Teacher Learning and Leadership, Of, By, and For Teachers

In the book, Teacher Learning and Leadership, Of, By, and For Teachers, SCOPE Senior Scholar Ann Lieberman and her colleagues Carol Campbell and Anna Yashkina tell the story of a unique partnership between a government education agency and a teachers’ union and how the positive outcomes of this partnership can be extended to education reform everywhere.

The project leading to the book started when Lindy Amato, of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation, invited Dr. Lieberman to give the first keynote address at OTF’s 2007 conference in Toronto. The conference was the beginning of a partnership between the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Teacher Federation to create the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP).  The program provides funding to experienced teachers to create professional development and learn leadership in the process as well as to share their learning outside their own school. Since its launch in 2007, over 4,000 teachers have participated in the program and the Ministry has supported hundreds of teacher-led TLLP projects focused on three objectives: 

• Create and support opportunities for teacher professional learning.
• Foster teacher leadership.
• Facilitate the sharing of exemplary practices with others for the broader benefit of Ontario's students.

At the end of the program’s third year, the TLLP committed to work with Dr. Lieberman and her colleagues to analyze the program and develop research-based evidence of its results. The surveys and interviews that were part of that research, as well as two other studies became the foundation for the book. Teacher Learning and Leadership describes how teachers can 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. 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.

Ann Lieberman’s passion as an educator, researcher, and author, author began as a sixth grade teacher in Simi Valley, California. Throughout her career, she has maintained a belief that teachers must be involved in research and that only teachers can reveal the complexities of learning. She has authored and edited over 12 books and is a former President of the American Education Research Association. Her approach to education, teaching, and research is best summed by her belief that, “Each time we involve teachers in research, we learn something new”.

Dr. Lieberman was supported on this project by fellow researchers and authors:

Carol Campbell, PhD, Associate Professor of Leadership and Educational Change at OISE, University of Toronto

Anna Yashkina, PhD, Researcher, OISE, University of Toronto