Teacher Leadership Action Research

Leadership in Action

The process of planning for the teacher leadership initiative from the identification of a need/issue to address to action planning and determining measures for evaluation can be regarded as collaborative action research. Lee, Sachs & Wheeler (2014) contend that teachers can carry out action research through taking what their learning activities in the classroom and leveraging it to help enhance the performance of the school community. Together with my colleagues from the innovation council for change and technology inclusion, we undertook a teacher leadership initiative that was geared towards enhancing the adoption of technology and online resources in teaching practice. This process is geared towards promoting collaboration between veteran teachers and novice leaders in order to improve teaching practice in a manner that helps in meeting the needs of the 21st Century students/learners.
The teacher leadership initiative we undertook is a form of collaborative action research process because it covers the various processes in this type of research. This initiative was a form of collaborative action research in the sense that it entailed the identification of a need/issue to address, action planning to deal address the issue, and evaluation measures. In this case, we identified that the school needs to change its focus of providing tired and repetitive teacher professional development, and address the divide among 21st century and veteran teachers who are refusing change and enforce union grievances when asked to try new things. We determined several measures to address this issue and evaluate the success of the leadership initiative. Additionally, the initiative can be regarded as a form of collaborative action research since the development of initiative entailed collaboration between different colleagues and was centered on creating a shared leadership environment for all teachers in the school.
This collaboration action research is scientific and systematic, particularly with regards to the established measures for evaluating the success of the leadership initiative. The scientific aspect of this action research is evident in the use of triangulation to help in collection of qualitative and quantitative data. Action researchers typically “triangulate,” meaning they gather various types of data including quantitative and qualitative, and do so for formative and summative purposes to enhance reliability. Moreover, the use of statistical analysis as part of the process of determining the effectiveness of this leadership initiative is also an indicator of how scientific this action research is. On the other hand, the systematic nature of this initiative is demonstrated based on the processes undertaken in it. According to Diana (2011), the stages of action research include problem formulation, data collection, data analysis, reporting results, and action plan. The initiative covered all these processes in a systematic manner to help in addressing the identified issue at the school.
As previously indicated, the action research entails triangulation of different types and sources of data. The triangulation was utilized to help in obtaining as much information as possible, which would in turn help in determining how effective the initiative is in accomplishing desired goals and objectives. In essence, triangulation provides a suitable framework for examining the different aspects of the initiative and their effectiveness.
In light of the current issues in my school, the success of teacher leadership depends on being highly systematic and deliberate for all to see. Being highly systematic and deliberate is crucial towards the success of the leadership initiative since it requires collaboration between the different stakeholders including the administration and teachers. This also helps in ensuring every stakeholder in the implementation process understand what is expected of them and what they need to do to meet these expectations. Therefore, since this initiative requires collaboration and seeks to create shared leadership, it needs to be highly systematic and deliberate for all.
References
Diana, T. J. (2011). Becoming a teacher leader through action research. Kappa Delta Pi Record, (47)4, 170-175.
Lee, J. S., Sachs, D., & Wheeler, L. (2014). The crossroads of teacher leadership and action research. The Clearing House, 87, 218-223.