LITERATURE REVIEW
2.5 TEACHER LEADER ROLES: BROKERING, PARTICIPATING, MEDIATING AND FORGING CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS
2.5 TEACHER LEADER ROLES: BROKERING, PARTICIPATING, MEDIATING AND
Teacher leaders are active across various spectrums within the context of the school. This activity is usually in an unofficial capacity or may come about as a result of delegation by the management of the school. According to the work of British authors Day and Harris (2002, p.973), there are four identifiable and visible dimensions of the teacher-leadership role. Teachers often serve in a brokering role.
2.5.1 The teacher as broker
In the first dimension Day and Harris (2002) refer to school improvement principles being translated into practice in the classroom by the teacher acting in the role of broker. This role is similar to that of Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001, p.12), that “teachers assume leadership roles with students in the classroom, such as facilitator, coach, provider of feedback and counselor”.
This observation is true in the context of our schools because children as well as parents depend heavily on teachers to intervene on their behalf for a variety of issues. According to Day and Harris (2002), the teacher also has the responsibility of securing links within schools and maximising opportunities for development amongst teachers. Locally, this is happening in our schools, as can be seen when teachers interact at union meetings or at sports fixtures and events.
2.5.2 The participative role of the teacher leader.
During the course of their duties teacher leaders are called upon to participate in various initiatives. Day and Harris (2002, p.973) state that the second dimension of the teacher leader role, is a participative one, where all teachers feel that they are part of the change or
development, and have a sense of ownership. This is the type of role that we need to encourage in the South African context. Similarly, Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001, p.12) assert that
“teachers assume leadership roles with students in the classroom, such as facilitator, coach, provider of feedback, and counselor. Beyond the classroom, teacher leaders serve as mentors,
peer coaches, teacher trainers, curriculum specialists, or simply as willing listeners”. I agree with this view, as in the local context, teachers work together in many activities outside the classroom such as sports fixtures.
2.5.3 Teacher leaders play a mediating role.
Teacher leaders often find themselves in a mediating role because they are a source of
experience or knowledge. In this regard Day and Harris (2002, p.973) mention a third dimension of teacher leadership in school improvement where the teacher leader plays a mediating role as teacher leaders are “important sources of expertise and information” (2002, p.439). In my experience teacher leaders often have to resolve issues between parents and learners or parents and teachers. Day and Harris (2002), hold the view that teacher leaders have the ability to access additional information and resources critically, if the need arises, and also find assistance outside the school. They are often good listeners and this is very useful in counseling sessions.
2.5.4 Teacher leaders forge close relationships with individual teachers.
The fourth dimension of teacher leadership roles, according to Day and Harris (2002, p.973) which they regard as possibly being the most important of teacher leadership roles, is where the teacher leader forges close relationships with individual teachers, thus setting the scene for them to learn from each other. This occurs during mentoring processes or during debates on academic issues, and also includes the resolution of conflict situations which have the effect that teachers learn from each other.
2.5.5 Teacher as researcher, scholar, mentor.
With regard to mentoring “the development of future leaders may take several forms but it is underpinned by an approach which is „people‟ orientated” (Bush and Middlewood, 2005, p.12).
Although they were referring to leading and managing people I believe their view is pertinent to the mentoring of teacher leaders as well. I feel that teacher leaders cannot be distant if they are to mentor effectively. According to Cochran-Smith and Paris (1995, p.192) mentoring can be seen as teacher leadership, but if we ignore the power processes that are at work in a school, it remains “a conservative activity that maintains the existing institutional, social and cultural arrangements of schools and schooling and eases the beginner into the prevailing norms of the local and larger professional culture”. I feel that it is not the ideal to ease a teacher into the way things are done at a school with the aim of converting them to conform. We need to facilitate so that they can become leaders in their own right. Lieberman and Miller (2004, p.29) elaborate on this point with the view that “teacher research is a form of reflective practice. It not only creates new knowledge, allowing teachers to see their practice in a new light and improve on it, but it also makes inquiry a critical component in teacher learning and school redesign”. Still within the debate on teacher leadership and empowerment, Harris and Muijs (2005, p.66) maintain that
“implicit within teacher leadership is the notion of empowerment as teachers are given the responsibility to act”. The metaphor of the professional and the client is useful in illustrating that inclusivity is important in promoting teacher leadership ideals. Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001, p.23) observe that “recognizing that teachers are the closest to the clients, reformers
acknowledge that unless teachers are involved in the decision making around the innovation, there is little chance that the reform effort will succeed”. I support the notion that teacher leaders must actively influence their peers to encourage positive changes in education. To emphasise the importance of changing mindsets Sledge and Morehead (2005, p.6), posture that “attempting to positively affect the attitudes and beliefs of other teachers is a major responsibility for teacher leaders and may be the most complex, especially since it is a highly personal affective measure”.
Hilliard (1991) cited in Sledge and Morehead (2005, p.6) argue that “deep restructuring and fundamental change occurs when we allow teachers to experience the joy of collaborative discussion, dialogue, critique, and research”. Sledge and Morehead (2005, p.8) contend that “as we consider the evolving role of teacher leaders as capacity builders in school reform, we assume that content knowledge exists”. They continue that teachers need to invest in their own learning as “pedagogy is a process for teachers, placing emphasis on the areas of curriculum
development, assessment and best practices in methodology”. This is an important point because such investment also strengthens the ability of teacher leaders to be influential and to encourage change in schools.
Some literature shows that teacher leadership is important for schools and therefore it must be encouraged.