leading by learning, learning by leading

21
This article was downloaded by: [Universitat Politècnica de València] On: 25 October 2014, At: 02:31 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Professional Development in Education Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjie20 Leading by learning, learning by leading Vivienne Collinson a a Formerly of Michigan State University , East Lansing , MI , USA Published online: 10 Apr 2012. To cite this article: Vivienne Collinson (2012) Leading by learning, learning by leading, Professional Development in Education, 38:2, 247-266, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2012.657866 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2012.657866 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

Upload: vivienne

Post on 27-Feb-2017

216 views

Category:

Documents


4 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Leading by learning, learning by leading

This article was downloaded by: [Universitat Politècnica de València]On: 25 October 2014, At: 02:31Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Professional Development in EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjie20

Leading by learning, learning byleadingVivienne Collinson aa Formerly of Michigan State University , East Lansing , MI , USAPublished online: 10 Apr 2012.

To cite this article: Vivienne Collinson (2012) Leading by learning, learning by leading, ProfessionalDevelopment in Education, 38:2, 247-266, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2012.657866

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2012.657866

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Leading by learning, learning by leading

Vivienne Collinson*

Formerly of Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

(Received 19 July 2011; final version received 15 November 2011)

Data from a study of 81 exemplary secondary school teachers across the UnitedStates provide a portrait of how these teachers have become leaders whose influ-ence and partnerships extend well beyond their classrooms and schools. Pro-pelled by a deep personal desire to learn and a commitment to help studentslearn, the teachers are learners first, leaders second: their leadership occurs as aby-product of their learning. As teachers, they become pedagogical innovatorsin their quest to learn what helps students learn. They develop deep knowledgeof students, curricula and pedagogy, in part by changing grade levels andschools, observing and learning from students, and consulting with parents.They seek specific professional development, internal and external colleaguesand partnerships, professional organisations, and opportunities to team teach andobserve peers. As they learn, they refine who they are as a person. Over time,the teachers find, accept or create ways to help colleagues by sharing innova-tions, ideas and insights. They contribute to and influence the profession bywriting grants, serving as members or leaders of influential committees, provid-ing professional development and leading change. Always focusing on learning,they quickly learn that leading opens many new possibilities for learning.

Keywords: teacher leader; leadership development; continuing professionaldevelopment; exemplary teachers

Introduction

They have learned from everything … and they have learned to lead by leading. (Bennis2009, p. 105)

Scholars have rarely investigated how people become informal leaders who ‘walkahead’, model learning and innovation, and develop relationships and networks toextend their own learning and influence others. Studies of this phenomenon amongfull-time classroom teachers who exercise leadership within their schools andbeyond are even rarer. This article draws on data from a study of 81 secondaryschool teachers across the United States who were identified by peers as exemplaryclassroom teachers. Their individual surveys and interviews indicated that the par-ticipating teachers were highly engaged in leadership and that their spheres of influ-ence ranged well beyond their schools, often to the state or national level. How didthese teachers learn to lead? How do they exercise leadership from the classroom?

*Email: [email protected]

Professional Development in EducationVol. 38, No. 2, April 2012, 247–266

ISSN 1941-5257 print/ISSN 1941-5265 online� 2012 International Professional Development Association (IPDA)http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2012.657866http://www.tandfonline.com

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 3: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Despite the extensive ways in which the exemplary teachers exercised leader-ship, these teacher leaders did not set out with the intent to lead. Rather, becausethey shared a deep commitment to students’ learning as well as a personal non-stopquest for learning and genuine desire to improve their professional practice, theirintent was to learn in order to better help students learn. Their own professionallearning represented self-imposed choices that, coupled with their teaching skills,helped them become leaders. No one designed new roles for these teachers, or gavethem the title of teacher leader, or removed them from the classroom so they couldlead. Instead, the teachers voluntarily created, found or accepted opportunities thatallowed them to learn, help students learn and influence colleagues’ learning. Inshort, these teachers were learners before they were leaders. Then, as leaders, theydiscovered they still had much more to learn.

Leaders and leadership development

As early as 1933, Dewey used the phrase ‘teacher as leader’, arguing that: ‘the tea-cher is the intellectual leader of a social group … not in virtue of official position,but because of wider and deeper knowledge and matured experience’ that allows ateacher to be attentive and responsive to how students are learning (1960, p. 273).Decades later, Lortie discovered that according to teachers, ‘the outstanding teacher,past or present, manifests classroom leadership’ (1975, p. 120), especially through‘mastery of interpersonal processes’ and ‘high performance’ from students (1975,pp. 118–119). Successful teacher leadership within the classroom seems to be a pre-requisite for successful teacher leadership beyond the classroom; Crowther foundno cases of teacher leaders enjoying sustained success outside the classroom with-out first ‘being able to model pedagogical excellence’ (2009, p. 15; see also Odell1997).

Early researchers of outstanding teachers discovered that exemplary teachers atprimary, secondary and tertiary levels share a love of learning, evidence of commit-ment to education, and an ethic of care (see Collinson 1994). An ethic of careinvolves numerous values and attitudes (e.g. honesty, humility, hope) that supportcompassionate and respectful relationships with others and foster growth in others(Mayeroff 1971). Since then, research about exemplary teachers increasingly resem-bles recent research about exemplary leaders: they work with others ‘to strengthenand help them to develop’ (Gardner 1990, p. 22, Fullan 2005, Donaldson 2006),share a love of learning and innovation, continue to ‘grow and develop throughoutlife’, and ‘set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expres-sion is of value, they become leaders’ (Bennis 2009, pp. xxxiii, 106; also seeGardner 1990, Kelley 1992).

Following Burns’ (1978) argument that leadership involves relationships andmust be relevant to recipients, Rost defined leadership for the twenty-first centuryas, ‘an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changesthat reflect their mutual purposes’ (1991, p. 102). Later, Senge identified a leader-ship role he called ‘internal networkers’ or ‘community builders’ who ‘walk ahead’by learning and developing themselves (1996, pp. 54 and 45). In other words, ‘theywork out there on the frontier where tomorrow is taking shape’ (Bennis 2009, p.xxxiii). This role describes teacher leaders who ‘position themselves on the cuttingedge of the pedagogical frontier’ as enthusiastic learners and innovators who freelyshare their ideas and help colleagues (Rosenholtz 1989, p. 66). Like other twenty-

248 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 4: Leading by learning, learning by leading

first-century leaders, they are distinguished by the ‘clarity and persuasiveness oftheir ideas, the depth of their commitment, and their openness to continuallylearning more’ (Senge 1990, p. 359), but their influence comes largely frominnovation and their ability to move freely within informal networks andcommunities of practice (Senge 1996).

