Abstract:

In a previous study that was part of a wider research effort designed to assess the effects of a teacher-leadership development project, we found that a positive school climate and teacher leadership have both beneficial effects on student achievement. In that study, 71 project participants from two cohorts responded to a 40-item teacher-leadership survey (TLS) mostly taken from the instrument developed Louis et al. (2010) and designed to determine various aspects of teacher-leadership development (TLD). We had classified the 40 items under the types: T1-In-classroom support of individual teachers; T2-Professional development activities for groups of teachers; T3-Indirect support benefiting several classrooms; T5-Interactions with a larger educational community; T6-Initiating extra-curricular mathematics activities; & T7-Initiating personal growth and professional development in mathematics. T4 (Classroom Management) was not included as an element of the survey. The TLS was administered to both cohorts at the beginning of the leadership component of the project. Thirty-two (32) Cohort 1 participants and 39 participants from Cohort 2 completed the survey. A 36-item school climate survey that comprised three sub-scales (school leadership style, teacher to teacher interactions, and school as learning community) was also given to 891 personnel from the 42 schools from which participant teachers were drawn. Results showed that generally there was little relationship between school climate and teacher-leadership development. However, further analysis showed that Cohort 2 schools that promoted teacher-to-teacher interactions saw more personal growth and development of teacher leaders in their staff. Additional findings suggested that an encouragement of teacher-to-teacher interactions in a school setting should lead to an increase of teacher leadership development.

This presentation will be two-fold: First, we will elucidate the process and present the results of the previous study which took place in the United States; and second, we will describe how such study is being replicated in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) starting with a pilot implementation in eight (8) schools during the 2022-2023 school year. During the pilot in the UAE, over 200 teachers participated in different units of study in the areas of Action Research, Problem Solving Competitions, Game-Based Learning, and Pre-Engineering using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) FABLAB concept. We will describe the new instruments that are being designed to fit the context of the UAE, and how teacher-to-teacher interactions are being fostered through the Learning Innovation Networked Communities (LINC) partnership between the Emirates Schools Establishment (ESE) and Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE). The LINC initiative involves collaborative inquiry-based professional development activities designed and implemented as a joint effort between ECAE and interested public schools.

Keywords:

Teacher leadership, school climate, teacher-to-teacher interactions, Bronx, NY, United Arab Emirates (UAE).