Teachers at the Center: Learning and Leading

Abstract

The Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) has given us an excellent example of what happens when the conditions for learning are created for teachers, rather than teaching them in the traditional professional development way from the “outside” in. For 7 years, the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Teachers Federation have collaborated on a program that asks three questions: What did you learn? What did you learn about leadership? And how will you share what you have learned with others? Teachers write a proposal and are supported by the collaboration. Evidence shows this to be a powerful, sometimes life-changing experience for teachers as well as a powerful professional development effort that has far-reaching success.

Notes

¹ Vignettes are narratives written by the teachers answering a variety of prompts including the following: What did you do? With whom? What happened? How are you sharing your knowledge? What did you learn? What did you learn about leadership?