Such leaders do not come made-to-order; their development occurs over time.Their leadership is a by-product of a lifetime of learning and effort: ‘to developconceptual and communication skills, to reflect on personal values and to align per-sonal behavior with values, to learn how to listen and to appreciate others and oth-ers’ ideas’ (Senge 1990, p. 359), ‘to take risks, experiment, try new things …knowing they will learn from them’ (Bennis 2009, p. 35).

In education, researchers have contributed to understandings of how teachersbecome leaders (for example, Lieberman and Friedrich 2010) and have profferedmodels or frameworks for the development of teacher leaders (see York-Barr andDuke 2004; see also Katzenmeyer and Moller 2001, Crowther 2009). However,apart from expertise that is specific to any given organisation, it is possible thathow teachers become leaders, inside and outside the classroom, may parallel howindividuals anywhere develop as leaders. After decades of research on how distin-guished leaders in non-educational organisations learn to lead, Bennis concludedthat ‘the process of becoming a leader is the same process that makes a person ahealthy, fully integrated human being’ (2009, p. xxviii):

No leader sets out to be a leader per se, but rather to express him- or herself freelyand fully. That is, leaders have no interest in proving themselves, but an abiding inter-est in expressing themselves. The difference is crucial, for it’s the difference betweenbeing driven, as too many people are today, and leading, as too few people do …Timeless leadership is always about character, and it is always about authenticity.(Bennis 2009, pp. xxxiii, xxviii)

Research methods

The original purpose of this study was to explore the concept of exemplary teacher.Exemplary does not mean that teachers are exempt from human inconsistencies andimperfections, but rather that they can provide examples from which others canlearn (see Berliner 1986).

The study relied on the reputational method of purposive selection to identifyexemplary secondary school teachers across the United States (Hunter 1953). Guidedby Jackson’s premise that, ‘it is likely that in every school system there could befound at least a handful of teachers who would be called outstanding by almost anystandard’ (1990, p. 115), I asked a professional contact in each successive region toform a local group of six to 12 peer nominators with extensive experience in theirschool district and regular opportunities to visit classrooms or work closely withteachers (see Lortie 1975). Peer nominators comprised educators such as staff devel-opers, subject specialists, school/university partnership liaisons, and regional labora-tory personnel. Of the nominated pools of potential participants for the study, theresponse rate was 99%. I repeatedly heard comments like ‘Anything I can do to helpother teachers, I surely will do’ (Bobbie Jean [pseudonyms throughout]).

With ethical approval from the university and permission from district superin-tendents, data were collected across three years (1995 through 1997). Participants(n = 81) completed a consent form and survey (professional information) prior to

Professional Development in Education 249

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 5: Leading by learning, learning by leading

their individual, three-hour, semi-structured interview. Additional data included arte-facts such as student work, teacher-made or authored curricular materials, teacher-solicited feedback from students, and letters or cards from students, administrators,colleagues, interns and students’ parents. Table 1 provides a brief portrait of theparticipants.

To supplement written field notes, interviews were recorded and transcribed. Themethod of constant comparative analysis was used. Interviews were coded, searchedfor patterns, relationships, explanations and inconsistencies, and then integrated intocategories and subcategories. Relationships among categories were identified andwoven into five propositions (Scott 2004). Member checks were conducted to ensureaccuracy of the written interpretation (Guba and Lincoln 1989).

Data displays from survey analysis indicated that participants are active leadersin the school, their local community and the profession. They especially influencecurriculum standards, student assessment, and selection and preparation of teachersat the local, state or national level.

Leading by learning

This section indicates that the exemplary teachers brought to teaching a well-developed commitment to education and a desire to learn, supported by attitudes ofcuriosity, open-mindedness and doing their best. Most (but not all) also brought anethic of care supported by social (interpersonal) awareness and an openness to col-laborate. Those attitudes appear to propel the teachers toward learning sources thatcan provide them with domain expertise, pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of selfand others, and a broadening of perspectives through personal interests, other disci-plines, world events and organisational involvement. As the teachers’ circles ofconnections began to spread outward from their classroom like ripples on a pond,their interactions with peers increased and opportunities for leadership unfolded.

Learners first

Gardner asserted that ‘most of what leaders have that enables them to lead islearned’ and is often associated with character and self-knowledge (1990, p. xix,Senge 1990). His insight is consistent with Bennis’s conclusion that: ‘leadership isfirst being, then doing. Everything the leader does reflects what he or she is’ (2009,p. 134). Indeed, within the teaching profession, Lortie and others observed that‘personal predispositions’ (beliefs and attitudes) ‘are not only relevant but, in fact,stand at the core of becoming a teacher’ and being able to help others (1975, p. 79,Combs 1982, Goodson 1992, Kelchtermans 2009, Malm 2009). What did the exem-plary teachers bring to the profession in the form of predispositions? What learningin particular helped them lead?

Valuing learning and education serve as a common denominator among exem-plary leaders in any field (Bennis 2009). The exemplary teachers echoed these val-ues in statements like ‘I just love learning’ (Minnie) and ‘education was a priorityin our household’ (Brendan). These beliefs are evident in the teachers’ lives and intheir conception of good teachers:

I think impact teachers, I think they’re the kind of people who have a deep commit-ment to youth and to the importance of education of youth, and that becomes part of

250 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 6: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Table

1.Participants.

Nam

eSubject(s)

Level(s)

Nam

eSubject(s)

Level(s)

Nam

eSubject(s)

Level(s)

