Teacher Leadership Reimagined: A Social Network Approach

(Paperback)

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Who are the influential colleagues in your school Why are they influential We all know teachers who everyone admired as role models, supportive colleagues, and who were always ready to learn more. This study used social network theory to identify those teachers that are sought out by peers for professional advice followed by surveys and interviews to identify why these faculty members were so influential. What the study found is that teacher influencers have transformational qualities that are available to any teacher. These leadership qualities are described in the Model of Transformational Teacher Influence. For school principals, understanding your schools network is critical to the development of culture, collaboration, and successful innovation and sustainability of change. For pre-service teacher preparation programs, this research and model would support novice teachers as they embark on building relationships in their first years of teaching. For mid-career and veteran teachers who seek to contribute to their school-communities, the study describes with clarity how influence occurs among faculty opening spaces for all teachers to lead.

Reviews

Teacher Leadership Reimagined helps us make important strides in exiting the dark age of solely assessing the impact of educational reform efforts and teacher leadership models on student achievement. Looking at teacher leadership in both informal and formal manifestations, the work explores one of the most promising new analytic tools social network theory to examine how information is shared in schools. Through this, we learn more about how essential information is shared and processed amongst and between teachers to make better decisions regarding teaching and learning as well as new lenses through which to categorize the work of the most influential teacher leaders. Additionally, school leaders are cued into ways to look at the web of relationships in their schools, and maximize these for transformational learning. -- Jason Margolis, Professor of Education, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. Sheas book details a rigorous study of individual teacher contributors (influencers) on the positive culture in schools. Translatable across systems and levels, Dr. Shea gives appropriate voice to the teachers in the trenches who have consistently moved curriculum, ideas, attitudes and culture forward without recognition from leadership in schools.

Teachers love to share! Its our passion! And stifling that need, because of scheduling or timing or undervaluing, drains the joy out one of our greatest strengths. Sharing, collaborating and fostering relationships builds so much positivity, across grade levels and subject areas, it has always mystified me why principals would consistently steal time from those endeavors to force in one more obligation. Also providing work spaces in close proximity to colleagues and recognizing the importance of the density of teacher influencers should factor into district-wide decisions when restructuring schools.

Dr. Sheas book should be required reading for principals. Principals need to be better able to recognize teacher influencers and be willing to cultivate and listen to ideas coming from teachers. Education has too long been a top-down hierarchy. There is so much talent and passion in teachers out there striving their very best to provide excellence for their students and their colleagues. Its time to recognize, support and promote those individuals.

My hope is that this book becomes required reading in teacher preparatory and educational leadership institutes. -- Constance W. Soron, College of St. Rose

Author Bio

Deborah Shea is the director of Educational Leadership Programs at the College of St. Rose.