Call for Papers
Special Issue: Language Teacher Leadership
Guest Editors: Hayo Reinders and Kathleen M. Bailey
Expressions of interest and abstracts should be emailed directly to the guest editors. Authors will then be invited to submit their full manuscripts to the SLTE system. Please see the timeline below for more details.
Scope and Importance
Perspectives on leadership – including leadership in education -- have developed significantly over the years. For example, Christison and Murray (2009a), in the introduction to a collection of papers on leadership in TESOL, summarize eight different theories of leadership that have been “prominent in politics, business, and education” (p. 2). Nelson and Squires (2017) assert that “leadership theories, generally, and more specifically their application in the field of education, have undergone a significant shift over time” (p. 112). These authors note that many theories of leadership are “linked to the industrial and post-industrial time period in which they were advanced, and thus are somewhat outdated given the current climate within which educational organizations operate” (p. 112).
Especially in education, it is now recognised that all teachers benefit from developing leadership skills (Reinders, 2023a). Therefore, it is important for teacher educators to understand what those skills entail and how that skillset and knowledge base can be nurtured, both for themselves and for the novice teachers with whom they work. It is also widely recognized that the most successful and sustainable education teams are those where responsibilities are distributed among teacher leaders, rather than centralised at the top of organizational hierarchies (Nelson & Squires, 2017; Reinders, 2023b). Earlier models often placed considerable emphasis on a single leader and the qualities and behaviours needed to be successful in leadership roles. But over the years, leadership has come to be seen more as a process in which multiple actors play a role. Thus, leadership emerges as a result of what happens among people, the relationships they have, and the contexts where they work (Curtis, 2022).
We have also seen a shift away from a focus on technical processes, outcomes, and resources to one that places people at the centre (often referred to as a move from a ‘things to people’ paradigm). Most importantly, this shift has resulted in a greater emphasis being placed on developing teachers’ leadership: “the process by which teachers, individually or collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of school communities to improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement¨ (York-Barr & Duke, 2004, p. 288). This shift has been noticeable in the field of language education too, with a number of influential publications covering the topic in recent years (Christison & Murray, 2009b; Coombe et al., 2008; Curtis, 2022; Knight 2022).
Despite this significant interest in teacher leadership, there has not been as much research carried out as one might have expected. Recent meta-analyses (Wenner & Campbell, 2017) and bibliometric analyses (Pan et al., 2023) have shown that very few empirical studies exist that investigate fundamental questions to understand the nature of, contributors to, and impacts of teacher leadership. In addition, a generally accepted definition and widely used theoretical framework are still lacking (Sebastian et al., 2017). The first scoping review specifically in the field of language teacher leadership (Reinders, et al., in review) showed that despite a relatively large number of publications in leadership, only eight met the inclusion criteria for empirical studies. The analysis revealed significant gaps in terms of what has been investigated about language teacher leadership and how it has been studied.
The issue of language teacher learnership should be of great interest to language teacher educators. A recent survey of over 200 leaders in language education (Powers & Bailey, in press) revealed that only 22% of the respondents had become aware of their leadership potential during their undergraduate or graduate studies. Sixty-five percent of the respondents reported having had mentors (though these mentors were not necessarily associated with their undergraduate or graduate education). These data suggest that teacher educators have an important role to play in encouraging novice teachers to develop their leadership abilities, given that it is very likely they will have leadership roles at some point in their careers (Curtis, 2022). Whether such preparation emerges from mentoring relationships, internships, or specific coursework in leadership is a topic that should engage many language teacher educators.
As we are aware of increasing research interest and activity in this area, we are keen to invite submissions for a special issue of SLTE. As one of the premier journals in the field and catering specifically to research and policy in the area of teacher education, we feel this focus would make for a highly suitable venue.
Call for Papers
We anticipate calling for contributions in three broad areas of leadership development in teacher education: personal leadership, organizational leadership, and professional leadership.
Personal leadership
We will be looking for articles that report on research on such topics as working with teachers’ and teacher educators’ personal beliefs, values, and aspirations as well as identifying what types of leadership practices and styles have been shown to be effective in the area of language education. Research on how teacher educators and language teachers, including novice teachers, realize their own leadership potential and develop their leadership identities is also welcome.