Aaron

Socialstudies

MS

Fiona

Library

MS

Marise

Mathematics

MS

Ally

son

English

MS

Gabe

History

HS

Mark

Science

HS

Amber

English

HS

Gail

English

HS

Matt

Science,mathematics

HS

Amy

Mathematics

HS

Gerry

Science

MS

Matthew

Mathematics

MS

Andrew

Mathematics

MS

Glynis

English

MS

Meryl

Mathematics

HS

Angela

English

MS

Grace

Mathematics

HS

Minnie

English

MS

Ardyth

Science,mathematics

HS

Hannah

Science

HS

Monique

English

MS,HS

Arturo

Electronics

HS

Helen

English

HS

Nadine

English

HS

Beth

Biology,chem

istry

HS

Hillary

English

HS

Natalie

Special

education

MS

BobbieJean

Governm

ent

HS

Jack

Science

MS

Nate

Algebra

HS

Brendan

History

HS

Janet

Spanish

HS

Paula

Mathematics,science

MS

Brian

Business

HS

Jennifer

Art

HS

Pedro

Spanish

HS

Bridget

Special

education

MS

Jessica

Mathematics,physics

HS

Peter

Socialstudies

MS

Carmelita

Science,mathematics

MS

Jill

Science

MS

Rachel

English

MS

Catherine

Art

HS

JoMarie

Meteorology,health

MS

Renee

English

HS

Charlotte

Special

education

HS

José

Business

HS

Sandy

English

MS

Christopher

History,technology

HS

Josh

Science

HS

Sheila

Science

MS

Claire

Mathematics

MS

Juanita

ESL,mathematics

MS

Sherri

Fam

ilyandconsum

erscience

HS

Colleen

Biology

HS

Julie

Special

education

MS

Shirley

German,Russian

HS

David

Special

education

HS

Kara

Science

MS

Sonja

Mathematics,sociology

HS

Diane

English

MS

Kim

History,English

MS

Tanith

Music

MS

Ed

Science

HS

Kristin

English

MS

Ted

Automechanics

HS

Emmett

Science

HS

Leticia

Biology

HS

Todd

Science,mathematics

MS

Esther

Spanish

HS

Lisa

Latin,Greek

MS,HS

Toller

Video

productio

n,art

HS

Evelyn

Science

MS

Mara

Socialstudies

HS

Wayne

Physics,algebra

HS

Faye

English

MS

Margaret

Science

HS

Wendy

English,

ESL

HS

Felicia

Chemistry

HS

Maricel

Mathematics

HS

Zelda

English

HS

Notes:HS=high

scho

ollevel;MS=middlescho

ollevel;ESL=Eng

lishas

asecond

lang

uage

(tono

n-Eng

lish-speaking

stud

ents).

Professional Development in Education 251

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 7: Leading by learning, learning by leading

their life. It’s not just a job. It’s not just a profession to them. It is part of their being.(Nate)

For the 81 exemplary teachers, learning depends on attitudes of curiosity and open-mindedness (also Dewey 1960): ‘to learn, you have to be curious. Without curiosity,you don’t want to learn’ (Kara). ‘We have to keep an open mind. As soon as wehave a closed mind, we’ll stop looking at things’ (Jill):

I think that really good teachers model adventure and versatility and curiosity. It isbecause the really good teachers I know love to do things, love to experience things.They get fired up about films, about an exciting newspaper article, or a trip … It’s theteachers who travel, venture out and try new things, and take new courses – youknow, are not static – and just are always trying something new. They’re really funeducators. (Gail)

Learning, for these teachers, has become such a drive that a vocational teacher said‘I’d rather do automotive than eat’ (Ted). Their desire to learn has become a per-sonal need:

I need the stimulation, the intellectual stimulation. I just need it. Sometimes in thesummer, I think, ‘Why am I doing this workshop? It’s taking my whole summer’, or‘Why I am taking this computer [course]?’ … I just need to do it. Just for me … Ineed something for my mind to do. [Otherwise] it’s too dull. (Paula)

Another reason for learning is professional: the teachers want to help students expe-rience success in learning:

Being exemplary is … always being there for kids, helping kids grow, making kids bethe best they can be … without scaring them away … [It] comes because of an innercommitment to being the best that you can be and requiring that to happen with kidsas well. (Shirley)

The teachers also believe that good teachers ‘have to stay up to date with what’sgoing on around the world – not only within the classroom’ (José). Broadeningtheir knowledge and perspectives appears to have influenced the participants to pur-sue personal interests and favour interdisciplinary learning, practising what theyhope students will do too; that is, ‘if you’re going to expect intellectual curiosityfrom your students, you need to model that’ (Jill). As a mathematics teacher said:

Right now, I’m working on my art endorsement … It makes me flexible, plus I lovegoing to school and learning about new stuff anyway … And just being able to talkwith them [students] about possibilities, and possible relationships, and how thingsoperate, and how sometimes people discover things that nobody had even ever thoughtof before. And suddenly this serendipitous discovery takes place and the world ismuch better for it. And it’s all because somebody took the time to look at things in acompletely different perspective. (Andrew)

Breadth and depth of knowledge also assist the teachers in finding many ways tohelp each student learn:

One of the best teachers I ever had … was a person who could take any complexconcept and give you 10 different examples … I think that’s part of what an effective

252 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 8: Leading by learning, learning by leading

teacher is. It’s knowing ways of alternative learning … If you didn’t get it, ‘Okay, welllet me explain it another way’. And then, ‘Well let me explain it another way’, and‘Johnny, well let me explain it another way’ … I think that when you can give thoseanalogies and those, and those comparisons, I think it cements the learning. (Diane)

Because every student is unique, the teachers rely on trial and error as a majorsource for discovering how each student learns (also Lortie 1975). ‘It’s a constantexperiment’ (Brendan):

Some of the things I’ve had to come up with because what I was doing with the kidswasn’t working. So I had to come up with something else … But a lot of this, I justhave figured out on my own. Just trying … I try to analyse why what I’m doing isn’tworking, and then come up with a different plan that won’t have those problems …[If] I’m just not having the success with a kid that I want – individual or class – [Ilook for] whatever source I can get my hands on. (Peter)

Students know that I will try to do all kinds of different things to help them do well… And I think most good teachers do that. I think they change all the time. They’realways looking for new ways. (Colleen)

Experiment and innovation require risk-taking (potential error), followed byreflection; namely, honest analysis of past actions and ideas for future action(Dewey 1960; also Bennis 2009). Over time, the teachers seem to have learnedto reject the traditional school definition of failure and embrace a newdefinition:

I was trying to say to myself, ‘When do you learn the most?’ You learn the most bytaking risks and failing and trying to [do] something different. And so I started think-ing of failure as a way to learn, not as an absence of learning. (Gail)

In addition to bringing to the profession a commitment to education and a love oflearning, most participants came to teaching with a well-developed ethic of caretoward others: ‘I think that [caring is] so basic – the caring about people as individ-uals, and what they will do, and how they will achieve, and what they will learn’(Tanith). However, a few participants said they would not have been nominated asexemplary earlier in their career because they had come into teaching without awell-developed ethic of care and interpersonal skills, but they eventually learnedthat healthy, collaborative relationships open avenues for more and better learningand leading:

I don’t think I was as successful a teacher the first half of my career … I think I wentinto teaching because I was successful at some of the skills that were involved to be areasonably good teacher. But caring for the kids? I don’t think it existed … I didn’thave a good rapport and relationship with students…or with – in a lot of instances –the colleagues that I worked with … It was more a matter of control than caring … Ithink I probably even came off more negatively to my colleagues than my students…so we got into conflicts looking to preserve my own turf and territory and whatnot …Now, some people are very cooperative because they’ve learned how to do that fromparents or whatever, but I didn’t learn that. (Josh)

As exemplary teachers, however, they take time to learn about each student by cul-tivating individual relationships with students and their parents because ‘the more

Professional Development in Education 253

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 9: Leading by learning, learning by leading

that you know about a student, the more pathways you open up to connect withthem’, first as a person, then as a learner (Kara). ‘I’m an eternal student … I havemy ears tuned in to things. I see things. I read things and I say, “How can I applythis to my situation in the classroom?”’ (Pedro). By studying students, these teach-ers develop a deep knowledge of adolescents and find each class unique: ‘The kidsare never the same. So I still get that diversity that I need, and that change that Ilike…I like change. I don’t like things being the same all the time because I getbored so easily’ (Minnie).

