Phenomenographic Component

Two research team members are mapping the diverse understandings and experiences of teacher leadership among the members of the cross-country teacher leadership team. They are conducting structured interviews with each team member.

Document Analyses

Research team members are examining key documents in each cultural context, e.g., school authority policies, accreditation requirements, standards documents, position descriptions, department of education policies, teacher education curricula, union position statements, and government and organizational web materials. Documents are being analyzed utilizing these lenses: conceptualizations of teacher leadership, values, beliefs, commonalities, contradictions, guiding principles, and accountabilities. The analyses are providing contextualized descriptions of how the construct of teacher leadership is understood and manifested in each of our settings.

Interviews

Informed by the document analyses, research team members are conducting individual interviews with a sample of participants representing teachers, parents, principals, senior central office personnel, teacher educators, ministry officials, and parents.

Questionnaires

Four groups of educational partners are being invited to complete questionnaires related to teacher leadership: (1) teachers and principals, (2) system leaders, (3) teacher educators and professional development providers, (4) parents.

Purposeful and snowball sampling are being used to identify participants who are invited to complete the teacher leadership questionnaires. Invitees include representatives of public and private school systems, department of education personnel, university-based teacher educators, professional development providers, and school council members.

Case Studies

This component of the teacher leadership study is immersing researchers in the rich context of one-to-two schools selected because of teacher leadership reputation. The case study is employing ethnographic-like strategies.

Oral Histories

Researchers are conducting a series of interviews with one-to-two current or past classroom teachers selected because of their perceived influence within a school or local educational authority. The interviews are in the form of oral histories, similar to the oral histories about new primary school leaders presented by Scottish researcher Michael Cowie (2011).

Cowie, M. (2011). New primary leaders. London, UK: Continuum.