allen, 2018), consideration
could be given to:
•Improving teacher agency and building teacher identity
•Improving the ability of teachers to lead their own professional
development
•Providing opportunities for teachers to support the professional
development of their colleagues, for example by allowing peers to
observe them teach, mentor other teachers, or planning professional
development programmes.
The institution needs to evaluate whether teacher leaders can
effectively influence the practice of their colleagues by working across
the whole college and beyond, or whether it is better for student
outcomes that these leaders focus their skills at the curriculum level.

18. The sample size was relatively small with 39 respondents (53%
response rate), and it was not representative of the teacher
gender ratio at the college, with female teachers being
underrepresented as respondents. However, this small-scale
survey aimed to produce an exploratory sample rather than a
representative one (Denscombe, 2017).
As a case study, findings cannot be generalised but they could
be transferable to other contexts if the work situation is similar
(Tracy, 2010).
I appreciate that it is not possible to be perfectly objective and,
as a single researcher, the data interpretation is subject to my
bias.