Relevance to life experiences plays a major role in piquing students’ curiosityor fostering a desire to learn (Dewey 1960): ‘I think it’s important that everybodyis successful at some point … A lot of it, I think, is trying to find … some connect-edness between what’s taught in the classroom and what’s going on outside [theschool]’ (Gerry). To that end, a number of science teachers volunteer for summerpositions in laboratories or in business and industry to stay up to date and maketheir discipline relevant to students. A teacher of physiology and biology said: ‘Lastsummer, I [volunteered in the regional] trauma center and I got to observe in theO.R. [operating room]’ (Colleen). A business teacher collaborates with the localChamber of Commerce, and several foreign language teachers buy books and mate-rials in the target language while on overseas trips that they organise for students.

The teachers also learn by changing schools or grade levels, usually voluntarily(see Figure 1). Of the three levels in the United States (elementary, middle and highschool), 43 of the teachers (53%) had taught two of the three levels, and anotherseven (9%) had taught all three levels, giving them a broad background of curricu-lum and student development. One teacher had begun teaching primary students butkept changing levels for personal interest and as a way to stay fresh (also Huber-man 1995). Ready to begin teaching high school for the first time, she said:

I think [my years teaching elementary and middle school will] help. For one thing, Ihave perspective about where the children have been, what they’ve learned so far …

Figure 1. Experience as teachers.Notes: HS = high school level; MS = middle school level; ES = elementary school level.

254 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 10: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Changing levels occasionally, I think, keeps me fresh because then I have to studyagain. (Claire)

To do their best and help students learn, the exemplary teachers simply take forgranted that good teachers pursue academic and pedagogical knowledge and, ‘staycurrent, not only educationally, but with what’s happening in the world. I think Iwould be doing a disservice if I didn’t’ (Paula). At the time of data collection, ofthe 27 (33%) teachers whose highest degree was a bachelor’s degree, 14 had con-tinued to take university courses beyond their bachelor’s degree. Of the 49 (61%)who held a master’s degree, seven (9%) held two master’s degrees and six others(7%) had taken courses beyond their master’s degree, including one who had com-pleted one year of a PhD program and two who were at the dissertation stage oftheir doctoral degree. Two others (with two and four years’ teaching experience)planned to work on their PhD. Five (6%) had completed a doctoral degree.

Besides seeking high levels of formal degree programmes, participants seekintensive professional development over extended periods of time (e.g. institutes,conferences, university courses and reading). They particularly seek professionaldevelopment that helps them understand themselves and others; for instance, psy-chology or philosophy courses and extensive training in special needs and gifted-and-talented education. They also value in-depth professional development toimprove human relations such as training in conflict resolution, communication,counselling and cooperative learning.

However, the teachers’ greatest enjoyment appears to come from working withcolleagues who, like themselves, love learning and are committed to helping stu-dents learn. One teacher belongs to a group of:

… 90 teachers from all different subject areas. And we’re a group and we get togetherand we work on problems together. We … become team members … A friend ofmine says we’re professional development junkies. But you know, we get trained inall kinds of things … You name it; we’ve done it. Whatever comes down [the pike],we say, ‘We’ll do it’ … They all have been recognised for something as being leadersin their field. They’re an unbelievable group of people. And what I found about them– it’s not so much that they’re trying to keep themselves from being bored, [but that]they are students. Forever. (Jennifer)

Besides belonging to informal educational or non-educational groups, the teachersjoin formal professional organisations to find like-minded colleagues and extendtheir learning: ‘If I can glean just a few things from one organisation that I can usein my classroom or that a student benefits from, then it’s worth the…membership[fee], whatever it might be’ (Mark).

Excluding teacher union membership, which is obligatory in many states, theteachers at the time of data collection belonged to 30 local, 76 state and 87 nationalor international professional organisations. These organisations often involved theteacher’s discipline or level (e.g. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,National Middle School Association), a particular personal interest (e.g. NationalStaff Development Council, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Develop-ment) or recognition of excellence (e.g. Phi Kappa Phi, Delta Kappa Gamma,Milken Foundation).

As the teachers learned, innovated and made connections with students, parentsand professional colleagues, their commitment, breadth and depth of interests,

Professional Development in Education 255

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 11: Leading by learning, learning by leading

knowledge and skills increasingly garnered trust and respect. Additionally, as theteachers’ contacts extended beyond the classroom and school, they began to noticethat other teachers wanted help or could benefit from what they had already learned.That combination took the teachers down a new pathway: leadership beyond theclassroom.

Leaders second

The teachers’ love of learning and their commitment to helping students learn areevident in their leadership of extracurricular activities for students. Of the many andvaried extracurricular activities the teachers were leading at the time of datacollection, 89 activities (58%) related to the teacher’s discipline (e.g. science club,Spanish club). The activities tend to provide advanced preparation, often for aca-demic competitions at the state or national level (e.g. Brain Bowl, Odyssey of theMind, Academic Decathlon, Science Olympiad, Vocational and Industrial Club ofAmerica). The activities also reinforce or expand the already extensive communica-tion skills the teachers emphasise in their classroom (e.g. public speaking, debateclub, drama productions, art exhibitions, publication of school newspapers or annualyearbooks). For example, a vocational teacher said:

We’re allowed to send four people in job skill demonstrations … to the state competi-tion. And we, almost every year, have a winner. It [the demonstration] entails teachingsomething … We’ve [also] had winners in prepared speech. We’ve had extemporane-ous speech and so forth … I teach all of that – you know, moving the eyes, modula-tion of voice. (Arturo)

Other extracurricular activities the teachers lead (e.g. fundraising for scholarships orschool trips, peer mediation advisor, student governance advisor) tend to focus onbroadening students’ options and developing students’ social and leadership skills:

Working on the state level too with FBLA [Future Business Leaders of America], we[adult advisors] spend a week just on [student] officer training, and public speaking,and parliamentary procedures…In fact, when we have our state conference, the [stu-dent] officers do the whole agenda. [The advisors] are just in the background. (José)

Several teachers in impoverished rural or inner-city areas with minimally educatedpopulations have created clubs to expose students to university programs, a broadarray of job possibilities, self-presentation and job interviewing skills, or any othergap they identify.

