{"title":"A Vibrant and Empowering Context for Teacher Leaders","authors":"Charles T. Webber, Jodi Nickel","doi":"10.29173/ijll2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29173/ijll2","url":null,"abstract":"This report describes the results of a series of interviews with educators in an independent school for students with unique learning needs that is characterized by a pervasive positive school culture, clear mission, and high levels of teacher participation in decision making. Researchers noted the collective understanding among teachers and administrators of the work of teacher leaders. There was a strong sense of community interdependence and collaboration that fostered teacher leadership. Strong structural support enabled teacher leaders to exercise influence beyond their classrooms. Teachers reported a strong sense of freedom and high levels of administrator trust. Teachers felt that they needed to establish a base of school-based experience in order to emerge as leaders. Other observations included high levels of teacher professionalism, collective expectations that teachers would maintain ongoing readiness to learn on the job, contagious enthusiasm, and deep commitment to the school community. Challenges to teacher leadership included a sustainable workload, altered collegial relationships, alignment of grassroots initiatives with school priorities, and pressure to meet parent expectations. Teachers recognized the fragility of their positive school culture and celebrated their professional autonomy. Teachers and administrators understood that their school must operate in a way that led parents to want to enroll their children. Finally, the researchers considered succession planning, along with the skills and knowledge that could lead to similarly high levels of innovation and success in other schools.","PeriodicalId":120758,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for Leadership in Learning","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116843309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conceptualizing a Foundation to Lead a School–University Research Partnership","authors":"S. Hamilton, Dana Braunberger, Barb Brown","doi":"10.29173/ijll14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29173/ijll14","url":null,"abstract":"Research within schools has taken place for decades, yet longstanding skepticism between researchers and practitioners has resulted in hesitation to work together to develop research partnerships. Two school-based leaders and one university researcher sought to conceptualize a foundation for their school–university research partnership. During the initial stages of the partnership development, terminology and interpretation of language used to describe research in schools emerged as both an area of concern and an opportunity for exploration. The partners recognized a need to revise their lexicon from terms that implied teachers needed assistance fixing “problems of practice” to terms promoting an approach embracing innovation and a strengths-based practice in schools. Through an action research approach, the authors draw on their meeting notes, reflections, and documentation to describe the process they used to develop a research-partnership model. Results from this inquiry explicate how partners reflected on their leadership approach, key moments, and a changing context to develop guiding principles and a partnership model with potential for sustainability.","PeriodicalId":120758,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for Leadership in Learning","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133658611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender and Leadership in Sport: Girl Team Captains","authors":"Tracy D. Keats","doi":"10.29173/ijll9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29173/ijll9","url":null,"abstract":"Employing personal narrative, observations, and overview of literature, the notions of gender and leadership are examined through captaining. Battling the gender norms in female team sports and leadership has been a non-topic for decades in physical education and recreational sports. This study intends to interrogate and highlight the obstacles and possibilities of leadership in female sports and to rectify the often antiquated and masculinist points of view on female sports.","PeriodicalId":120758,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for Leadership in Learning","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117309983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"School Leadership’s Role in the Disruption of Math Anxiety","authors":"D. Horne","doi":"10.29173/ijll4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29173/ijll4","url":null,"abstract":"Math anxiety, the discomfort or fear of math, spans the globe and affects a wide range of ages, from early childhood to adulthood. Teachers and students may experience math anxiety in a variety of contexts. Teachers who suffer from math anxiety often express negative attitudes about math and lack confidence in their pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics, which influences the instructional practices they choose to implement in their classrooms. Student math anxiety adversely affects student engagement and achievement in math. School leadership is fundamental to effective teaching and student learning and plays a vital role in teacher and student math anxiety. By identifying teachers and students who suffer from math anxiety, leaders can create the conditions to reduce and prevent this anxiety. Leading this work will involve the integration of both instructional and transformational leadership to develop a school culture that is open to sharing and strengthening their knowledge of instructional practices focused on math improvement. To address anxiety concerns and advance student achievement in mathematics, it is beneficial for school leaders to adopt some of the characteristics of a learning organization. To be a learning organization requires leadership to cultivate a climate of trust among members of the school community to develop collective efficacy. It entails school leaders and staff participating in professional learning and coaching opportunities to build the collective capacity of evidence-informed instructional practices in math. Using self-reflection, teachers can acknowledge their own feelings and potential biases towards mathematics and seek support to deepen their understanding of math concepts and pedagogy. The engagement of colleagues in the acquirement of best practices in math instruction will develop positive classroom environments that immerse students in the learning of math. By changing how leaders and teachers approach mathematics, math anxiety will decrease, and student achievement will improve.","PeriodicalId":120758,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for Leadership in Learning","volume":"161 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122861088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Subject Associations in Leadership","authors":"Timothy Sibbald","doi":"10.29173/ijll17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29173/ijll17","url":null,"abstract":"There is little research regarding subject associations though they have existed and contributed to education since Victorian times. Many jurisdictions report having many subject associations that share characteristic activities of conferences, workshops, publishing, and curriculum supports. These often foster grassroots leadership development that can, but do not have to, interact with formal school board defined leadership hierarchies. This article considers how subject associations fit with different theories of leadership including hierarchal and instructional leadership, transformational leadership, and distributed leadership. Difficulties with existing models of leadership are clarified and suggest issues suited to systematic research.","PeriodicalId":120758,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for Leadership in Learning","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116012074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implementation of professional skills into technical education programs.","authors":"Samantha Lenci","doi":"10.11575/PRISM/31775","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/31775","url":null,"abstract":"There are limited contemporary Canadian studies regarding the inclusion of professional skills into technical education. Contentions include what skills are requisite and/or prioritized in various industries. This research sought to explore this gap with a range of academic and industry stakeholders.\u0000This mixed methods study encompassed questionnaires, document analysis, and interviews/focus groups and included faculty members, students, and industry member representatives. There were 595 who completed the quantitative component and 56 individuals who participated in the qualitative interviews. Questionnaires included learner exist surveys, employer satisfaction surveys, and professional skills ranking instrument. Document analysis of job advertisements supported the development of the instruments. Interviews explored stakeholder nuanced perspectives.\u0000Academics, leaders, and industry representatives recognized the importance of integrating professional skills to two-year technical programs, but identified these were not always intentionally taught. While skills were deeply valued, there were barriers to reaching consensus across stakeholder groups about the “set” of skills. Finally, it would require a concerted effort by leaders, teaching academics/instructors, industry representatives, and curriculum designers to select which skills to integrate into the program and support to teach and assess these skills to maximize graduate outcomes. A proposed model – the Model of Professional Skill Development in Technical Education Programs – was created designed to integrate both professional and technical skills within program design and implementation. This model be useful to subject matter experts, curriculum designer, leaders who are keen to ensure integration, teaching and graduate success, and students who want to optimize their success in transitioning from learner to employed graduate.","PeriodicalId":120758,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for Leadership in Learning","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130853604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}