Empowering Teachers is the Key to Effectiveness!

Tickle my TESOL
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

With increased recognition that quality instruction is perhaps the fundamental resource for student learning, coupled with the demand of higher student expectations and achievement, it is important for educators and leaders in education to understand how to improve institution effectiveness.

Teacher leadership, according to current research, proves to have a direct positive effect on school effectiveness and teacher morale (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2000). Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001) defined teacher leaders as teachers who lead inside and outside the classroom, positively influencing others on improved education practice, and identifying with and contributing to a community of teacher leaders. In practice, this means giving teachers more authority in school decisions and fostering a culture of collaboration to achieve shared goals. Teacher leaders can benefit from teacher leadership by having increased confidence, greater self-efficacy, improved morale and motivation as well as an increased desire to remain in the profession.

In order to achieve a culture of teacher leadership, firstly there must be willingness for participation. This may be impacted by varying influences including principal and teacher relationship, working relationships among teachers, capacity to contribute to decisions and having responsibility and accountability for students. It is therefore necessary to create a collaborative culture, with distributed leadership and associated values.

Before we look at teacher leadership initiatives, it is important to consider that leadership is an organizational phenomenon not confined to specific roles, but rather distributed throughout a network of roles, as advised by Ogawa and Bossert (1995). While we may see positions such as senior teacher arise as a way to promote teacher leadership, this is not true teacher empowerment as it refers only to a specific person in a specific position, rather than the teaching team as a whole. The teaching team itself must be involved in decision making for true teacher leadership to apply.

Another important consideration in an ESL environment is that newly qualified teachers with minimal qualifications frequent the schools and, according to Odell (1997), a teacher cannot be an effective teacher leader if they are not yet an accomplished teacher. ESL schools are also often staffed by an eclectic mix of teachers, students and managers with varying differences in backgrounds and beliefs; therefore it may be that ESL schools require specific models and approaches to teacher leadership.

Ways to promote teacher leadership:

Teacher Recruitment: The single most important task for educational institutions is to hire the right people. Having teachers involved in the recruitment process gives them a huge sense of empowerment and ownership of the teaching team, while improving moral and motivation. Invite some of your teachers to join teacher recruitment sessions and have input on the hiring decision.

Mentoring: Once your new teachers are brought on to the team, assign your experienced teachers to buddy up with a new teacher to be their mentor. They can work closely leading the new teacher on things such as lesson planning, using the curriculum, resources, processes and administration, therefore creating a collaborative culture and supportive environment.

Specialty Advising: Notice your teachers who have a special skill and encourage sharing and teaching with their peers. Setting up a scheduled slot where teachers can drop-in to advise and discuss their specialty with their peers, for example with the ‘grammar guru’ or the ‘vocabulary vulture’ etc. This gives teachers a greater sense of self-efficacy and boosts confidence.

Peer Observations: Your teachers can learn a lot from one another by observing each other in the classroom. Encourage teachers to self-reflect on their teaching skill, identify areas where they would like to develop and give them opportunity to observe a peer from whom they can learn this from. For example, a teacher who struggles with teaching grammar observes the ‘grammar guru’ teaching a grammar class. This is a great way to encourage collaboration and increase confidence, giving teachers new ideas to implement themselves and improve upon their teaching skill.

Professional Development: Invite teachers to develop a professional development schedule based on their needs as well as the institution’s needs and industry trends and direction. Teachers can also assign themselves as the trainer to lead the workshop. If there is any budget for external training, invite teachers to research options and assign the budget as they see fit.

Curriculum and Policies Review: An institutions’ educational curriculum and policies are fundamental to the success of student learning and the success of the institution. Having teachers input in the review and development sessions allows for great opportunity in cultivating a teacher empowerment and leadership environment as well as improving the quality of the review as it is the teachers who have hands on experience using it in the classroom. Being involved in this process can increase teacher confidence and investment in the curriculum and policies.

Teachers can benefit from teacher leadership by having increased confidence, greater self-efficacy, improved morale and motivation as well as an increased desire to remain in the profession. There needs to be a collaborative culture and capable leaders in place, through which initiatives such as mentoring, specialty advising, peer observations, professional development and curriculum and policies review can be implemented to empower teachers and encourage teacher leadership. In turn this can help increase the quality of instruction which is perhaps the fundamental resource for student learning and institution effectiveness.

References

Katzenmeyer, M. and G. Moller (2001). Awakening the Sleeping Giant. Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders. Thousand Oaks, California, Corwin Press.

Leithwood, K. and Jantzi, D. (2006). Transformational School Leadership for Large-Scale Reform: Effects on students, teachers, and their classroom practices, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17 (2), 201–227

Odell, S. J. (1997). Preparing teachers for teacher leadership. Action in Teacher Education, 19(3), 120–124.

Ogawa, R. T., & Bossert, S. T. (1995). Leadership as an organizational quality. Educational Administration Quarterly, 31(2), 224–243. doi: 10.1177/0013161X95031002004

Tickle my TESOL

Written by

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade