scholarly journals Professional Learning and Distributed Leadership: A Symbiotic Relationship

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Rachel Denee

  Pedagogical improvement in early childhood education (ECE) is critically impacted by leadership and professional learning. Despite this importance, government funding for ECE professional learning has been significantly reduced over the past decade. Meanwhile, a growing body of research is suggesting that teacher professional learning is most effective when contextualised and sustained over time. In ECE, positional leaders have responsibility for ensuring ongoing teacher professional learning and the development of the programme while developing a culture of distributed leadership. This interpretive mixed-methods study examined the practices and perceptions of ECE teachers and leaders about leadership and professional learning. Surveys and interviews were designed to reveal the relationship between distributed leadership and professional learning in ECE settings and sought to discover practices of effective positional leaders in facilitating both. From the results of this study, it emerged that distributed leadership and professional learning are symbiotic and that ECE positional leaders need to develop certain leadership practices within their services in order to successfully foster both.

2021 ◽  
pp. 0013161X2110350
Author(s):  
Mehmet Şükrü Bellibaş ◽  
Ali Çağatay Kılınç ◽  
Mahmut Polatcan

Aim: While integrated leadership has received significant scholarly attention in the past decade, most existing research in this vein has focused on its impact on student achievement and often dismissed how it might be related to instructional practices, which are at the center of many school reforms. In this research, we examined the relationship between integrated leadership and teacher professional learning and teacher practices in Turkey, where educational policy makers have recently introduced several school reform initiatives. More specifically, we aimed to examine the moderating function of transformational leadership in the relationship between instructional leadership and teacher practices, with an emphasis on the mediating role of teacher professional learning. Research Design: We conducted this study with a cross-sectional design and moderated mediation model. Data collected from 616 teachers working in a mix of primary and secondary schools in Turkey were analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping tests. Findings: We found evidence that transformational leadership acted as a moderator of the indirect effect of principal instructional leadership on teachers' instructional practices through teacher professional learning. Implications: This study adds to the accumulated body of knowledge on the effects of school leadership by concluding that the effect of instructional leadership on teacher learning and practice is contingent upon the extent to which principals enact transformational leadership. School principals who adopt a more comprehensive leadership approach that combines instructional leadership and transformational leadership practices can maximize their effects on student achievement through teacher learning, and better address the ever-growing demands of educational reforms.


Author(s):  
Ayeshah A Alazmi ◽  
Waheed Hammad

Research has revealed that appropriate school leadership practices can positively support and promote teacher learning. This study examines the influences of Learning-Centered Leadership upon Teacher Agency, Trust and professional learning in a Kuwaiti context. Following results from recent empirical research, this study tested a model of principal leadership effects upon teacher learning via the mediators of Teacher Trust and Agency. The researchers collected data from 1060 teachers working at 64 Kuwaiti public schools and analyzed this data using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results validated this model, showing that Learning-Centered Leadership affects teacher professional development via Teacher Trust and Agency. This improves our understanding of the relationship between school leadership and teacher professional learning both in Kuwait and internationally; relevant recommendations are listed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1237-1251
Author(s):  
Jarrent Tayag ◽  
Nunilon Ayuyao

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between leadership and teacher professional learning considering two mediating variables – teacher trust and teacher agency.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized structural equation modeling in analyzing the responses from 1,654 secondary public teachers from 43 schools in the Philippines.FindingsLeadership does not have a direct relationship with teacher professional learning. The established relationship of leadership and professional learning from literature exists through the mediation of teacher trust and teacher agency.Originality/valueThe results point out that school leaders must affect teacher trust and teacher agency to influence the engagement of teachers to professional learning. Contrary to what has been accepted in educational management that leaders can directly impact teachers, the findings of this study dictate that the full effects of leadership are coursed through mediating pathways.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Andrea C. Burrows ◽  
Mike Borowczak ◽  
Adam Myers ◽  
Andria C. Schwortz ◽  
Courtney McKim

This study compares three pre-collegiate teacher professional learning and development (PLD) integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiences framed in astronomy. The study is set in the western United States (USA) and involves 60 pre-collegiate teachers (in the USA these are K-12 teachers) over the course of three years (June 2014–May 2017). During the PLDs, astronomy acted as a vehicle for pre-collegiate STEM teachers to increase their STEM content knowledge as well as create and implement integrated STEM classroom lessons. The authors collected quantitative and qualitative data to address five research questions and embraced social constructionism as the theoretical framework. Findings show that STEM pre-collegiate teachers are largely engaged with integrated STEM PLD content and embrace astronomy content and authentic science. Importantly, they need time to practice, interpret, translate, and use the integrated STEM content in classroom lessons. Recommendations for PLD STEM teacher support are provided. Implications of this study are vast, as gaps in authentic science, utilizing astronomy, PLD structure, and STEM integration are ripe for exploration.


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