What Is Teacher Leadership – All You Need To Know
What Is Teacher Leadership, when you are working as a teacher you have some defined roles and responsibilities for your daily job, you go beyond this and start improving things which has direct and indirect effects on students and their studies.
So, this process of continuous improvement in the school environment, students, and studies, through influence and knowledge is leadership from the perspective of a teaching profession.
What Is Teacher Leadership?
As a teacher leader, you are still a good and effective educator in your classrooms. Now while doing so, you will participate in activities such as improving the school environment and security, working on new and innovative teaching methods, finding new ways to appreciate students who are doing good, and finding ways to help students who need additional help.
While doing so, you may need to work and improve some of your skills and personality qualities to be an effective teacher leader.
Some of you as a teacher will continue to grow in leadership roles and will move into decision-making roles going forward.
In certain cases, before you move into the next role you may be required to undergo formal higher education.
What Are Teacher Leadership Skills?
The below list shows the top skills required by a teacher leader apart from the several skills required by any other leadership person.
- Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Empathy
- Problem Solving
- Teamwork
Let’s go through each one of them in detail
Listening Skill
You will need domain knowledge and apart from this you will need information on may other aspects of the education field. Now to get these things you are required to read daily.
If you have good learning skills this will be easy for you to get the additional knowledge required. So some of the things you can focus on developing are, reading, attending webinar, and participating in conferences. This will give you opportunities to interact with people from the same field you are in and learn from each other.
Critical Thinking Skills
Any new development or innovation such as developing a curriculum or creating new teaching strategies will demand critical thinking ability. So, as a successful teacher leader, you need to work on developing your critical thinking skills. This skill will also be useful to help the new team members answer their queries/droughts.
Empathy
Thinking about other faculty members/colleagues at work is a good sign of a leader. When you want to get into the leadership cap you also need to have empathy and compassion for others. So, have empathy for other faculty members/team members who are learning new teaching methods, they may need additional support.
Also, encouraging your team for their work, as well as the students, this will help you in successful development in a teacher leadership role.
Problem Solving Skills
For any leadership role problem solving skill is one of the keys to success, as an individual you can contribute to solving a problem/issue that others did not. Your ability to see a problem or issue from different perspectives and find a solution is an important skill for your and your team’s success.
Teamwork skills
You as a teacher are always surrounded by a team. Be it your students or other faculty members/colleagues. As a teacher leader, leading a team and collaborating with them is completely rely on your ability to guide and understand needs. So, you are always expected to have this common understanding between your colleagues and help them move forward.
How Can You Improve Teacher Leadership Skills?
Now that you know what is required the next question is how you can develop those skills or even if required how you can acquire new skills. Now one common thing that will help you across is developing good habits.
Based on your current situation you need to find out which teacher leadership skills needs improvement, this is what I suggest to consider the following list that can help you develop various skill sets
- Seek for feedbacks
- Active listening
- Mentor a new teacher
- Set goals
Seek for feedbacks
Feedback is very important in leadership development, you constantly need to check what is working for you and what is not. And what is better than constructive criticism received which can show you the mirror?
Feedback is an integral part of being a teacher, you offer and receive feedback regularly. So, improvement in your approaches and skill set starts with understanding where is the gap.
Active Listening
Active listening is about how well you listen and understand your other faculty members’/colleagues’ suggestions and concerns. This will help you to lead them effectively.
So, you can start by listening without stopping the speaker and wait for your opportunity to ask the right questions. There are other aspects such as observing body language, making eye contact, and building trust while communicating.
Mentor A New Teachers
We all have read this practice is key, so consider offering to mentor a newly hired teacher or someone who has recently transferred to your school/college.
Now for you to develop as a teacher leader, you need to practice your instructional skills as you help your team members to understand new things and implement them effectively.
Video Credit SkywardK12
Set Goals
A very important improvement aspect of your development is to set goals and track them regularly. Now as a leader, you need to involve your other team members to deliver some of your goals, and this is what you need to learn how to get it delivered, as a teacher or head of a faculty.
For example, you can have a goal to help students improve their reading scores, now you collaborate with other teachers to implement an instructional idea and support strategies that will help your students improve reading scores. If required use the SMART goal method to set and track your goals.
Conclusion
Congratulations, if you are already thinking about teacher leadership skills, you are on the right path. Teacher Leadership is something I believe every teacher should look forward to getting into. For each one of you, its purpose may differ, but the ability you will develop while doing so is of great importance.
So, you may also consider to join one of the best leadership development program. Let us know your thoughts on leadership development in comment section below.
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Top 7 Key Active Listening Skills
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