Teaching Leadership Theory: Connotation, Development And Evaluation

At present, basic education curriculum reform in our country has entered a new stage, which would inevitably usher in major changes in school management ideas and manners. A school is an educational organization, with teaching as fundamental way to realize its mission. School activities rotate with teaching and effective teaching requires effective leadership.Differ from administrative leadership, curriculum leadership, and administrative management, instructional leadership is an open, shared and democratic activity co-performed by education government, principals, teachers and other teaching related staff to pursue educational objectives, optimize teaching system, cultivate instructional culture, explore students’ potential and promote teachers’ professional development by joint efforts in school development vision planning, teaching assisting system providing and teaching activity administration, inspection and evaluation.From the very end of last century, several researchers have established understandable instructional leadership behavior mode. In general, instructional leaders are supposed to set up teaching objectives, cultivate amiable school environment, assisting in teaching activity, inspect teaching efficiency, promote teachers’professional development and students’ academic achievements.Instructional leadership theory is promoted by effective school movement and school administration, influenced by modern leadership theory like transformational leadership, moral leadership and distributed leadership and experienced three phrases: arising, subsiding and thriving again.Instructional leadership is based on instruction activity, with profession orientation instead of administration orientation as its value pursue; instructional leadership is of education nature and transformed from controlled administration to educational administration, which provide a new perspective in educational leadership theory research and practice.Instructional leadership is by no means of no limitations and will face several obstacles in theory cognition and practice. To apply those new leadership ideas into primary and secondary school teaching practice, shared contributions are required to optimize leadership procedure, reasonably arrange time for instructional leadership, renew traditional leadership perspectives, enforce shared leadership, and improve leadership evaluation system. Develop sustainable teaching culture, establish learning community and cultivate supportive teaching environment.