School culture focused on results and competition inhibits teachers’ leadership readiness

Rapid developments in society and the world of science place high expectations on the education system, requiring schools to make quick, yet sustainable changes. Such changes, however, are complex, presupposing that every school ensures meaningfulness of the students’ learning and creates new solutions based on fresh knowledge of both learning and teaching. 
An effective strategy is implementation of distributed leadership as a result of which the manager shares responsibility and leadership opportunities with teachers as well. Teachers then have the opportunity to lead their colleagues’ professional learning activities (e.g. by creating and carrying out learning circles), which, unlike traditional learning activities for teachers, have a greater impact and ensure implementation of sustainable change. But who are the teachers that could lead learning at school level - what kind of conditions should be created for this and what are the apparent effects? These were the underlying topics examined in detail in my doctoral dissertation. 

Examination of teachers and school leaders in different schools in Estonia revealed that in Estonian schools, formal leadership roles (e.g. leader of a chair) assigned by the management are more common and teachers that contribute to school development on their own initiative are fewer, rather. At the same time, teachers assess as high their readiness to contribute to school development as an extended concept; however, that under certain conditions that are related to the teachers' own personal resources, the head and management of the school, school culture and resources, and factors external to the school.
 

For example, the doctoral dissertation indicated that teachers who perceive their school to be operating based on a school culture focused on cooperation and innovation rate their readiness to take on a leader’s role higher as compared to teachers whose schools are more focused on results and competition. In addition, a major role in teachers' willingness to contribute to school development is played by the principal whose task is to provide teachers with leadership opportunities, while consciously sharing responsibility and empowering teachers. Working in favorable conditions enhances the teachers’ initiative to take more responsibility outside the classroom, and it is these teachers that often implement changes in schools by involving their colleagues in learning together. 

However, the most important thing for teachers as leaders is their influence that is often expressed in their own, their colleagues’, and the school’s development and sometimes also externally to the school. The most important thing thereat is the students whose well-being and support to and improvement of whose learning is the main goal of teachers as leaders. Therefore, leaders also need to analyze the impact of their learning on the well-being and learning of students and, if necessary, change their actions. 

Results of this doctoral dissertation will certainly help school leaders in obtaining a good overview of the possibilities and importance of involving teachers more in school development. Furthermore, to make sure that implemented changes are sustainable, different school development programs should present the management concept of the teacher as a leader; when designing the programs, thorough thought should be given to how teachers could be supported in practicing the role of a leader during the implementation of the program and how sustainability of this leadership role should be ensured later in order to prevent teachers from burning out under their already heavy workload. The teachers’ workload should most certainly be considered in this light, because even though teachers assess their readiness to lead as high and the changes they lead are more sustainable, the well-being and "sustainability" of the leaders themselves should also be ensured. In addition, more attention should be paid to this topic in teacher training and education management curricula, introducing opportunities for teachers to take a leadership role outside of the classroom, presenting the principles of distributed leadership, and also practicing various skills that come in handy for a leader. 


Finally, based on relevant dissertation results it is now possible at the level of the local government and the Ministry of Education to start thinking more broadly about new school management practices within the framework of which teachers take on more responsibility next to the principal. 

Piret Oppi, doctoral student at Tallinn University's School of Educational Sciences defended her doctoral dissertation entitled „Teacher leadership – supporting teachers’ collaborative learning in Estonian schools" on August 29. The dissertation was supervised by Proffessor Eve Eisenschmidt, Tallinn University, while opponents were Professor Marco Snoek, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, and Associate Professor Tapio Lahtero, University of Helsinki.