| In the United States and the United Kingdom, two policy stances were developed in response to global change: policies for standardization, accountability, and assessment; and policies for capacity building and good practices. Teacher leadership is a reform strategy in the second stance. It postulates that teachers should become leaders in curriculum, instruction, school restructuring and professional development. This study is an attempt to explore teacher's leadership over their professional development in the Chinese Mainland.;As the New Curriculum Reform proceeds to its second stage, the key roles played by teachers in curriculum implementation are increasingly recognized by policy makers and researchers. As a result, teacher professional development has become the focus of a series of major policies, projects and plans. However, are teachers empowered by such measures, especially by officially sanctioned institutionalized learning? From the perspective of teacher leadership, this study attempts to examine the teachers' role in training and to explore the possibility of a teacher-led professional development. In this study, teacher-led professional development refers to (1) teachers' self-direction and autonomy over their own professional growth, and (2) teacher leaders' influence over the professional community. The major research questions of this study are: (1) What are the power relations between the state, university professors and school teachers? In the context of power relations, what is teacher leadership? (2) What kind of teacher leadership exists in the Chinese schools? (3) What are the obstacles that prevent teachers from leading? What conditions are necessary for teachers to genuinely own their professional development?;In order to answer the above questions, documentation research and field research was conducted at state, provincial, municipal, district and school levels. Documentation research warranted content analysis of relevant policies and field research warranted observations and interviews in two schools.;This study argues that the existing system of teacher professional development in the Chinese Mainland is power-coercive, and formal teacher leadership was characterized by hierarchy, meritocracy and instrumentalism all of which have a negative impact on teacher professional development. The state performs multiple roles as reformer, monopolizer, legislator and enforcer. To implement the New Curriculum, "technologies of power" are employed and they form a tight control over the process of continuing teacher education. University professors have a relatively smaller impact on teachers as their effects on school reform are dubious. Teachers feel deprofessionalized and powerless in most institutionalized training which offer no choice and autonomy. Confronted by the state's monopoly of power, distorted professional values, weak professional awareness, and weak support from school leader, teacher leadership faces strong challenges. The finding of this study suggest that in order for teacher leadership to emerge, four conditions are necessary: delegation of power to school and teacher, reconstruction of professional values, more support from school leaders to teacher leaders, and a collaborative teacher culture. |