Organizational leadership
Teacher leadership manifests itself in a wide range of practices that are not dependent on one’s hierarchical position in the organization and we will be looking for recent research on the integration of such practices as mentoring, action research, team-teaching, and advocacy for their potential to support communities and improve educational outcomes, including the outcomes of language teacher education. We anticipate contributions in this area to deal with such topics as teacher autonomy, investigating how it develops and can be fostered; and how teachers monitor and manage their own and others’ wellbeing (Mercer & Gregersen, 2020). This topic is especially important given the high incidence of teacher stress and burnout in our field. Others may cover aspects related to the recognition of, preparation for, and integration of leadership activities into the wider organizational structure
Professional leadership
Articles in this area extend beyond language teachers’ individual contexts to include the wider field. Such submissions would report on the ways teacher educators and language teachers have participated in and established communities of practice of leadership, have contributed through (practitioner) research, and have advocated for the profession through myriad activities. These efforts could include developing ethical guidelines, designing workshops or courses on leadership, creating professional standards, and through social justice efforts, amongst others.
Timeline
November 15, 2023
Call for papers goes out, requesting abstracts only. Expressions of interest should be emailed to the guest editors.
December 15, 2023
Abstract submission (in 300-400 words excluding references and bio statements). These should be emailed directly to the guest editors.
January 15, 2024
Full papers invited for accepted abstracts.
March 15, 2024
Full papers due. These should be submitted to the SLTE system. Please see the submission page, here. When submitting your paper, please select the special issue from the first dropdown menu.
June 15, 2024
Reviews returned.
July 15, 2024
Revised papers due.
Guest Editors
Hayo Reinders (www.innovationinteaching.org) is TESOL Professor and Director of Research at Anaheim University in the USA. Hayo has published 26 books and over 150 academic articles. He is Editor of the journal Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching and edits the Springer book series on “New Language Learning and Teaching Environments”. He founded the Institute for Teacher Leadership and is currently writing the ‘Handbook for Language Teacher Leadership’ for Cambridge University Press.
Email: [email protected]
Kathleen M. Bailey is a professor emerita of applied linguistics at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California, USA. She is a former president of TESOL, the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), and TIRF (The International Research Foundation for English Language Education). Her interests include language teacher education, language assessment, teaching speaking and listening, leadership studies, and qualitative research methods. She has published 24 books and 120 articles and articles, including six on leadership.
Email: [email protected]
References
Ajzen, I. (2011). The theory of planned behaviour: Reactions and reflections. Psychology & Health, 26(9), 1113-1127. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2011.613995
Ajzen, I. (2020). The theory of planned behaviour: Frequently asked questions. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2(4), 314-324. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.195
Chu, T. H., & Chen, Y. Y. (2016). With good we become good: Understanding e-learning adoption by theory of planned behaviour and group influences. Computers & Education, 92, 37-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.09.013purpose
Christison, M. A., & Murray, D. E. (2009a). Introduction. In M. A. Christison & D. E. Murray (Eds.), Leadership in English language education: Theoretical foundations and practical skills for changing times (pp. 1-10). Routledge.
Christison, M. A., & Murray, D. E. (Eds.) (2009b). Leadership in English language education: Theoretical foundations and practical skills for changing times. Routledge.
Coombe, C., McCloskey, M. L., Stephenson, L., & Anderson, N. J. (2008). Leadership in English language teaching and learning. University of Michigan Press.
Curtis, A. (Ed.). (2022). Reflecting on leadership in language education. Equinox.
Knight, K. R. (2022). English for specific purposes project leader profiles: The leadership communication of 55 ESP project leaders. Candlin & Mynard Publishing.
Lee, D. Y., & Lehto, M. R. (2013). User acceptance of YouTube for procedural learning: An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model. Computers & Education, 61, 193-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.001
Nelson, T., & Squires, V. (2017). Addressing complex challenges through adaptive leadership: A promising approach to collaboratirve problem solving. Journal of Leadership Education, 16(4), 111-123. https://doi.org/10.12806/V16/I4/T2
Pan, H. L. W., Wiens, P. D., & Moyal, A. (2023). A bibliometric analysis of the teacher leadership scholarship. Teaching and Teacher Education, 121, 103936. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103936
Powers, C., & Bailey, K. M. (In press). Pathways to leadership in world language education. In H. Reinders (Ed.),. Language teacher leadership: Insights from research and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Reinders, H. (Ed.). (2023a, in press). Language teacher leadership: Insights from theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Reinders, H. (2023b). From teacher to teacher leader. Cambridge University Press.
Reinders, H., Chong, S. W., & Liu, Q. Conceptualisations of and research on language teacher leadership: a scoping review. Submitted for review.
Sebastian, J., Huang, H., & Allensworth, E. (2017). Examining integrated leadership systems in high schools: Connecting principal and teacher leadership to organizational processes and student outcomes. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 28(3), 463-488. https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2017.1319392
Wenner, J. A., & Campbell, T. (2017). The theoretical and empirical basis of teacher leadership: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 87(1), 134-171). https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316653478
York-Barr, J., & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255-316. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074003255
