An Evaluation Of Leading Teacher Learning In Secondary Schools

This essay has been published on the Social Publishers Foundation - Practitioner Research website. It is written by Alexander Pallister, an MA Educational Leadership and Management student. 

Summary

This essay is presented as an evaluation of leading teacher learning in secondary schools. The paper considers three key areas:

1. The role of school leaders in relation to the professional development of teachers
2. The contribution of mentoring in relation to teacher development
3. The concept and value of teacher leadership in relation to coaching and learner outcomes.

The essay seeks to review the current thinking on the topic of leading teacher learning and contribute to the ongoing discussion by exploring both positional and distributed leadership models, reflection and experiential learning, and different learning communities teachers may participate in as part of their own professional learning.

The author proposes that school leaders play a critical role in the professional development of teachers and that the distributed approach to leadership provides the most satisfying model for teacher learning. Mentoring is valuable in facilitating teacher learning but may be enhanced through the training of mentors, whereas coaching may provide a more suitable alternative method of learning for more experienced teachers. School leaders can play an important role in facilitating the development of teacher learning communities, but they must also acknowledge the potential of having a negative influence on learner communities.

Please visit the publisher's website to read the full essay.