Teacher Leadership In Student Education

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In recent years, Singaporean students have performed well in international assessments like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test , in the areas of mathematics, science and reading literacy skills. So, have we really produced “world-class quality” students or just “exam-smart” students? This essay explores how we can further value add to our students in terms of their learning outcomes with teacher leadership as well as principal leadership that can complement it. At the World Educational Leadership Summit 2015 (Ming En, 2015), Tony Wagner, an expert-in-residence at Harvard University’s Innovation Lab, described the the local education system as one rooted in a long history of “testing for meritocracy” and “testing…show more content…
As bulk of students’ time was spent in schools with the teachers, some research believes that teacher leadership can directly affect how students learn (Crowther, Ferguson, & Hann, 2009; Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2001). If schools can increase the amount of teacher leadership, it will greatly improve schools and students can learn better (Ryan, 1999). However, teacher leadership differs across schools with different stages of education development as, it is defined by the context in which it is experienced. (Angelle & Schmid,…show more content…
Studies have shown positive outcomes if teachers are given greater involvement in the decision making process. Furthermore, it will be even better if teachers can be involved in coming out with improved practices. It is however important to note that the school leaders are open and willing for such change as such changes can be a tiring and difficult process as there are no easy way or short cut to achieve the outcomes we want (Seashore Louis, Dretzke, & Wahlstrom, 2010). In order for school leaders to run the school effectively, there is a need to have strong collaboration with different groups of people, i.e., teachers, level head, department heads, parents and students. These require a collective effort for it to be successful (Bryk & Schneider, 2002). There must be trust amongst the different groups. And it has shown that reform initiatives have a more positive impact if schools involve and trust teachers in the collective decision making process (Seashore Louis et al.,

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