Teacher leadership is a school improvement and professional development model that addresses the learning needs of both students and teachers. In modern times, the professional growth and development of teachers are critical to impart effective knowledge to students. The responsibility of teachers is to enhance the classroom experience of students, and school leaders are encouraging new teaching strategies that underpin teachers' professional development. This study focuses on teacher leadership and its impact on school improvement and effectiveness by developing leadership skills to amend the quality of education. The research highlights how schools are developing teacher leaders and their significance, along with the challenges associated with the concept. Effective leadership in academic institutions fosters a motivating and positive study culture, leading to high-quality experiences for learners.
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The concept of teacher leadership is now widely accepted and promoted in educational leadership areas as it is attributed to develop teacher's leadership role in developing school's achievement. The main aim of the concept is to promote student learning as well as school's overall development. Teacher leadership concept is considered as powerful since it improves quality of teaching through greater engagement and collaboration. According to Al-Zoubi et al. (2023), quality has gained considerable focus as a crucial element of contemporary management models. Apparently, teachers play crucial role in influencing student's learning; therefore, it is vital for teachers to upgrade their knowledge and skills not only to improve student's academic outcomes but also to become skilful and competent in teaching areas. As per the study of Pineda-Báez et al. (2019), in educational context teachers are regarded as those leaders who help students to accomplish academic outcomes through their beliefs and practices and in turn positively influences school's culture as well as educational operations.
Teacher Leadership is not about only empowering teachers, but it is more of enhancing teacher's ability to manage their leadership duties and practices (as that is the actual endeavour which leads teachers in becoming successful future leaders). Under the concept of teacher leadership, teachers implement modern and updated teaching strategies to shift the learning pattern from tradition to modern way; henceforth this helps the teachers to effectively improve classroom activities as well as overall learning process (Prenger et al., 2021). In this respect, the present research is attempted to analyse the concept of teacher leadership and how it leads to school improvement. There is a direct connection between teacher leadership and school effectiveness as when teachers deliver quality educational services to the students it eventually improves overall school's academic aspects.
In UAE, Ministry of Education is the only federal government body which is entitled to manage all educational affairs; hence traditional teaching methods have been replaced with modern classroom activities wherein students have more exposure to learn and develop. The UAE leaders in this area have established The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) in the year 2005 for the purpose of overseeing education in Abu Dhabi (Quirke, 2022). Afterwards, new standard based curriculum was introduced which improves problem solving and critical thinking ability. Apart from this, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was also initiated in which private educational companies were enlisted that improves student's academic outcomes. As per the PPP initiative, new textbooks and learning modules were introduced in all Abu Dhabi schools for improvising learning standards.
In the year 2010, ADEC launched New School Model which had updated curricula and teaching methods that enabled students to be more creative in their classroom exercises, to become critical thinkers and great problem solvers. Also under these reforms, teachers were viewed as leaders; henceforth they were accountable to manage their formal leadership roles by sharing their expertise in any respective area. Earlier, school principals were considered as the only sole leaders; however, with the emergence of teacher leadership concept, educators have been given the roles of leaders to meet the demand of improved education. Teachers being leaders stimulates excellence in practices and helps in improving the school aspects by embracing new academic aspects. In UAE, school leaders empower teachers and build collaborative working with them so that new reforms can be initiated to meet student's learning needs as well as to improve classroom experience (Baroudi, 2023). According to Alkaabi (2020), developing competent principals requires the support of experienced supervisors who can help them acquire leadership skills, enhance their professional development as instructional leaders, provide a clear sense of purpose, deliver a quality learning experience, and create opportunities for growth through both formal and informal learning activities (Alkaabi, 2021).