Teacher’s readiness for leadership – a strategy for school development

ABSTRACT

Teacher leadership is a powerful concept in school development. However, teachers’ readiness to take on the leadership role is rather delicate. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between teachers’ readiness for leadership and two main factors that affect it: distributed leadership and school culture. Quantitative data from teachers (n = 480) in 16 Estonian schools were gathered through a questionnaire regarding teachers’ readiness for leadership, their perceived distributed leadership and school culture. The results indicated that teachers in schools where distributed leadership dimensions were perceived above average evaluated their readiness for leadership higher. We also found that teachers evaluated their readiness for leadership higher in schools where innovation and change-oriented school culture were perceived as higher than average. The findings offer in-depth evidence of the conditions necessary to support teachers’ readiness for leadership.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher leadership
• distributed leadership
• school culture
• school differences
• leadership readiness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the European Social Fund for the program ‘Development of the Competence Centre for Educational Innovation in Tallinn University’. Project number: TÕA18130. Ministry of Finance, Industry and Competitiveness and the European Social Fund.

Notes on contributors

Piret Oppi

Piret Oppi is a junior researcher at the School of Educational Sciences at Tallinn University. She works as a school development analyst in Tallinn University Centre for Innovation in Education. Her main areas of research are teacher leadership, collaborative learning and teachers’ professional development.

Eve Eisenschmidt

Eve Eisenschmidt is a professor of educational leadership at the School of Educational Sciences at Tallinn University. Her area of research is teachers’ professional development, school development and leadership.

Anna-Liisa Jõgi

Anna-Liisa Jõgi works as an analyst in Tallinn University School of Educational Sciences and a postdoctoral researcher in University of Jyväskylä Department of Teacher Education. Her main research topics are focused on methodology in educational research as well as in school effectiveness.