Teacher Learning and Leadership asserts that teachers should be put at the center of creating, developing, organizing, implementing, and sharing their own ideas for school change rather than being passive recipients of knowledge from the outside. It argues that there is tremendous potential for the good of students and the professionalization of teaching, when teachers work collaboratively to develop their own and their colleagues’ professional knowledge and practices and are supported by school and system leaders, unions and government.
The book draws on the groundbreaking work of the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program in Ontario and uses an in-depth case study to illustrate its points. It demonstrates how professional development built around collaboration, teacher leadership, curriculum development, technology and pedagogy can be organized in a way that redistributes control and responsibility to teachers, thereby instilling a genuine sense of pride and accomplishment in their work.
This book is a sincere outreach from the authors who advocate for the professional development of, by and for teachers as individuals and, importantly, as a collective profession. The authors argue that projects like the TLLP (a joint initiative between the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Teachers’ Federation) can radically, and positively, transform teachers’ knowledge, skills and practices. The book provides an important model for school change led by teachers, rather than experts, in partnership with school and system leaders and is a fascinating read for all those concerned with teaching, teacher development and educational change.