Teacher leadership development: An exploration of issues arising from programmes in Scotland and New Zealand

There is growing awareness of the contribution teachers can make to school leadership, particularly in relation to improvements in curriculum and pedagogy. Teacher leadership offers the potential to engage teachers in bottom-up approaches to school improvement and liberate the professional creativity of teachers. Despite such positioning, clearer conceptualisation is needed of ‘teacher leadership’, its espoused purposes and practice realities. Through this, better understanding can emerge of how willing and interested teachers can be supported to develop their leadership capabilities. This article reports on early findings from a small-scale exploratory experiential investigation in two education systems of similar size, Scotland and New Zealand, investigating how those teachers conceptualise teacher leadership and its practice. The study is intended to contribute to our understandings of the motivations and barriers that face teachers involved in developing their leadership capacities. The article explores some implications for policy and practice as we look to unlock teacher leadership potential.