What school leaders and teacher mentors can do to support teachers for social equity

Abstract

The narratives revealed varied levels of support for teacher development across schools and different degrees of teacher autonomy for making instructional decisions. This chapter addresses what school leaders and teacher mentors can do to support teachers’ instructional capacities and help them grow as educators for social justice. School leaders can support teacher growth by prompting teachers’ can model instructional practices, provide in-class coaching, ask teachers questions that prompt self-reflection, and raise teachers’ consciousness about social equity. Professional learning communities and teacher inquiry groups offer additional support for growth. Leslie Reich shares some insights from her own experiences working with school leaders in three different schools and how leaders can best support early career teachers.