Exploring teacher leadership readiness in compulsory schools and the contributing two factors in China context: the mediating role of teacher leaders

Abstract

The objectives of this mix-methods study were: (1) to define the existing
levels of teacher leadership readiness of compulsory schools; (2) to examine
the role of teacher leaders as a mediator between contributing factors and
teacher leadership readiness, and (3) to propose guideline for improving teacher
leadership readiness. Data were collected via questionnaires from 362 teachers
and semi-structured interviews with six backbone teachers. The quantitative
part was focused on descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean,
standard deviation) and the inferential statistics (t-test, ANOVA, correlation
analysis, regression analysis, path analysis) while the qualitative part was in
content analysis. Findings showed imbalanced teacher leadership readiness,
significant gender differences, and teacher leaders as partial mediators for the
two key contributing factors: teachers’ characteristics, colleagues’ relationships.
The interviews outlined that (1) teacher leaders are recognized as leadership
roles in position-based as well as in activities-based occasions, and (2) offering
sufficient supply positions and opportunities is the prominent facilitating
motivation yet the dominant inhibitor is time limit and extra workload for
leadership roles. Rooted in the findings from these two sections, the study
provided a guideline for teachers to execute effective teacher leadership
practices, principals to take advantages of the mediating role of teacher leaders
and policy makers to resources allocation.