Page 37 - ALR2018 Handbook

Teachers as Reform Leaders in Chinese Schools

Darren Bryant and Melvin Rao Chunping

This paper analyzes the influence of teacher leadership on the enactment of educational
reforms at three schools in southeast China. It considers how the work of middle and teacher
leaders in schools is structured to support reform enactment at the school level. And, it
illuminates teacher leadership in a Chinese context other than the scrutinized Shanghai

school system.
The research was conducted in three case study sites in one school district in southeast
China. Low, moderate and high academic achieving schools which had engaged teacher
leaders in instructional reforms were selected. A combined total of 34 senior, middle and
teacher leaders participated in semi-structured interviews which were analyzed through a
comparative coding process.

Across the three schools, teacher leaders without positional authority strongly influenced the
instructional reforms. Their influence was bolstered by formal recognition systems,
opportunities to lead projects that were directly related to the reform efforts and to mentor
novice students. Mechanisms and structures embedded in schools thus supported the
efficacy of teachers without formal authority.

This research yields insight on teacher leaders’ influence of reform. It considers how the work
of teacher leaders can be structured in a manner that impacts on reform enactment at the
school level. And, it illuminates teacher leadership in a Chinese context other than the
scrutinized Shanghai school system.

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