An exploration of how hosts of Master Teacher Studios (MTSs) enact teacher leadership in promoting cross-school teacher learning in Zhejiang Province, China /

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Student Theses

2022

Zhang, Meng

Thesis

The study was initiated because of the pragmatic and conceptual gaps identified in understanding teacher leadership for professional learning in China. This study investigated how MTS hosts perceive and enact their leadership to promote cross-school teacher learning in the Chinese context. The following sub-questions were developed: 1. What are the stated purposes and proposed procedures of establishing MTSs in policy documents? 2. What are the learning journeys of these master teachers and how are they selected to be MTS hosts? 3. How do these MTS hosts frame their roles as teacher leaders and enact their leadership to promote cross-school teacher learning? 4. How do MTS hosts contribute to the professional capital of their studio members by organizing cross-school teacher learning?A qualitative narrative strategy was adopted. Through narrative, stories of MTS hosts were told and interpreted. Eight MTSs from multiple levels (provincial-, city-, and district levels) from Zhejiang province were selected through purposive sampling. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight MTS hosts and 23 MTS members. The interview data were coded together with data collected by documents and observations. The present study has four major findings addressing the four research questions.First, the major purposes of establishing MTSs in policy documents were found to include maximising the leading and exemplary role of master teachers; developing high-quality teacher teams and teacher echelons, fostering research and learning communities for teachers, and enhancing teaching-research practices and school quality. The processes of establishing and running an MTS were identified as selecting MTS hosts, selecting MTS members, establishing MTSs, operating the MTSs, and evaluating MTSs’ performances.Second, the strong motivation for self-improvement, the first public presentation on a visible stage and the first encounter with guiren, and gaining more opportunities and being recognised by higher-level senior teachers were summarised as critical incidents for the MTS hosts in the early, middle, and mature career phases respectively.Third, the MTS hosts enacted different leadership behaviours according to different role perceptions. As mentors, they supported teachers professionally, morally, and in life. As administrators, they facilitated teachers’ goal setting and planned their career development, motivated them to complete their goals, and administered studio affairs. As connectors, they liaised with multiple stakeholders to seek resources. The MTS hosts were classified as four divergent types (i.e., complete hosts, detached hosts, committed hosts, and reactive hosts) according to the resources they could manipulate and their levels of commitment to leading the MTS.Fourth, the MTS hosts’ leadership practices influenced their studio members’ professional learning by contributing to the accumulation of the teachers’ professional capital. The manifests of human capital, social capital, and decision capital were developed combined with the fieldwork data and the framework of professional capital developed by Professor Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan (2012).The major findings were interpreted further around three key concepts: teacher learning, teacher leadership, and professional capital. Ten propositions were constructed to gain a deep understanding of teacher-led professional learning in the Chinese context

LG51.H43 Dr 2022eb Zhangm

https://educoll.lib.eduhk.hk/records/fK4gc5Nu