Enabling Teachers to Lead Change in One School in Palestine: A Case Study

Hanan Ramahi^1,

¹Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Cite this paper:
Hanan Ramahi. Enabling Teachers to Lead Change in One School in Palestine: A Case Study. American Journal of Educational Research. 2016; 4(2A):4-14. doi: 10.12691/education-4-2A-2

Abstract

This article examines the interim outcomes of a year-long intervention that aims to develop teacher leadership as a means to professional development and school improvement within the educational and socio-cultural context of Palestine in one private school in the Ramallah area. Teachers Leading Change (TLC), the name of the program, draws on a non-positional approach to teacher leadership in which all teachers regardless of delegated role are supported to lead educational change and teaching innovation through situated learning and leadership activities. The investigation is part of an ongoing doctoral study that employs a participatory, action-based research design entailing periodic cycles of deliberation on program activity outcomes and ways for improvement. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, document analysis, and a reflective journal. The evidence thus far indicates that teachers have responded positively to the program’s structured support, relevance to workplace realities, opportunities for classroom improvement, increased collaboration and enhanced teacher agency. Challenges have included time limitations and difficulty conceptualising process-led professional development. The provisional conclusion to be drawn from this study is that a non-positional approach to teacher leadership has positive implications for educational reform at the professional, organizational and system levels. For education in Palestine its significance emanates from the capacity to help shift reform from internationally sponsored initiatives infused with foreign agendas to locally-driven, inquiry-based development efforts that foster nationally effective policies.

Keywords:
teacher development teacher leadership professional learning educational reform action research palestine Middle East/Arab World

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