Preservice Elementary Education Graduate Students' Perception of Teacher Leadership (original) (raw)

This qualitative study was designed to discern how preservice Elementary Education graduate students perceived the concept of teacher leadership and how this idea was fostered in their coursework. Through course document analysis and in-depth interviews with nine graduate students undergoing initial licensure, data was collected and triangulated to provide a rich and descriptive analysis of the participants' experiences and perceptions as they related to teacher leadership in their preservice program. Using case study and cross cases analysis, major themes related to teacher leadership emerged. The participants largely focused on student/classroom-centered views of teacher leadership and lacked the whole-school perspective cited in college documents and in the literature. Participants also had a difficult time explaining how teacher leadership was being fostered in their coursework, highlighting a disparity between the working definition of teacher leadership employed by the college and noted in the literature, and the students' understanding of the concept. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 required schools to focus greater attention on the academic achievement of all students. As a result, the work of school leaders has become more complex. Traditional school leaders are increasingly expected to perform a variety of roles which are often accompanied by unique and cumbersome responsibilities. Accordingly, traditional educational leadership, marked by formal postings as principals and assistant principals, is evolving. Many educators are embracing a newer understanding of what is needed from leadership for schools to be effective in the 21 st century. The notion of distributed leadership through teacher leaders is gaining acceptance as educators understand what is meant by the term teacher leader, how it is operationalized, and the role that teacher leaders play in the effectiveness of schools (Harris & Muijs, 2003). Because teacher leaders can be an important component of overall school effectiveness, universities are incorporating the concept into their curricula for preservice teachers. This study sought to determine how the concept of teacher leadership was portrayed to preservice teachers as they worked to become certified. Two research questions guided the study: (1) How do current preservice Elementary Education graduate students perceive the term "teacher leadership?" and (2) In what ways is it fostered in their coursework? Review of the Literature While much has been written about teacher leadership, the definition of the term is rather elusive. York-Barr and Duke (2004) conducted a literature review of over 140 sources pertaining to teacher leadership and found that "the concept of teacher leadership has not been clearly or consistently defined" (p. 263). Over the years, teacher leadership has been talked about in various contexts including teachers that serve in formal roles, teachers as instructional experts, and teachers as central players in creating school culture, but there is no agreement on an actual definition of the term.