Construction of teacher leadership identity at Luanping Middle School, Hebei province, China

Abstract

eacher leadership has been studied extensively, yet there is no universally recognised concept or practice. Uncertainty over best practices is likely to persist until a uniform definition is established for a local context. The purpose of this study is to investigate the construction of teacher leadership identity at Luanping Middle School, Hebei province, China. In this study, a qualitative approach is applied to explore and understand teacher leadership in Luanping Middle School, Hebei Province, China. It is a public boarding school with about five thousand students and three hundred teachers. A majority of the students live on campus. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on a group of seven teachers. It was found that in general, the respondents perceive themselves as teacher leaders. Personal attributes, studentfocused, collegiality, development focus, as well as leading and being led by others are important attributes in supporting teacher leadership. The culture in Luanping Middle School greatly supported the development of teacher leadership among the teachers. The respondents were able to identify their strengths and weaknesses in their journey as a teacher, and were keen to be actively involved in the development and well-being of their students. The teachers’ leadership roles are also diverse. Local middle schools will have a systematic guidance on how to prepare and grow teacher leaders once a definition is established. A suggestion for schools looking to produce teacher leaders is to clarify what teacher leadership means in their own environment until a common definition emerges.