Rethinking Teacher Leadership Through Professional Development Schools

Abstract

In this article, we trace possibilities for new forms of teacher leadership that are emerging in professional development schools (PDSs)-collaborations between schools and universities that have been created to support the learning of prospective and experienced teachers while simultaneously restructuring schools and schools of education. We examine data from in-depth case studies of seven PDSs, supplemented by research in a number of other professional development schools where similar patterns of teacher leadership have been noted. In our analysis of teacher leadership in professional development schools we make three claims: that teacher leadership is inextricably connected to teacher learning; that teacher leadership can be embedded in tasks and roles that do not create artificial, imposed, formal hierarchies, and that such approaches may lead to greater profession-wide leadership as the "normal" role of teacher is expanded, thereby improving the capacity of schools to respond to the needs of students.