How can teacher leadership be developed?

In a rapidly changing world with the effect of globalisation, it is not possible for schools to stay out of change. In this case, schools will continue their lives as organisations that are affected and influenced by their environment. In order for innovation initiatives to be carried out effectively in schools and for schools to be pioneers in the process of change, there is a need for teacher leaders who can influence their environment. In this context, it is very important to create leadership behaviours in teachers and to support teachers' leadership behaviours.

In this article, I share the leadership roles and characteristics of teachers, the roles and strategies that can be followed in the development of teacher leadership, and the suggestions made according to the research results.

What is Leadership?

Leadership is one of the most researched topics. This is because leadership is a multidimensional, comprehensive, complex and rich formation.

A leader is an individual who plays a creative and initiating role in ensuring the survival and development of an organisation in line with its objectives. In other words, a leader is a person who has a greater impact on his/her followers than he/she has on himself/herself, who ensures the harmony between organisational goals and the needs and expectations of his/her members, and who is able to train employees at the same time. Leadership is the process of influencing others to follow you in achieving a common goal.

What are Leadership Characteristics?

Leadership qualities are both innate and acquired. Characteristics such as intelligence and energy are innate. On the other hand, leadership qualities such as self-confidence and influence can be acquired in the mother's lap and at school through various studies (academic studies and sports). Other traits such as trying things, making mistakes and learning from them, or getting it right and then trusting oneself to do it well again can be learnt in the work environment.

Leaders need to have qualities such as visionary, resourcefulness, willingness to change, confidence, visibility, productivity, adoption, ability to mobilise, influence or persuade followers, management, creativity, initiation, adequate motivation, popularity, and expertise. A leader is a person who makes critical decisions with the qualities he/she possesses. Creativity and initiation are the functions of the leader, while execution is more the function of the manager.

Teacher Leadership and Its Importance

The level of development of a country is directly proportional to the quality of education received by the citizens of that country. Teachers have an important role in bringing education to the most functional level and implementing it, providing the development and learning of knowledge and guiding the society. Teacher quality and competence have a direct impact on educational outcomes. Therefore, increasing teacher quality brings to the forefront the role of teachers in society and the utilisation of their leadership qualities.

As a result of the continuous development of technology and the change created by this development in professional conditions; it can be said that it is a necessity for teachers to be able to show the roles and behaviours expected of them, to have gained the knowledge, skills and attitudes expected of them throughout their profession and to improve themselves in this process. Because no education model can produce a service above the quality of the personnel who will operate it. For this reason, when reorganising any education system, the training of teachers should be emphasised with great care and attention.

Teacher leadership is the ability to organise classroom activities effectively by developing and sharing instructional vision and to assume and develop functional roles in school activities. Teacher leadership is also the teacher's ability to willingly take on tasks in educational activities and processes, to create independent projects, to influence the environment, and to support the development of colleagues. In a broader definition, teacher leadership is the ability to direct students to learn and continuously improve themselves by willingly participating and sharing the educational activities in the classroom according to the developmental levels of the students. Teacher leaders are those who can share the vision of teaching with students and realise the instructional requirements of this vision by reflecting and adopting it in the plans.

Teacher Leadership Roles and Characteristics

Teachers need to be inclined to take various risks in order to become leaders. In practice, most teachers are not taught leadership skills in their professional preparation programmes. As a result, teachers are afraid of being given a leadership role they do not want. Teachers' success in the decision-making process and school leadership endeavours is sometimes limited.

Research on teacher leadership is mostly focused on formal leadership roles such as team leadership and department chairmanship. In practice, teachers can also take on roles as informal leaders. Teachers who have achieved control in their classrooms have much more power to make suggestions to other adults in the school and can benefit the school with their valuable qualities as teacher leaders. Teacher leadership not only aims at organising classroom activities at an effective level, but also involves taking part in school activities.

