Dorothy Andrews

Parallel leadership: a clue to the contents of the “black box” of school reform

The concept of parallel leadership that is introduced in this article derives from a five‐year research project that was first reported in IJEM in 1997. Parallel leadership represents a relationship between teacher leaders and principals that is grounded in the values of mutual trust, shared directionality and allowance for individual expression. It appears to provide a leadership foundation upon which successful school reform can be built. Thus, the lid of what Hallinger and Heck have called the “black box” of school reform may have been prised open.

Building sustainable futures: emerging understandings of the significant contribution of the professional learning community

This article draws on the experiences of a range of Australian schools engaging with a teacher-centred process of whole-school renewal known as IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools). IDEAS enhances the professional capacity of teachers to improve school outcomes such as student learning, relationships with the community, and the coherence of school operation. The article explores how through their engagement with IDEAS, teacher leaders emerge from the professional learning community of the school. After outlining the essential elements of IDEAS, the article explores: how teacher leaders can work collaboratively with administrators to create a contextualized pedagogical framework that transforms their practice; the key concepts of parallel leadership; alignment; and professional conversation. Working with IDEAS, schools create their own futures, supported by their particular pedagogical framework and ways of working. Examples are drawn from particular schools to illustrate the diversity of their experiences and of their learning.

Three-dimensional pedagogy: a new professionalism in educational contexts

This article provides evidence of a new teacher professionalism whereby teachers, acting as collaborative individuals working together, are the key to effectively meeting the needs of diverse student cohorts. Drawing on data from Australian school contexts and the work of researchers from the Leadership Research International team, new professional images of teachers’ work have emerged as the result of a whole-school improvement process – the Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools (IDEAS) process. Such processes facilitate collective engagement enabling teachers to refine and share individual strengths, as well as build capacity in areas of challenge. This reimaging of teachers is related to the concept of three-dimensional pedagogy where teachers weave personal pedagogical beliefs and authoritative pedagogical frameworks with schoolwide pedagogical principles which are known as the school’s schoolwide pedagogy (SWP). A SWP, clearly aligned with the school’s vision for a preferred future, is derived by staff as a sign of their collective commitment to contextualized, high-yield teaching and learning practices. The focus is on meeting the needs of ‘our students’ in ‘our context’ while being sensitive to systemic direction. Teachers lead the process of developing SWP, working with it, refining it and embedding principles into shared pedagogical action. What emerges is the concept of micro-pedagogical deepening, a process of critiquing and defining contextualised practice. Such practices, led by the new teacher professional, are not only changing the professional image of teachers but also the look, feel and sound of educational workplaces.

Towards an adolescent friendly methodology: accessing the authentic through collective reflection

The re-emergence of student voice presents a challenge to schools and researchers to become more responsive to the voice of adolescents in education and in research. However, the poor articulation of the nature of student voice to date is confirmation of the complex and important nature of the personal advocacy and human agency that is involved in all student voice activities. This lack of clarity leads to interpretations of student voice that range in authenticity from token to active and meaningful (Hart, R. 1997. Childrens Participation: The Theory and Practice of Involving Young Citizens in Community Development and Environmental Care. Earthscan Publications. London: UNICEF). Researchers who are guided by more traditional methodologies may implement methods that are appropriate for adults yet are not sensitive to the needs and interests of the young person whose perspectives are usually the focus of the research. This research found that while an advocacy and empowerment worldview supports student voice research, adolescents also prefer a methodology that is agentic, socially based, reflective and embodied (Dempster, N., A. Lizzio, M. Keeffe, J. Skinner, and D. Andrews. 2010. “The Contributions of Research Design and Process Facilitation in Accessing Adolescent views of Leadership.” Leading and Managing 16 [2]: 77–89). Adolescent perspectives on research processes and methods are valuable in helping researchers to choose more responsive approaches to sharing understandings with adolescents, so that research designs may be challenging, meaningful and rewarding for all participants.

Leadership for learning: what it means for teachers

In this chapter, we highlight the critical connection of teacher leadership with improved pedagogy and quality learning. Illustrations from Australian and New Zealand case studies are used to reveal a variety of ways in which teachers can create opportunities and structures to support professional talk centred on observation of one another’s teaching, shared reflections and planning of next steps. Traditional notions of leader and leadership are presented to show how they no longer serve schools well. Instead we emphasise the need to foster communities of teacher leaders who can inspire those around them to make a difference in the lives of their students. In attempting to clarify what we mean by teacher leadership, we argue that new forms of leadership are now needed which value professional learning not as the transmission of knowledge from experts but as a discovery and co-construction of knowledge which teachers develop alongside one another as learners and operate within a professional learning community. We argue that investing in teachers as learning leaders needs to be intentional so that promising teachers are supported in their professional learning and see leadership with and alongside their colleagues as attractive and satisfying options.

Leading with Moral Purpose: Teacher Leadership in Action

Mutualistic goal setting enables members of the school community to reinvigorate and build on the past in order to establish clear goals for the future. That past in the case study schools of this chapter is steeped in the various foundations of the schools and manifests in explicit values for action bringing life to the moral purpose of the school. Teacher leaders emerge from the process with zest for open and active work in parallel with their meta-strategic leaders. They lead with members of the professional community, bringing to life in classrooms the underpinning values of the school’s vision for learning. This chapter draws on examples of teacher leaders working in schools that have engaged with the school improvement process of IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools) and are leading significant new pedagogical action. Guided by the school improvement process based on building capacity for the alignment of school components through parallel leadership, mutualistic goal setting and collective responsibility, these teachers exemplify leadership that is underpinned by allegiance to an explicit set of values guided by a vision for learning. Each school is different and each teacher leader demonstrates recognised qualities of critical self-reflection, networking, and advocacy for improved student achievement from a contextually relevant vantage point of moral purpose. The result is an identified style of leadership, underpinned by moral purpose, whereby teacher leaders in concert with their meta-strategic principal actively engage in the articulation of their school’s values and vision for learning through pedagogical leadership and strategic planning.

Cross-Cultural Stories of Practice from School Leaders

Educational leadership has been the subject of a myriad of research studies with a plethora of checklists and frameworks, and most educational systems advocate for the evaluation of school leaders against principles of effective school leadership. However, the complexity of leadership is far more than adhering to predetermined frameworks and standards. This chapter delves deeper into the practices of a small sampling of school leaders as they reveal their stories of school leadership. Three sets of data from Australia, South Africa and Canada have been analysed with an emphasis on exposing the emergent themes, and bringing together a heightened level of understanding of, and empathy for school leadership across three countries.