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This chapter synthesizes Chapters 8–11, and discusses various definitions, structures, and cultures of teacher leadership. It also describes how the professional development school model supports various teacher leader roles, responsibilities, and initiatives, including liaisons-in-residence, professional learning communities, learning walks, co-teaching, and mentoring. Recognizing that even amidst rich and authentic examples, a common definition for teacher leadership still does not emerge, the chapter concludes on the note that by not declaring a one-size-fits-all definition of teacher leadership, the concept remains open to various potential leadership roles and responsibilities.

In recent decades, researchers have increasingly begun to study the effects of transformational leadership on various teachers’ attitudes in K-12 settings. However, studies on the effect of transformational leadership on the job satisfaction of vocational high school teachers are not sufficient. Therefore, in this study, the nature of the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction in Turkish vocational high schools was examined.

The study data came from 847 teachers working at 82 state vocational high schools located in 12 regions in Türkiye. To test the research model, we conducted multilevel structural equation modeling to explore the structural relationships between transformational leadership, teacher professional learning, teacher’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction.

The analysis confirms that teacher professional learning and self-efficacy are prominent mediators in the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction in Turkish vocational high schools.

The present study is expected to contribute to the body of research focusing on the effects of transformational leadership on job satisfaction in vocational high schools. Implications for theory, practice and policy are discussed.

Research investigating the impact of school leadership on teachers’ emotions and practices has mostly focused on the leadership behaviors of school principals, thus ignoring the potential leadership qualities of other school members, especially teachers. The current study aimed to bridge this gap by providing further insight into the link between teacher leadership and teacher outcomes in Egyptian schools. Specifically, the study examined the mediating role of collective teacher efficacy in the relationship between teacher leadership and teacher commitment.

The study employed structural equation modeling and bootstrapping to analyze survey data collected from 497 teachers in primary and middle schools in Damietta city, Egypt.

The results supported our proposition that teachers’ leadership practices have more indirect than direct effects on teacher commitment through collective teacher efficacy. That is, teacher leadership practices positively affect teachers’ efficacy beliefs, which, in turn, increase their sense of commitment to school.

The study adds a new aspect to the literature by investigating the potential role of teacher leadership in promoting positive teacher attitudes that can have a positive impact on student learning. This is significant given the growing emphasis that educational systems place on enhancing school effectiveness. Specifically, understanding the factors that contribute to teacher commitment can inform strategies for retaining effective teachers and improving the overall quality of the teaching workforce. Additionally, since most of the empirical research on teacher leadership has been produced in Western contexts, it is important to enrich the field with studies conducted in other societies, especially in the Arab region.

Recognizing the importance of developing professional identities and valuing the work of school-based teacher educators, this chapter outlines a specific context in which teacher leaders self-identified and worked across contexts to support teacher development within their schools. This chapter’s primary focus includes the perceptions and experiences of teacher leaders in school–university partnerships connected to one university in one identified role: liaison-in-residence. Three themes resulted from analysis of transcripts, journals, and memos: teacher leader identity developed within democratic leadership; teacher leader positionality stirs tensions in professional identity; and service and equity as key guideposts for leading and learning.

Teacher preparation programs (TPPs) in the professional development school model can serve as a valuable channel for teacher leadership opportunities. Using the distributed leadership perspective, this chapter explores how one school–university partnership focused on developing teacher leaders rather than simply teacher candidates. Viewing the TPP as an incubator for teacher leaders primes candidates to not only teach in the classroom, but to also seek out leadership opportunities based on their passions. This chapter highlights components of the TPP, such as assignments and innovative practices, and provides two specific examples of teacher candidates following their passions to leadership.

This chapter describes a teacher leadership professional development program for K-12 science teachers constructed through a partnership between a university and five school districts. The development and implementation of the program drew from the literature on teacher leadership, communities of practice, and distributed leadership. The program supports teachers through a two-year fellowship program where they examine their teaching practices, attend professional development workshops, and undertake an independent teacher leadership project in their own schools. The chapter also describes the research conducted by the university to improve the program and shares findings and future implications of this research.

All teachers are leaders by the nature of their work. They lead within their schools, whether implicitly or explicitly, for good or for bad, proactively or reactively. In this chapter, we present a framework of teacher leadership that is an assemblage of our previously published works. We use this chapter to provide a consolidated view of how to help all teachers to acknowledge, understand, and use their “awesome” power as leaders to transform their classrooms, schools, and communities. Schools are sites of social, political, and economic influence and teachers play key roles in either maintaining the status quo or creating environments that are transformative and equitable for all members. We argue that a teacher's power is essential both within and beyond the walls of the classroom. Teachers have the capacity and power to participate in change decisions and efforts that traditionally either have been tacitly assumed by them or deliberately defined by others. By having an understanding of critical leadership or leadership for social justice, teachers will be more prepared to identify and resist the variety of contexts which threaten their professional expertise and contexts that deliberately question their professional knowledge.

This case study aims to examine the discourses of Early Children Education (ECE) curriculum and preservice teachers’ teaching practicum in Hong Kong to explore issues of developing preservice teachers as leaders for their future career. Adopting the qualitative case study methodology, semistructured interviews and documentation were mainly used for data collection to address the following research questions: (a) To what extent are preservice teachers in ECE in Hong Kong aware of the needs of leadership development for their future career? (b) To what extent are the preservice teachers in ECE in Hong Kong able to be developed as leaders in the process of teacher education? (c) What are factors influencing the leadership development of preservice teachers in preschools in Hong Kong? Documents such as program handbooks, field experience handbooks, and student participants’ teaching portfolios were collected for analysis. Both teacher educators and preservice teachers were invited for individual interviews to reflect on their experiences of supervising or participating in teaching practicum. The findings revealed that both teacher educators and preservice teachers were aware of the importance of developing preservice teachers as leaders. The teaching practicum provided various opportunities for preservice teachers to develop leadership skills. However, personality and learning experiences provided in the curriculum will also impact on leadership development. This study also informs policymakers, curriculum developers, and teacher educators about possible curriculum changes and potentials of developing preservice teachers as leaders for their future career.

Leadership for learning emerged as an integrated leadership framework; however, attempts to establish an empirical measurement model have been limited. Critically, not much is known about how much teachers' beliefs (e.g. self-efficacy) can mediate leadership for learning impact on teacher behaviors. This study establishes a leadership for learning measurement model and examines whether teacher self-efficacy mediates the effect of leadership for learning tasks on teacher collaboration, instructional quality, intention to leave current schools and their confidence in equitable teaching practice.

Drawing on the most recent 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), the study employed a structural equation modeling mediation approach.

Results suggested that teacher self-efficacy statistically significantly mediated 16 out of 20 of the relationships between leadership for learning task domains and teacher outcomes. Especially, in explaining the variance in instructional quality and teacher confidence in implementing equitable teaching practices, considerable proportions of the predictive power of leadership for learning tasks were accounted for (i.e. mediated) by teacher self-efficacy.

School-wide efforts to craft the school vision for learning must be coupled with enhancing teacher self-efficacy. Critically, leadership efforts may fall short of implementing equitable teaching practice and quality instruction without addressing teacher confidence in their ability in instruction, classroom management and student engagement.

This study is the first of its kind to evidence teacher self-efficacy mediates leadership for learning practice impact on teacher behaviors.