TEACHER LEADERSHIP

JENNER S. SOZA

It is a common misconception that leadership is only for people who hold positions. Authority is often associated to power, which in turn is believed to be only the monopoly of those who are on top such as the management of an organization.

In the school, leadership is often thought to be reserved only for the school head or the principal. Yes, this is true because it is the mandate of the school head to be the leader of the school in all aspects of school operations. In fact, one of the domains of being a school head is school leadership.

Modern day definitions of school leadership veer away from the traditional concept of hierarchy. Today, school principals ascribe to the principles of shared leadership. This principle means that authority and governance is distributed and shared to other school personnel such as the head teachers and even master teachers.

Sharedleadershipmakestheprincipalastewardwholeadshis/herflocktothedirection set by the school to achieve its vision and mission. With this type of leadership, the principal is seen not as an authority of power but as someone who is like a conductor of an orchestra. In the latter description, the conductor leads the members in playing music with harmony.

Aside from the principal and head teachers, classroom teachers themselves can exercise leadership roles even without holding positions. Contrary to the common belief that only those with leadership positions can function leadership roles, teachers also can do the same even if they are not designated as leaders. There’s a saying that leadership is not about position titles but about influencing other people. Indeed, teachers can influence their colleagues and even those who hold higher positions to achieve a common purpose.

There is a phrase that is used to refer to this type of leadership that teachers assume even without them knowing about it. Labelled as “teacher leadership”, it comes from the awareness that prompts teachers to want to influence change. Teachers experience professional restlessness— what some have called the “leadership itch.” Sometimes on their own initiative and sometimes within a more formal structure, they find a variety of ways to exercise teacher leadership.

Teacher leadership is about increasing pathways and opportunities for teachers to exercise leadership, elevating teacher voice to inform and develop policy and practice and expanding existing efforts to steer systemic improvements to benefit student learning. The ways teachers can lead are as varied as teachers themselves. Teacher leaders assume a wide range of roles to support school and student success. Whether these roles are assigned formally or shared informally, they build the entire school’s capacity to improve.

With the school principal practicing shared leadership and teachers knowingly or unknowingly exercising teacher leadership, this ideal partnership will lead to better outcomes which will benefit the school especially the learners.

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The author is Teacher III at San Matias National High School, San Matias, Sto. Tomas, Pampanga.