The place of leadership development for change agency in teacher education curricula for diversity

Forde, C. and Dickson, B. (2017) The place of leadership development for change agency in teacher education curricula for diversity. In: Florian, L. and Pantić, N. (eds.) Teacher Education for the Changing Demographics of Schooling: Issues for Research and Practice. Series: Inclusive learning and education equity (2). Springer: Cham, Switzerland, pp. 83-99. ISBN 9783319543888 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-54389-5_7)

Abstract

Leadership, particularly teacher leadership, is a policy priority in many educational systems, being regarded as a key element in raising achievement. As these expectations of teacher leadership grow, the place of leadership development in teacher education is an emerging issue. Leadership development might provide the means to enable novice teachers bring about the changes in curriculum, pedagogy and ethos, necessary as schools become more diverse. In this chapter we consider how leadership development in teacher preparation programmes might contribute to the development of change agency for diversity. We begin by interrogating three commonly held assumptions about the contribution of initial teacher education to the development of a teacher. These assumptions include the view that initial teacher education is the only or main phase in a career when teachers learn; that the kind of knowledge teachers need can be transmitted during this phase; and finally, that teachers demonstrate their grasp of knowledge by applying knowledge developed elsewhere. In the next section we then turn to ‘leadership’ and identify some of the tensions within this concept. In the final section we propose three pivotal concepts of identity, agency and expertise implicit in notions of teacher leadership and argue that we need to consider these if we are to build a model of teacher education for change agency.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Forde, Prof Christine and Dickson, Dr Beth
• Authors: Forde, C., and Dickson, B.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Professional Learning and Leadership ; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Pedagogy, Praxis & Faith
• Publisher: Springer
• ISBN: 9783319543888