Teacher leadership towards creating and maintaining a culture of learning and teaching

Abstract

Teacher leadership is one of the key concepts for curriculum delivery in schools and it gives Post Level 1 (PL1) teachers a chance to lead. This study builds on teacher leadership and contributes to knowledge in the field of Educational Leadership. Although a number of studies have examined school leadership, there has been limited studies that focus on teacher leadership (Grant, 2010:416) towards creating and maintaining a culture of learning and teaching (COLT) in the classroom and school. Based on this lack of focus, there is a need to investigate teacher leadership in creating and maintaining COLT and to contribute to knowledge in this field. The study focuses on investigating the experiences of PL1 teachers towards COLT, their leadership practices, challenges and how they address these challenges. The study is underpinned by Grant’s (2010:409) theory on teacher leadership that argues that PL1 teachers can lead both inside and outside the classroom. Qualitative data was generated through interviews and observation. Three secondary schools were sampled from Tshwane South district of the Gauteng province. Thirteen PL1 teachers participated in this study. It was found that PL1 teachers play a key leadership role in creating and maintaining COLT. Teachers develop their colleagues in school activities and also lead communities. The study further shows that as the teachers executed their leadership roles, they experience challenges such as ill-disciplined learners, shortage of resources and a lack of parental involvement in schools. These findings may assist both the Department of Education and schools to improve their practices with the purpose of supporting teacher-leaders to create and maintain COLT. Furthermore, the study recommends guidelines for effective teacher leadership towards creating and maintaining COLT which could be included in in-service teacher training.