Another form of leadership involves contributing to the profession andinfluencing student learning by serving as a member of committees or teams mak-ing influential decisions. At the time of data collection, 32 participants (40%) weremembers or chairs of school or district advisory councils. Heavily involved in cur-ricular decisions, 53 (65%) were serving on school or district curriculum develop-ment teams, two (3%) were writing curriculum for the region, 16 (20%) weredeveloping curriculum for the state, and three (4%) were developing standards fornational organisations. Others were asked to develop student assessment instruments(one for the region, three for the state and one at the national level), improve stan-dards for teacher performance evaluations (one at the regional level, two at the state

256 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 12: Leading by learning, learning by leading

level), or determine teacher certification and school accreditation standards (one atthe regional level, one at the state level and two at the national level).

All teachers in this sample regularly engaged in many other forms of formal andinformal peer leadership as well. At the time of data collection, 44 (54%) held adesignated role such as department chair, team leader or staff developer. Thirteenteachers (16%) were officers of a professional organisation (five at the district orregional level, five at the state level and three at the national level) and several oth-ers wrote on their survey that they had previously held such roles. Finally, 23 teach-ers (28%) listed individual leadership service (e.g. coordinator of programs forstudent tutoring, member of an editorial board for a professional journal) and 10teachers (12%) named specific leadership training they provide for colleagues (e.g.communications training, cognitive coaching, consulting for integrated studies).Three teachers (4%) were preparing a district or national instructional video forteachers, and six teachers (7%) had formally published professional journal articles,educational books or curriculum materials.

The more experienced teachers were deeply involved in influencing how teach-ers and administrators are prepared, selected, hired and mentored. Teaching adultsseems to provide an avenue for trying something new and exercising leadership; 46(57%) had taught one or more courses at a university, a community college or amilitary institution. The courses were usually subject-specific methods courses orbusiness/technology training. Additionally, nine (11%) served in a liaison capacity –eight as school/university liaison for teacher preparation and one with the statedepartment of education. A significant number directly influenced new teachers:two served as members of policy-making boards for colleges of education and 19(24%) served in roles such as mentor of newly qualified teachers, designer of new-teacher orientation, supervisor of student-teachers or coordinator of student-teachers.Of these, six (7%) also trained experienced teachers to become mentors, havingimplemented a mentor program in their school system. As for influencing entry intothe profession or school, several mentioned participating on their school’s interviewteams and five (6%) were serving on system-wide committees responsible forrecruitment and selection of teachers and administrators.

Learning by leading

Just as the exemplary teachers want students to be ‘learning by doing’ (Evelyn),Bennis argued that ‘leaders learn by doing’ (2009, p. 136). For these teachers,‘doing’ involves relationships: ‘You need to keep networking, you know. It’s notjust what you know, it’s who you know. You need both today’ (Sherri). This sectiondescribes both the ‘what’ and the ‘who’ of the teachers’ learning by leading.

Team teaching

Of the 57 teachers (70%) whose only career had been as a teacher (Figure 1), manymentioned that a mentor, an admired role-model, an open-space school or teamteaching at the beginning of their career exposed them to collaboration:

I don’t think you can teach without doing [collaboration] … When I came in as a stu-dent teacher, the lady I taught with did the same thing … and it just became a normthat you always talked with everyone else. You asked for advice. (Sandy)

Professional Development in Education 257

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 13: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Participants who had experienced a full-time career other than teaching (30%) were‘shocked that people closed their doors and jealously guarded their curriculum’ –one immediately created a grade-level team, thinking: ‘This is stupid. People in thereal world don’t do this. They work together’ (Jill). Whether from business,research and development, or the military, this group constantly referred to theirprior career training that had emphasised communication, problem-solving and col-laboration. They had already learned to be supportive of colleagues, knowing thatpeers ‘will reciprocate’ (Arturo). They had also learned that personal dislike of aco-worker ‘doesn’t mean that you can’t work alongside of them’ in support ofmutual goals (Ted).

Almost all of the participants team with colleagues who teach the same disci-pline or students. Many had initiated team teaching across departments to provideinterdisciplinary curriculum to students. A biology teacher also implemented teamteaching in her after-school university classroom because she had learned its bene-fits for both students and teachers. Besides providing greater diversity of ideas andknowledge, the teachers appreciate that they ‘can play off each other in the class[room]’ (Colleen) and ‘get another perspective’ (Fiona). Team teaching also allowsteachers to learn collaborative skills, risk-taking and trust. Serving as team leaderappears to provide helpful preparation for leadership of larger groups; one teacheradmitted that she had been shy, ‘but I think if I hadn’t worked with teams all theseyears, then [working with external colleagues] would have been much moredifficult’ (Paula).

Finding external support

Rallis and Rossman observed that exemplary teachers see the local community asan opportunity for new relationships that: ‘blur the boundaries between classroomand school, school and community, personal and professional … They work withthe sure sense that what enriches them personally and professionally will enrichtheir classroom’ (1995, p. 106). This sample was no exception: 16 (20%) volun-teered for community activities and 22 (27%) served as teachers or leaders at theirplace of worship. The teachers discovered that asking parents for help with extra-curricular activities or meeting students’ parents informally after activities can alsoprovide new sources of learning, thus extending the teachers’ networks and increas-ing opportunities to hone relational and communication skills with adults. Addition-ally, as teachers take students to regional, state, or national competitions, they notonly pick up new ideas from colleagues but also see the big picture of what stu-dents are capable of achieving. Both inspire the teachers to help students even morewhen they return home.

Although all the teachers in this study routinely seek to learn from colleaguesand parents, some teachers – academic and vocational – establish partnerships withlocal organisations as well. ‘We have looked to community leaders and our businesspartners to help us … What they’ve told us is, “We want to help. Tell us what youneed”’ (Allyson):

I think for way too long, education and community have been two separate things …The community can do for [schools] if we just ask … Community business corpora-tions … don’t even know what we’re doing. Why would they fund or help somethingthey don’t know about? We have to go get them. (Sandy)

258 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 14: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Many of the teachers also write grants to support innovations in their classroom,school or district. To succeed, they need to learn the research base, organisepersuasive evidence, write concisely and develop a budget. Their extensiverelationships among colleagues and with professional organisations often alert themto available grants or provide grant-writing assistance.

