Abstract
Teacher leaders, both in formal and informal positions within the school, shape the implementation trajectory for better or for worse. While more is known about teacher leadership in general, little is known about how this phenomenon plays itself out in much of the developing world, including South Africa. Even less is known about what schools think and how they support teacher leaders in their schools. In this paper, the researcher employed a qualitative case study design to explore the views and practices of a sample of 10 selected principals on teacher leadership. In other words, the paper looks at “what is” in terms of the support and for teacher leaders by their school principals. The data from this paper illustrates that negotiating the space for teacher leadership is dependent on the principals’ understanding of the agenda for teacher leadership. The more the teacher leadership agenda fits into the school agenda in particular, the better the opportunities for it to flourish and vice versa.