Developing Teacher Leaders through Honorary Professional Organizations in Education: Focus on the College Student Officers.
Year: 2014

Policymakers, researchers, and educators are calling for teachers with in depth knowledge of students, subject matter, and pedagogy to assume formal and informal leadership roles in schools (Lieberman Friedrich, 2010) Referred to in the professional literature as teacher leaders, these faculty members teach well and assume additional responsibilities beyond the classroom (Danielson, 2005; Reeves, 2008) Explaining why teachers should assume these roles, Barth (2001) states, "All teachers can lead! Most teachers want to lead. And schools badly need their ideas, invention, energy, and leadership" (p. 449) Another scholar, Forster (1997) claims that leadership is "a fundamental part of fulfilling one's professional role and responsibilities. All teachers must be educational leaders in order to optimize the teaching and learning experience for themselves and their students" (pp. 82 83) Furthermore, teacher leaders shoulder some of an administrator's responsibilities in a school because "principals learn quickly that they cannot supply all the leadership" (Stone, Horejs, Lomas, 1997, p. 51) When teachers possess leadership skills, they are prepared to engage in collaborative leadership with the principal and better understand the realities and broader context of public schooling (Richardson, 2003) In summary, improving education is a complex endeavor that requires everyone involved to do his/her part. Teachers can lead by teaching well in the classroom, sharing their ideas with colleagues, and assuming additional non instructional responsibilities in the school. To prepare for these future roles, education students need training and experiences in leadership. Lambert (2003) proposes a developmental framework for teacher leadership whereby novices lead in small, structured, and supported ways and progress incrementally to take on larger, more complex roles. In her leadership model for pre service teachers, Forster (1997) states: Teacher education institutions and schools cannot ignore the calls for preparation and professional development of teachers that support leadership as a fundamental function of their professional role..Teacher education institutions carry a particular responsibility by preparing teachers not only to understand and accept a leadership role, but to be able to effectively function in that capacity (p. 88) Echoing this call in his model, Bond (2011) concludes, "If pre service teachers are to view themselves as teacher leaders, then their college professors must introduce the idea, guide them to consider their possibility of leadership, and give them opportunities to develop leadership skills" (p. 293) Learning to lead while learning to teach can occur optimally during teacher preparation. Pre service teachers are able to develop a teacher leadership mindset from the beginning while under the tutelage of their education professors (Stench Bond, 2012) In addition to weaving leadership themes into the curriculum, teacher educators can use student professional organizations and their activities as a way for pre service teachers to learn about and develop leadership skills. Sugar and Waraen (2003) note that "many professional organizations exist to enhance the teaching profession and provide leadership opportunities for teachers" (p. 32) Active involvement in professional organizations during teacher preparation affords pre service teachers opportunities for developing leadership skills (Dozier, 2007) This study fills a gap in the literature and responds to a call for teachers to fulfill leadership roles (York Barr Duke, 2004) This study adds to two companion articles recently published. One article (Sterrett Bond, 2012) focuses on student leadership perspectives as they relate to the Kouzes and Posner (2012) framework, and the second examines teacher leadership and honorary professional organizations in education from the faculty advisor's perspective (Bond Sterrett, 2014)