Why Teacher Leadership Is Not Busy Work

Posted by on January 13, 2014

Why Teacher Leadership Is Not Busy Work

Why must teacher leadership be so difficult? asks José Luis Vilson in a post on the Center for Teaching Quality website. Encouraging teachers in leadership roles helps all involved: Teachers can demonstrate professional growth over time and help fill voids in their school, principals can cultivate leaders in their buildings and work with them on mentoring new teachers, and students get a teacher with a macro-view of their school and access to expertise. Yet leadership of this kind also often requires a level of honesty that our education system doesn’t value. It is also true that sometimes a person who wants her voice heard isn’t trying to be part of the solution, perhaps one reason why some assuming leadership roles may fear being shut down. The most effective of us know that our voices come with a responsibility, Vilson writes: Speaking up means providing more than, “See, the problem is …” So teacher leadership is any number of things: creating, facilitating, and helping matters that directly influence student learning. Curriculum development? Yes. Data creation? Perhaps. Disciplinarian work? Possibly. Mentoring other teachers? Absolutely. “Little revolutions” won’t go anywhere if teacher-leadership advocates don’t clearly define the goals.

http://www.teachingquality.org/content/why-teacher-leadership-not-busy-work-takeover-part-2