Changing schools

Gardner noted that ‘the setting does much to determine the kinds of leaders thatemerge and how they play their roles’ (1990, p. 6). For teachers who continuallypursue learning, an important condition for learning involves working with goodcolleagues, and the exemplary teachers do not seem to hesitate before changingschools to work with and learn from them:

I’ve taught with … mostly good people and some outstanding teachers. And I’velearned what I could from them. One of the reasons I like it here – and it makes ithard to work here, but – I’m not the best here, and I never will be, but they make mebetter … I can learn from those people and I’ve become much better as a result thanI would have been otherwise. (Peter)

Also for these teachers, ‘one of the things that I crave, and I think a lot of otherteachers are craving nowadays too, is conversation with other teachers’ (Meryl). Inseveral schools, teachers’ innovations have attracted many visitors, allowing teach-ers to meet new colleagues, discuss learning, reflect and self-evaluate progress:

As a result of our successes, we … can have seven to 10 schools per year coming in,the whole day, looking at every phase of our program … That’s been very nicebecause, as a department chair and as one of the original proponents for going toblock schedule, the principal always sends these people my way to talk to me aboutit. And I find that I’m doing a lot of talking about what it’s done to my own teaching,and that’s been great. (Gail)

Several experienced teachers capitalised on the opening of a new school to findsupportive colleagues and use their influence to lead innovations: ‘with the newhigh school coming, I have hopes that things will happen, that we’ll do more inte-gration and teaming. [It’s] a golden opportunity … And I’m on the curriculum com-mittee and there’s some other teachers that want it too’ (Colleen). The teachersoften introduced innovations when they voluntarily changed schools. As a fairlyyoung teacher explained when he set out for a different school: ‘If you look at mycareer, I’ve had [leadership] opportunities all along, and that’s why I think I’m stillexcited about [moving] … and why I still see it as a great opportunity’ (Aaron).

Although some of the participants enjoyed principals who work as supportivepartners, many of the teachers had discovered that ‘environments that support andnurture teacher leadership are not endemic to many schools’ (Crowther 2009, p. 10).The participants revealed nine ways in which they have learned to deal with princi-pals who are not interested in improving learning or who actively block innovations:they model or pilot desired changes, reason with administrators, find alternative solu-tions or do it themselves, make unilateral administrative decisions work, workaround administrators, alter administrators’ rules, bargain with administrators, speaktruth to power, or, in the worst cases, leave the school (see Collinson 2011). Fourteachers (5%) mentioned colleagues who felt free to criticise or ridicule innovators:

Professional Development in Education 259

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 15: Leading by learning, learning by leading

I’m serious about pure ridicule – by innuendos, by subversive comments – and it’snot good … Eventually, those impact teachers want to go someplace where –remember, they’re humans too – where they’re appreciated, and where they can thrusttheir energies into something that’s moving, where the train is moving. (Nate)

Observing colleagues

A survey of teachers in the United States identified ‘consultation with other teach-ers’ and ‘observation of other teachers’ as ‘definitely effective’ sources of learning(Rait 1995, pp. 97–98), a view shared by the exemplary teachers. Sometimes thedesire to observe peers can be satisfied within the school and teachers can adaptwhat they have observed (Lortie 1975):

Current peers have had a real influence on me since I’ve gone into teaching. And …sometimes you even can sit in on their class and you see it. I guess that’s the best ormost impactful learning experiences: to actually see how that looks, or – not thatyou’re going to do it or replicate it, because you can’t, but just to see, you know,that it’s alright to do things these ways and it’s alright to have relationships with kidsthat way … And you think, ‘Man, I wish I was more like this’, or ‘Man, that’s thekind of things I need to be doing in class’. (Brian)

Only one teacher mentioned that peer observation is encouraged and expected inher school:

I feel very free to go in other teachers’ classrooms when I know they’re doing some-thing that’s really terrific and I want to watch how they do it. We all observe eachother and we do cognitive coaching at my school. (Allyson)

Of interest, however, is the number of teachers who have found or created opportu-nities to get into other classrooms and observe colleagues. Examples include teamand department leader, mentor, subject specialist, staff development coordinator,member of a team that visits classrooms to select teacher award winners, memberof an accreditation team that visits schools – any possibility they can envision.Learning, not leading, consistently remains their focus: ‘One of my jobs as clusterleader is to be in and out of classrooms. I … learn every time I sit in somebody’sclassroom. I always pick up something’ (Shirley).

Equally generous about opening their own classrooms, the teachers also learnfrom being observed by others. Many participants accept student teachers, recognis-ing an opportunity to influence future teachers while learning from the experience:

I know I became a much better teacher when I started having student teachers becauseI became very much aware that I was modelling for them and that they’d heareverything that I said, and they’d take that, and that would become part of their ownteaching … And that’s helped me because I had to self-monitor. (Amber)

Serving on committees

Because of the teachers’ extensive service on committees, usually first at the schoollevel and then at the regional, state or national level, they have not only influencedothers but have themselves been changed by the experience. An older teacher whonow refers to herself as a confident ‘committee junkie’ entered the profession as ashy, quiet person with low self-confidence:

260 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 16: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Being on a committee and having to make decisions or come to a consensus, … Idon’t have any problem with that. I don’t have any problem most of the timeexpressing my opinion now, you know, and saying, ‘This is what I think, and this iswhy’. And I always have to back it up. And I know that there have been instanceswhere I’ve changed people’s minds. (Jessica)

Besides learning to provide evidence and reasoning, others mentioned learning tolisten carefully, see others’ perspectives, seek consensus, present ideas, monitor theirtiming and choice of words, and adopt admired behaviours or avoid unattractivebehaviours. A young teacher who was serving on a national committee discoveredby listening to members skilled in the art of argumentation that she has much tolearn about perseverance and presentation. She admired:

… the way that the people on the committee themselves stand up for what theybelieve … Even though people might say, ‘Well, that’s ridiculous’ and ‘That’s notwhat we want’, if you really believe in it, you just kind of hang in there. And youmake sure that your point is made, and you do it … as forcefully as you have to. Andyou don’t let anyone make you feel bad because your idea might not be as well-culti-vated as others … [Hearing sophisticated reasoning] has moved me professionally andpersonally. It has really changed the way that I think about a lot of issues. (Bridget)

Participating in professional organisations

As members of state or national professional organisations, the teachers learn keylessons that help them develop as leaders: they hear about innovations and research,discover collegial support, see the big picture of how they belong to a larger globalprofession, hear multiple perspectives, and learn to ask questions and seek assis-tance (Gardner 1990, Kelley 1992, Fullan 2005, Bennis 2009). Additionally, as theyparticipate in organisational meetings and conferences, they observe and learn pro-tocols and governance processes that allow them to take leadership roles as officersof organisations.

Perhaps because these teachers are always alert to learning possibilities, confer-ences provide many opportunities for learning. One thing seems to lead to another.For example, a math teacher who ‘wanted to emulate excellence’ said: ‘That’s whyI take a lot of time out of the classroom to be with excellent teachers’ (Sonja). Shebegan by attending regional mathematics meetings, then ‘hooked up’ with teachersin a neighbouring school system to attend a conference:

… getting new ideas, incorporating them in my classroom … And within a year ortwo, I had convinced our department that they had to get out and hear what teacherswere doing in their classrooms … One thing just sort of led to another. Nationalinvolvement has been that I’ve gone to every national meeting since 1987 … [andrecently] did a paper with a group of university women. (Sonja)

Providing professional development

As the teachers experiment with innovations to help students, they increasingly findways to share successful practices with colleagues, usually starting with one col-league at a time before taking the risk to present to groups in a school, a schoolsystem or at a conference. Some need encouragement. For instance, an English tea-cher started giving presentations of writing-across-the-curriculum for colleaguesthanks to a principal who ‘was encouraging me to try something new’ (Renee).

