Understanding teacher leadership identity: the perspectives of Chinese high school teachers

Abstract

The literature has shown that teacher leaders’ self-identity is a crucial aspect of teacher leadership development. However, less is known about the factors that influence the development of teacher leadership identity in the Chinese education context. By conducting semi-structured interviews with 23 secondary school teachers and administrators, this study aimed to answer two questions: What are the factors influencing teacher leadership identity development, and how do these factors influence teacher leadership identity development in the Chinese education context? Research identifies diverse factors that can influence teacher leadership identity. The personal factors comprised a sense of responsibility, the teachers’ personality, personal working experience, beliefs about leadership capacity. The organizational-level factors included the relationship among organization members, the role of principals, the formal selection mechanism for teacher leaders, personal working capacity, time, and energy, opportunities for the emergence of leadership, the nature of teachers’ work, and the atmosphere of the school. At the societal level, national cultural values also influenced teacher leadership identity. This article provides practical experience of developing teacher leadership identity in the Chinese context and tries to supply the cross-culture understanding of education administration from the perspective of improving teacher leadership identity.