DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
4.4 THE ENACTMENT OF TEACHER LEADERSHIP ACCORDING TO THE ZONES
4.4.4 Teacher leadership beyond the school into the community: common themes
Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001, p.17) say that: “teachers, who are leaders, lead within and beyond the classroom, identify with and contribute to a community of teacher learners and
leaders and influence others towards improved educational practices.” As an example of this practice, TLB expressed the following view: “I feel that a lot of teachers come to us, at school for advice. I‟ve been in a lot of situations where teachers ask us what we do at our school ……
that will better their school with regards to curriculum, with regards to a lot of stuff ”(FGI, p.3).
The primary participants also interacted with other teacher, for example, TLC networked with other teachers and learnt new ideas from children, friends as well as family that were teachers and this was supported by the following remark: “I do interact with a lot of people and a lot of children, parents….” She added: “I have a lot of family that are teachers in other schools as well, so we do share notes and compare strategies on how to deal with this…” (II, p. 3). Sought help from others: “like I have a good friend at School Y and if there‟s anything I‟m battling with I contact her and ask how do I deal with this, and we talk and she helps me” (II, p. 3).
TLA made a comment that would be relevant to zone four of the model:
There are teachers that I socialize with. We sit and we‟ll talk about problems, my friend Danielle, she‟s also in primary school. She‟ll tell me what they doing and I‟ll tell what I do and that‟s where I get some of my ideas and how I improve….I mean she‟s a new teacher but that doesn‟t mean she hasn‟t got ideas that can help me , and then I will help her … she‟s busy with assignments , I did that a lot, especially when I was in Estcourt on lesson planning and it‟s just an interaction in that way and discussions of problems and things like that especially when I meet teachers from my old school , problems that they experiencing , it‟s informal but then you get something out of it…(II, p.2).
TLC shared the following insight on how she practiced (zone four) interacting with other teachers:
Yes, I do, other teachers yes, I have lots of friends and like my old school, we still meet.
We still go out and … I have a lot of family that are teachers in other schools as well, so we do share notes and compare strategies on how to deal with this. Like I have a very good friend at school Z and if there‟s anything I‟m battling with, I contact her and ask how do I deal with this, and we talk and she helps me (II, p.3).
TLA wrote in a journal entry: “I was a coordinator of the Cuppa for Cansa community function in the school. Although I was „new‟ teacher I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
Hopefully I did an o.k. job!
When asked about her role in providing curriculum development knowledge in roles two and three of zone four of the model, TLA said, “I‟d like to think of myself as a teacher leader, I mean I like to encourage others to further better themselves ”(II, p.1). She continued: “Well I‟m enrolled at Edgewood for an ACE professional development course… every chance there‟s a workshop, I‟m there, so I think it‟s important to keep abreast of new developments and also with networking with other teachers or even just talking to them, you pick up the different ideas…”(II, p.1). In addition TLA said: “when I meet teachers from my ex school, problems that they
experiencing, and someone to talk to…it‟s informal but then you get something out of it…” (II, p.
2). TLB added the following comment during the focus group interview: “I‟ve been in a lot of situations where teachers ask us what we do at our school… that will better their school with regards to curriculum…” (FGI, p.3). The interactions of teacher leaders that are evident in these quotes highlight an important feature of a distributed perspective on leadership, namely,
“leadership practice is generated in the interactions of leaders, followers, and their situation;
each element is essential for leadership practice” (Spillane, 2006, p.4).
The three teacher leaders were asked to talk about themselves. Some themes that emerged were that the teacher leaders interacted with members of staff and with other people outside school, for example during sporting and social gathering. In this way they got new ideas and their teaching experiences grew everyday. TLB wrote in her journal: “I spoke to other teachers at other schools…” (p.2). This quote illustrates the view that “in schools, the learning community is demonstrated by people from multiple constituencies, at all levels, collaboratively and
continually working together” (Louis and Kruse 1995), cited in Harris and Muijs (2005, p. 51).
In my opinion communication amongst teachers should be facilitated and encouraged by the school as it promotes teacher leadership. According to Spillane (2004, p. 22), “organisational arrangements that inhibit communication among teachers might constrain leadership practice for instructional innovation”. Teacher leaders believed in encouraging others to better themselves and they led by example, for example by furthering their studies. They cared for others because they were helpful and considerate, they were not presumptuous and did not regard themselves as
being superior. According to information that surfaced across interviews, the teacher leaders also spoke to parents about education issues, an example of teacher leadership. TLA revealed that she worked with the parents: “the parents sat and I made sure that the work was signed. The parents had to make sure that they did their sums and they learnt their time tables” (II, p.6).
In this section I took the reader through data which captured the three participants‟ common views and experiences on teacher leadership enactment in the case study school. The data revealed how teacher leadership was enacted in the school within the four zones and identified the roles that teacher leaders played in each of the zones. The evidence also informed the reader about the extent to which teacher leadership was promoted in the school and gave insight into factors that were considered to be barriers to the practice of teacher leadership.