Tensions for Teacher Leaders: Insights from Document Analysis in Alberta, Canada

• Charles F. Webber ^[1] ; Jodi Nickel ^[1]
  1. [1] Mount Royal University

     Mount Royal University

     Canadá

     
• Localización: Teacher Leadership in International Contexts / Charles Webber (ed. lit.), 2023, ISBN 978-3-031-25763-6, págs. 171-195
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • As part of the International Study of Teacher Leadership (www.mru.ca/istl), a document analysis was conducted to determine how teacher leadership is represented in the official documentation of key educational stakeholders in Alberta, Canada.Six themes emerged from the researchers’ document analysis: foundational understandings, student diversity, twenty-first-century competencies, innovative curriculum and student engagement, community engagement, and reflection and professional learning. Analysis of the idealized themes resulted in the identification of issues that may challenge teacher leaders. For example, professional tensions may emerge between teacher leaders seeking to implement innovative pedagogies and parents and colleagues with conflicting expectations. Cultivating citizenship skills in a context of ambiguity, rapid change, and diversity may be complicated by alienation among community members and political leaders who themselves struggle with changing social, political, and environmental forces.It is unlikely that teacher leaders could demonstrate competence in every theme area. Teacher leaders must necessarily prioritize some professional commitments to work sustainably. Several considerations were derived from the inherent tensions. The considerations were used to derive a composite profile of teacher leaders with the capacity to serve, influence, and thrive as teacher leaders.