Professional Development in Education 261

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 17: Leading by learning, learning by leading

One senior teacher, determined ‘not to be controlled by [her] fear’ of speaking toadult audiences, laughed as she said: ‘I still get nervous if you get grown people.I do [workshops] but I sweat through everything I have on’ (Claire). Those whofeel comfortable in front of peers credit strong communication skills (e.g. fromdebates and public-speaking practice), performance training (e.g. drama, music),experience as a community volunteer, or training and practice in a prior career.

Keeping the focus on learning (i.e. developing students and themselves)appears to provide many opportunities for the exemplary teachers to move freelyfrom one community of practice to another and to have credibility as they try tohelp colleagues learn, whether locally or in other states. They ‘have learned thatmany teachers are reluctant to change … [but] do seem to want to obtain newresources and attend professional development activities to help them to continueto be successful in the classroom’ (Sherri). They have also learned that teachers‘will listen to their peers as opposed to [a principal]’ (Janet). In short, the teachershave learned what scholars have observed in the United States for many years:that ‘teachers see each other as the primary source of useful ideas’ (Lortie 1975,p. 193) and are ‘unlikely to accept leadership at too great a distance from theclassroom’ (Little 2000, p. 400; see also Rosenholtz 1989, Lieberman andFriedrich 2010).

Because the teachers constantly experiment with innovations in their classroom,they have no difficulty explaining benefits of new practices for students or teachers(see Doyle and Ponder’s [1977/78] ‘practicality ethic’; Little 2000). As leaders, theycan illustrate a theory or show benefits of an innovation when they instruct student-teachers at the university or provide workshops for teachers:

It’s very difficult to talk about theories if you don’t give examples. And it’s very inter-esting when I go out and do workshops and things like that, you know … The minuteyou personalise it, they just say, ‘Oh, hey, this lady is on the same wavelength I am’,you know. ‘She’s got the same problems I do. She works with the same kind of kids’.And I think it makes it so much easier to relate. (Lisa)

The teachers who lead the most ambitious changes at the school level or beyondhave learned that initially experimenting and shouldering the risk in their own class-room ultimately helps them influence others. They model Weick and Quinn’s ‘logicof attraction’; namely, that ‘to lead change is to show people how to be’ (1999, p. 3):

If they [colleagues] see something working and see something be successful, theirchances of trying it are much higher. Now, keep in mind, you’ve eliminated a lot ofthe hard part for them. They don’t have to figure it out and … you’ve taken the threataway from them. (Glynis)

The teachers appear to learn from every experience, recognising that they ‘canlearn as much from bad experiences as good’ (Shirley). For professional develop-ment leaders, learning to deal with feedback from peers can be particularly difficult;‘they’re your best critics [and] your worst’ (Margaret). One teacher was shocked bya harshly worded evaluation of her first workshop: ‘I had one that was just devas-tating, like you know, “Climb back in your hole. This is the most awful thing I’veever been to”’ (Marise). Several participants commented that ‘teachers are the mostdifficult to teach because some can be really inconsiderate’ (Grace). One teacherlearned how to be an exemplary audience member for other professional develop-

262 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 18: Leading by learning, learning by leading

ment leaders after he personally experienced inconsiderate treatment as a novicepresenter: ‘Whatever you did, they could do much better. Whatever they would justbe furious with their students doing, they’re doing it: reading a paper, or talking, orgrading their papers, working on something for another class’ (David).

That same teacher, acknowledging extensive drama training in high school andwell-developed communication and interpersonal skills learned in a prior career,was asked to sit on a district-wide curriculum committee during his first year ofteaching and then to provide staff development to peers the following year:

[I] enjoyed it immensely. And I think one of the reasons was because I enjoyed work-ing with adult learners [and] I felt like I had something worthwhile to contribute … Ifind I grow as a presenter. I learn more about the information that I had a fairly strongworking knowledge of beforehand. I’m certainly no expert in any area, and I thinkthat we all learn best when we learn from each other. And teachers bring with them,you know, several years of experience. They’ve been in different classrooms. I mean,when we’re all together, we learn from each other and what they did, or what hap-pened to them … I guess because I did a good job, they asked me to do some othertraining. And I started working with all the new teachers … I may not have that manyyears in the profession, but those years have been chock full of many opportunitiesand many experiences. (David)

As a senior teacher said: ‘I’ve done numerous presentations [and] state conferences,and I wish more people could do it because they would see [that] it makes youevaluate your own actions’ (Kristin).

What can we learn?

If teachers cannot sustain success as leaders without first modelling pedagogicalexcellence (Odell 1997, Crowther 2009), one could reasonably argue that the firstpriority toward cultivating a deep leadership pool (teachers and administrators)would focus on developing pedagogical expertise. Beyond pedagogical skill, suc-cessful exemplary teachers and distinguished leaders appear to share the same atti-tudes: commitment to education, a love of learning, doing one’s best, curiosity andopen-mindedness. Additionally, because successful leadership involves healthy andsupportive relationships to help others develop and to influence improvement,development of caring (empathy and respect), along with communication andcollaborative skills, seems vital (for example, Gardner 1990, Senge 1996, Fullan2005, Donaldson 2006, Bennis 2009).

Participants in this study introduced another rarely mentioned virtue: humility.Humility means that the teachers recognise that they can learn from everyone andevery experience, that taking risks and making mistakes can be a way to learn, thatasking for help is necessary, and that integration and refinement of attitudes andskills is a lifelong process. It is possible that humility, coupled with the teachers’desire to develop themselves and others, allows them to use retrospective and pro-spective reflection advantageously; that is, to analyse in retrospect and then imagineand implement prospective, ameliorative actions (see Walker 2006). Supported bythe development of strong communication skills (non-verbal, verbal and written)and intellectual ability to provide reasoning and evidence, humility appears criticalto learning and leading.

Attention to being seems central to becoming leaders: propelled by a perpetualdesire to learn and a deep commitment to help students learn, learning is a way of

Professional Development in Education 263

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 19: Leading by learning, learning by leading

being for the exemplary teachers. Their non-stop quest to find interesting and newapproaches seems to help satisfy both their commitment to helping students learnand their own quest for variety and creative self-expression (see Williams 2001).Exposure to many colleagues and leaders seems helpful to teachers’ decisions toaccept or avoid behaviours as they work on integrating attitudes and actions thatdefine who they are – their being. Becoming an exemplary teacher and then a tea-cher leader appears to represent a continuously evolving process of learning andrefining ideals the teachers admire or think important. They are learners first; leader-ship occurs as a by-product of learning.

