Teacher Leadership, Reflective Practice, and School Improvement

Abstract

Verbatim: Effective principalship has for many years been widely accepted as being a key constituent in achieving school improvement (Barth, 1988, 1990; Beck & Murphy, 1993; Sergiovanni, 1990; Southworth, 1990; Blase & Anderson, 1995; Caldwell & Spinks, 1992; Duignan & Macpherson, 1992; Fullan 1992b; Hodgkinson, 1991; Leithwood, 1992; Leithwood, Begley, & Cousins, 1992; Leithwood & Jantzi, 1990). Effective principals are leaders whose work transforms the schools in which they work (Leithwood, et al., 1999; McBeath, 1998; Day, et al., 2000b; Harris, et al., 2001). Recently, both the school effectiveness and growing school improvement research movements have highlighted the importance of leadership in successful school development and change (Teddlie & Reynolds, 2000; Sammons 2000; Mortimore, 2000); and researchers within these movements have confirmed that effective principals are those who focus primarily on promoting high expectations, teacher motivation and the quality of learning and teaching in the classroom (Eraut, 1994; Hargreaves, 1994; Sammons, et al., 1995; Fullan, 2001; Sergiovanni, 2001).