Abstract
This paper aims to examine the relationship between school management practices and teacher leadership. The exercise of teacher leadership within school organization is proven to be contributed to the improvement of school effectiveness (Leithwood et. al. 2000). How to encourage teachers to exercise their leadership for school improvement become an important management issue to be explored. However, only few attempts have so far been made at identify the management practices that affect teacher leadership. If the relationships between them are explored, school administrators can fine tune their management practices for enhancing the exercise of teacher leadership contributes to school improvement. This study intends to identify the roles of teacher leadership that would provide school administrators practical steps to involve teachers in exercising their leadership effectively. The theoretical framework of this study was theoretically constructed and empirically validated. Weick's (1976) Organization theory of loose-tight coupling in school management and Katzenmeyer and Moller"s (2001) three-dimensional teacher leadership model were adopted for constructing the theoretical framework. 360 teachers from 20 aided secondary schools in Hong Kong took part in the questionnaire survey of this study. A three-dimensional teacher leadership model includes instructional coaching, instructional leadership and administrative leadership and a model of loose-tight management practices includes bureaucratic control and professional autonomy was theoretically and empirically identified by structural equation modelling. Results showed that there are positive predictive effects of professional autonomy and bureaucratic control in instructional coaching, instructional leadership and administrative leadership. This study contributes theoretically to our knowledge of the relationship between management practices and the roles of teacher leadership, and proposes practically a model for school administrators to promote teacher leadership under school-based management policy. Teacher leadership could be promoted by balancing the bureaucratic-professional managerial practices in school organization.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - Jun 2009 |
Event | 3rd Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Duration: 01 Jun 2009 → 03 Jun 2009 |
Conference
Conference | 3rd Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference |
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Country/Territory | Singapore |
Period | 01/06/09 → 03/06/09 |
Citation
Cheng, C. K. (2009, June). Cultivating teacher leadership in school organization. Paper presented at the Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference: Designing New Learning Contexts for a Globalising World, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.Keywords
- School change and leadership
- School culture & organization