In their quest to learn how to help students learn, the teachers become innova-tors. They develop deep curricular and pedagogical knowledge, in part by changinggrade levels and schools, observing and learning from students, and consulting withparents. They seek specific professional development, internal and external col-leagues and partners, professional organisations, and opportunities to team teachand observe peers. As they learn, they find, accept or create ways to help others bysharing innovations and exercising leadership. They contribute to the school andinfluence the profession by serving as members and leaders on influential commit-tees, by writing grants and by providing professional development. Always focusingon learning, they ignore traditional boundaries and move freely across communitiesof practice as they continue to learn and lead. Committed to learning and to helpingstudents learn, they are learners first, leaders second. Leadership, in turn, providesnew and continual avenues for learning. In this way, learning and leading are mutu-ally reinforcing.

Because the setting influences how potential leaders develop (Gardner 1990),and because principals who value and recognise teacher innovation and learning‘attract more academically talented teachers than unsuccessful schools’ (Rosenholtz1989, p. 140, Williams 2001), school conditions for learning and improving needurgent attention. The exemplary teachers tend to change schools to keep themselvesfresh or to find stimulating colleagues, supportive principals and conditions hospita-ble to learning and pedagogical excellence. Opportunities to practise leadership arecrucial; that is, learning to lead requires learning by doing (Bennis 2009). The liter-ature on how distinguished leaders develop in the general population parallels howthis sample of exemplary teachers pursued learning and development: they did notintend to become teacher leaders; they became leaders as their learning becamevaluable to others. Then, as leaders, the teachers discovered that they still havemuch to learn and that leading affords many new possibilities for learning.

References

Bennis, W., 2009. On becoming a leader. New York: Basic Books.Berliner, D., 1986. In pursuit of the expert pedagogue. Educational researcher, 15 (7), 5–13.Burns, J.M., 1978. Leadership. New York: Harper and Row.Collinson, V., 1994. Teachers as learners: exemplary teachers’ perceptions of personal and

professional renewal. San Francisco, CA: Austin and Winfield.Collinson, V., 2011. Lessons about leaders and followers: learning from exemplary teachers.

Paper prepared for the European Conference on Educational Research, 13–16 September,Berlin, Germany.

Combs, A.W., 1982. A personal approach to teaching: beliefs that make a difference.Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

264 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 20: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Crowther, F., with Ferguson, M., and Hann, L., 2009. Developing teacher leaders. ThousandOaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Dewey, J., 1960. How we think: a restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to theeducative process. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath. (Original work published 1933.)

Donaldson, G.A., 2006. Cultivating leadership in schools: connecting people, purpose, andpractice. New York: Teachers College Press.

Doyle, W. and Ponder, G.A., 1977/78. The practicality ethic in teacher decision-making.Interchange, 8 (3), 1–12.

Fullan, M., 2005. Leadership and sustainability: system thinkers in action. Thousand Oaks,CA: Corwin Press.

Gardner, J.W., 1990. On leadership. New York: The Free Press.Goodson, I., ed., 1992. Studying teachers’ lives. New York: Teachers College Press.Guba, E.G. and Lincoln, Y., 1989. Fourth generation evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Huberman, M., 1995. Professional careers and professional development. In: T.R. Guskey

and M. Huberman, eds. Professional development in education: new paradigms andpractices. New York: Teachers College Press, 193–224.

Hunter, F., 1953. Community power structure: a study of decision makers. Chapel Hill, NC:The University of North Carolina Press.

Jackson, P.W., 1990. Life in classrooms. New York: Teachers College. (Original workpublished 1968.)

Katzenmeyer, M. and Moller, G., 2001. Awakening the sleeping giant: helping teachersdevelop as leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Kelchtermans, G., 2009. Who I am in how I teach is the message: self-understanding,vulnerability and reflection. Teachers and teaching, 15 (2), 257–272.

Kelley, R.E., 1992. The power of followership: how to create leaders people want to followand followers who lead themselves. New York: Doubleday Currency.

Lieberman, A. and Friedrich, L.D., 2010. How teachers become leaders. New York:Teachers College Press.

Little, J.W., 2000. Assessing the prospects for teacher leadership. In: The Jossey-Bass reader oneducational leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 390–419.

Lortie, D., 1975. Schoolteacher: a sociological study. Chicago, IL: The University ofChicago Press.

Malm, B., 2009. Towards a new professionalism: enhancing personal and professionaldevelopment in teacher education. Journal of education for teaching, 35 (1), 77–91.

Mayeroff, M., 1971. On caring. New York: HarperCollins.Odell, S.J., 1997. Preparing teachers for teacher leadership. Action in teacher education, 19

(3), 120–124.Rait, E., 1995. Schools as learning organizations. In: S.B. Bacharach and B. Mundell, eds.

Images of schools: structures and roles in organizational behavior. Thousand Oaks,CA: Corwin Press, 71–107.

Rallis, S.F., and Rossman, G.B., with Phlegar, J.M., and Abeille, A., 1995. Dynamic teach-ers: leaders of change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Rosenholtz, S.J., 1989. Teachers’ workplace: the social organization of schools. WhitePlains, NY: Longman.

Rost, J.C., 1991. Leadership for the twenty-first century. Westport, CT: Praeger.Scott, K.W., 2004. Relating categories in grounded theory analysis: using a conditional

relationship guide and reflective coding matrix. The qualitative report, 9 (1), 113–126.Senge, P.M., 1990. The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization.

New York: Doubleday.Senge, P.M., 1996. Leading learning organizations: the bold, the powerful, and the invisible. In:

F. Hesselbein, M. Goldsmith, and R. Beckhard, eds. The leader of the future: new visions,strategies, and practices for the next era. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 41–57.

Walker, K., 2006. Fostering hope: a leader’s first and last task. Journal of educationaladministration, 44 (6), 540–569.

Weick, K.E. and Quinn, R.E., 1999. Organizational change and development. Annual reviewof psychology, 50, 361–386.

Professional Development in Education 265

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 21: Leading by learning, learning by leading

Williams, J.S., 2001. Creativity, connectedness, and the spirit of teaching: factors that con-tribute to renewal and longevity of exemplary teachers. EdD thesis. Western CarolinaUniversity.

York-Barr, J. and Duke, K., 2004. What do we know about teacher leadership? Findingsfrom two decades of scholarship. Review of educational research, 74 (3), 255–316.

266 V. Collinson

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

itat P

olitè

cnic

a de

Val

ènci

a] a

t 02:

31 2

5 O

ctob

er 2

014