Diplomado

Action

In Teacher Education
Vol. XIX, No. 3, Fall 1997

Teacher Leadership
Oxymoron Or Not?

ATE

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|The Journal of the Association of Teacher Educators|

Action in Teacher Education
Fall 1997, Vol, XIX, No. 3, pp. 1 – 14

Teacher Identity: A Key to Increased Collaboration

Antoinette Mitchell
The Urban Institute

Recognizing teacher collaboration as an important component ofeffective teacher leadership, the study reported on in this article examines three aspects of teacher identity- -representation, preparation and dedication--as barriers to increased collaboration. Conducted using oral history interviews with eight recently retired public school teachers, the study reveals how teacher interpretations of their professional identity rest on underlying assumptions andnormative beliefs broadly shaped by biography. Further, when these assumptions and beliefs are not shared or acknowledged by colleagues, they lead to critical attitudes which limit trust and prohibit meaningful collaboration.

Teaching has been described as having professional norms of isolation and privacy (Cuban, 1984; Lortie, 1975. Lortie (1975) wrote that teaching is marked more byseparation, both physical and intellectual, than by interdependence and described teaching as a profession characterized by the individual nature of the work. Several other researchers have reached similar conclusions (Cuban, 1984; Hargreaves, 1994; Little, 1993). Since the 1970s, however, these norms of isolation and privacy have been under assault.

Current reform efforts: are calling forteachers to assume important leadership roles in schools. In order to effectively engage in teacher leadership activities, however, teachers must move beyond norms of isolation and work collaboratively with their peers. This is particularly the case in the area of professional development, where teachers have been encouraged to participate in professional learning communities. In these communities,teachers are responsible for defining and guiding their own growth and development. Through action research, peer coaching, observation and reflection, and/or case discussions, teachers determine areas of need, identify practices that address those needs (either from within and outside of their schools), operationalize planned change, and evaluate their efforts. Researchers believe that with thiscollaborative, teacher-driven approach to professional development, teachers are more likely to attempt and perfect the pedagogical techniques that are central to many current reform movements (McLaughlin & Talbert, 1993).

Indeed, McLaughlin and Talbert (1993) have suggested that by promoting greater intellectual engagement in teaching, more commitment to group goals, and more experimentationwith new pedagogy, collaboration encourages teacher leadership. Unfortunately, the types of collaboration necessary for effective teacher leadership are rarely practiced in schools (Hargreaves, 1994; Little, 1993; Rosenholtz, 1986;). Researchers have identified several barriers to increased collaboration, including cultural norms of individualism in teaching, structural conditions in schools,and teachers' differing pedagogical orientations.

Another barrier to increased collaboration is the absence of a shared professional identity among teachers, an identity in which teachers hold common beliefs about themselves as teachers and common expectations of their colleagues. In the absence of this professional identity, advanced forms of collaboration usually fail to occur. There is...