Promoting teachers' leadership through autonomy and accountability

Abstract

Teachers are considered a cornerstone in a school setup. Therefore, teachers' quality and competency is the central point for the improvement of whole school. When teachers handle their classrooms alone, recognize their abilities that can influence every student's learning and select and organize their curricula by themselves, then the teacher leadership is an imperative instead of an option. Standards for the teacher leaders consist of seven domains that describe various dimensions of teacher leaderships, which could help them in finding various opportunities within the teaching profession. Certain conditions facilitate the promotion of teacher leaderships in schools such as safe environment, supportive administrator, and absence of "tall poppy syndrome." Teacher autonomy is teachers' capacity to engage in self-directed teaching, which may include general professional autonomy, collegial professional autonomy, and individual autonomy. To accomplish instructional goals and encouraging conducive learning environment, teachers need to have freedom for decision-making and providing best opportunities for students' complete development. Teacher accountability concentrates on both the procedures and results of teaching. Both the terms autonomy and accountability are interrelated as when teachers may be given autonomy to work in their own way, yet being accountable and strive for the teacher leadership on the whole.