Abstract:

Many researchers demonstrate the power of teachers' collaborative expertise for student performance. Studies show that teachers' collective efficacy is strongly and positively associated with student achievement (Eells, 2011, Hattie, 2016). The quantity and quality of teacher collaborative interactions and relationships constitute the foundation of school social capital which affects teachers' sense of expectation, obligation and trust, and their commitment to work together for a common purpose (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012).

The role of school leaders as managers and change agents in building and developing a strong professional community is unquestionable. The role of leaders is central in creating structures that increase forms of team collaboration. School leaders' role is treated as central to the development of teacher leadership (Valuckiene et al., 2012), trust-based collaborative school culture (Grant, 2008).

This paper aims to identify school leaders' dispositions and practices that contribute to the development of teachers' collaborative professional efficiency.
The paper deals with the data obtained from the survey with school leaders' (N=1083) that was carried out under the national project "Time for Leaders" initiated by the Ministry of Education in Lithuania.

The questions of the survey were developed based on the conceptual framework of Hargreaves and Fullan's (2012) work on building professional capital. Following the combination of confirmative factor analysis (CFA) and explorative factor analysis (EFA) the scales, indicating meaningful factors were formed as independent variables (7 scales). To evaluate the interrelations between the variables, scales indicating input (school leaders' dispositions and practices) and output variables (teachers' collaborative professional efficiency) were determined.

The results show that teachers' collaborative professional efficiency is mostly driven by school leaders' involvement in instructional practices, effective management of teachers' professional growth, and evidence-based decision making, while school leaders' partnership networking (outside the school) has no direct impact on teachers' collaborative professional efficiency.

Keywords:

Teachers' collaborative professional efficiency, school leaders' dispositions, school leaders' practices, professional capital.