Teacher leadership for professional development in a networked learning community: A Chinese case study

Educators worldwide are engaged in efforts to improve teaching and learning through teachers’ collaborations in learning communities and networks. Teacher leadership has played a crucial role in such communities or networks. This study focused on a teacher professional development program in mainland China, the Master Teacher Studio, in which a group of teachers from different schools learn from a master teacher. The study explored how the master teacher enacted leadership strategies to facilitate participants’ professional development and how the community can develop sustainably. Through a qualitative case study analysis, the study summarizes five major strategies, namely, establishing a shared value and specific goals, structuring through rules and collaboration, developing people by scaffolding and allocating resources, bridging internal and external social capital, and sustaining the community through leadership virtues and role modeling. The results show that teacher leaders in Chinese contexts adopt a combination of multiple strategies to achieve a dynamic balance depending on the developmental stage of the community and members’ dynamic needs. Teachers lead the community through an integration of their administrative, professional, and moral leadership. Implications for teacher leadership in communities are further discussed.