The main role of teacher leaders is to provide effective ways of learning in order to make teaching and learning activities more effective. Among the teacher roles, it can be said that being a motivator in cooperation by following innovations in professional development stands out. In addition to this role, transformational and instructional leadership in terms of increasing the success of the school, thus ensuring school effectiveness and making the school a learning organisation stand out. As a leader, the teacher should be able to play the roles of a guide and counsellor in the classroom by supporting formal instructional relationships with informal relationships, trusting and reassuring students.

Within the scope of teacher leadership, teachers should have the characteristics of being reliable, being open to innovation and transformation, influencing others, being collaborative, sharing and taking risks. On the other hand, good communication, professional competence, setting an example, following innovations, speaking effectively, being helpful, problem solving, providing trust, and having an organisational culture are also expected from teacher leaders.

Roles and Strategies in Developing Teacher Leadership

School and educational administrators have authorities, duties, roles and responsibilities such as defining teacher leadership, establishing school discipline, being a model for teachers and students, directing group work, managing conflict, meeting the needs of the school, solving the adaptation problems of school staff and students, cooperating with other administrators around them, monitoring and evaluating the work of similar educational institutions, contributing to the preparation and evaluation of educational programmes, determining and explaining the aims of the school.

The roles that school and education administrators should show for the development of teacher leadership are as follows:

- Ensuring the professional development and progress of teachers, creating and developing an organisational climate and culture in which teacher leadership is supported,

- Determining educational needs accurately and precisely, ensuring healthy communication and interaction between the institution and its environment, making assignments and division of labour in accordance with the programme and objectives, being a model, developing and implementing an effective business management, benefiting from the opinions and suggestions of teachers,

- Motivating teachers to evaluate their own professional abilities and to set goals for their own development, listening to teachers' problems, encouraging the use of new teaching strategies, providing different teaching materials,

- Developing a clear vision in accordance with the school's goals in the long term, reflecting to the teachers that they identify with the organisational goals and demonstrating success in achieving the goals,

- Encouraging teamwork among teachers, creating a democratic climate among teachers and administrators, encouraging teachers to practice curriculum and instruction rather than administrative and technical issues, and encouraging them to take more responsibility for the results of their work,

- To help teachers in the process of acquiring new skills and to set expectations that apply to everyone.

The four strategies for developing teachers' leadership qualities are as follows: Teachers;

- Play leadership roles inside and outside the classroom,

- Sharing experiences with colleagues,

- Recognising the strengths of their colleagues,

- Ensuring their participation in the training programmes prepared and planned to improve their leadership qualities.

Conclusion and Suggestions

- In order to raise the level of education, our teachers or educational personnel must not only be equipped with adequate knowledge, skills and behaviour in their field, but also love the teaching profession, be aware of the importance of this profession, be ready to take this heavy responsibility and show the necessary devotion.

- In addition, the teacher should not forget for a moment that he/she is a role model with his/her speech, behaviour and clothing and that students aspire to be like their teachers.

- The teacher should establish a good relationship with his/her environment, make good use of the opportunities of the school where he/she is located, and keep the necessary records by making investigations and researches about the environment.

- Teachers are expected to be a teaching leader and a leader teacher by making efforts to fulfil the aims and expectations of educational institutions. In addition, in order for teachers to fulfil these duties successfully, they should be continuously trained according to their competence areas. Based on the findings related to the seniority variable, it can be said that the development of leadership skills of new teachers should be given importance.

- A leader teacher is an effective teacher. An effective teacher is an educational worker who has responsibilities both towards the group of teachers he/she is with and towards his/her students, who tries to deal with students' feelings and needs, and who endeavours to motivate people towards correct understanding. According to the findings related to gender variable, female teachers should be given priority and responsibility and their teacher leadership behaviours should be developed.

- In order for teachers to fulfil their duties, authorities and responsibilities as a "teacher leader", education and school administrators should support and guide their individual and professional development.

References

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