1st Edition
Teacher Learning and Leadership Of, By, and For Teachers
Teacher Learning and Leadership asserts that teachers should be put at the center of creating, developing, organizing, implementing, and sharing their own ideas for school change rather than being passive recipients of knowledge from the outside. It argues that there is tremendous potential for the good of students and the professionalization of teaching, when teachers work collaboratively to develop their own and their colleagues’ professional knowledge and practices and are supported by school and system leaders, unions and government.
The book draws on the groundbreaking work of the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program in Ontario and uses an in-depth case study to illustrate its points. It demonstrates how professional development built around collaboration, teacher leadership, curriculum development, technology and pedagogy can be organized in a way that redistributes control and responsibility to teachers, thereby instilling a genuine sense of pride and accomplishment in their work.
This book is a sincere outreach from the authors who advocate for the professional development of, by and for teachers as individuals and, importantly, as a collective profession. The authors argue that projects like the TLLP (a joint initiative between the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Teachers’ Federation) can radically, and positively, transform teachers’ knowledge, skills and practices. The book provides an important model for school change led by teachers, rather than experts, in partnership with school and system leaders and is a fascinating read for all those concerned with teaching, teacher development and educational change.
Introduction. Introducing the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) 1. Policies and Practices for Teachers’ Learning and Leadership 2. Moving from Chaos to Collaboration: A System Enabling Teacher Learning and Leadership 3. Teacher Learning in the TLLP 4. Teacher Leadership in the TLLP 5. Teachers’ Knowledge Exchange and Sharing 6. What We Have Learned So Far
Biography
Ann Lieberman, Senior Scholar, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education at Stanford University and Emerita Professor at Teachers College, USA.
Carol Campbell, Associate Professor of Leadership and Educational Change and Director of the Knowledge Network for Applied Educational Research, OISE, University of Toronto, Canada.
Anna Yashkina, Senior Researcher, OISE, University of Toronto, Canada.
Praise for the book:
'The story of Ontario’s culture change and success will be important as an historical case. It should last a long time, especially as the movement toward profession development gains force. Even if Ontario stagnates, its story will be important for others moving forward on system change. Definitely the market is growing within the U.S. as evidence mounts that a) traditional professional development does not meet teacher learning demands and b) school districts that are making greatest gains are pursuing strategies that couple teacher learning and leadership.
Ann Lieberman is an international authority on teaching and teacher policy, and is widely sought out as a speaker in the US and around the world. Her name will attract readers who want a practice-based, grounded approach to improving the conditions and effectiveness of teaching. I am not familiar with Lieberman’s co-authors, but I assume they will work as a team in creating a strong book that builds on evidence from Ontario –and that also references evidence from other systems in the US and around the world.' - Joan Talbert, Co-Director & Senior Research Scholar Emerita, Center for the Research on the Context of Teaching, Standford University, USA
'I strongly recommend the publication of this book. It documents and explores a highly unusual collaboration and provides a powerful model for what we might do to improve schools. It speaks to the challenges as well as the successes so that those who would like to participate in innovations inspired by this program can anticipate how differently configured cultural and historical aspects of schooling would need to be considered in moving toward a teacher-centered model, at a time when teachers in the US, for example, are regarded both as the problem for schools’ failures and the lynchpin of school reform. This is a hopeful book, with a very rich set of ideas for creating the contexts for teacher learning that emanate from trust of teachers and acknowledge their commitment to their work.
Because the first author is an extremely well-known, prominent and highly respected educator whose contributions in this territory are recognized widely, I would expect there to be a significant audience for this book. Not only has Ann Lieberman written about teacher learning and some of the foremost teacher learning networks and projects in the US, she has also worked with educators abroad on related topics and has a good feel for the territory. She is a recognized authority in this field.' - Professor Susan Lytle, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania
