Técnicas para el tratamiento de los datos biomecánicos

It is undeniable that even in the most restricted of settings; teachers are likely to be involved in a process of constant decision-making in their daily practice. This shown in the previous quotes in section 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 as teacher used their professional agency to cope with the difficulties they encountered inside and beyond their classrooms. When leadership roles are undertaken, this is likely to be amplified further. It is therefore unsurprising that the decisional skills appeared in

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the responses of seven out of nine participants. These skills are related to the administrative proficiencies of teachers in their teaching and learning processes, which can be grouped under the sub-themes in Table 11 of Managing, Controlling and Adapting.

Table 11: Decisional Skills

Participants reported in seven instances that teacher leaders should have skills that make them able to overcome difficulties and consider plans to solve problems and deal with their professional situations. Tariq notes that these are “specific skills” in his reflective essay, to do with organisation, planning and “taking initiative”. In short, they must become “managers” of their professional practice. Ali, in his focus group, provided very similar comments to Tariq, noting how teacher leaders need certain skills that enable them to succeed in “confronting obstacles” to solve problems. Similarly, Saleh reported that teacher leaders need

Sub-themes Data Evidence No. of Responses

Managing "need specific skills to taking initiative; Managing the work.” (Tariq, RE)

"teachers leaders need certain skills that enable them to succeed in confronting obstacles.” (Ali, FG)

7

Controlling “Is controller, needs skills for controlling the students

controlling everything.” (Khalid, Int)

8

Adapting “Teacher leaders are coping with difficulties and have

ways to overcome them.” (Saleh, Int)

" I deal with colleagues with their problem. we can share information with each other, yeah, we live in one school and share education. For example we meet to solve problems and putt strategies" (Ziad, RE)

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to be good at “coping with difficulties inside classroom and have ways to overcome them.”

Teacher leaders also have some skills that underpin their involvement and responsibility within their classes. Some of these responsibilities include having positive leadership qualities and strong competencies in classroom management and student discipline. Khalid in his interview mentioned the importance of “skills

for controlling the students”, which would include discipline, interpersonal skills

and organisation. Particularly striking is the recurrent use of the concept of “control” among eight of the nine participants. The following excerpt shows how the term is pervasive in the discourse of teacher leadership:

“The teacher leader is controller…controlling the students controlling everything, like… you know someone give you for example the work materials and you just applied. you have just follow know. You need to have skills of controlling everything. You have your point of views and you apply your methods as you like.”

(Khalid, Int)

The absence of colleagues and sharing roles from this depiction of control and controller is perhaps indicative of how individuals may take charge in the absence of formally acknowledged teacher leadership roles. Despite the potentially positive impact this practitioner may make, it will be argued that further collegiality is required and that working in silos should be avoided. This sense of individual control is also apparent in Thamer’s view of teacher leadership roles:

“This issue needs encouragement and enthusiasm, but the fact is that the teacher himself is the master of the situation in selecting teaching methodology and activities that enhances and goals.”

This on the one hand highlights the autonomous capacities of teachers; on the other hand, it draws attention to the need for a discourse of shared teacher leadership and development in this area, as will be discussed further in Chapter 6.

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A common feature of teaching, increased by the responsibilities of leadership, is that it requires professional practitioners to be adaptable, and able to cope with different people and unexpected situations. As Saleh said in his interview, the role includes “coping with difficulties” and possessing the skills and strategies to respond to them successfully. This means not only individual adaptability, but also being able to pool resources and co-operate with colleagues, which will have implications for strengthening and sharing control. Ziad in his reflective essay recalled how he and his fellow teachers “meet to solve problems” and develop strategies. This example of informal collaboration could demonstrate the professional capital teachers possess that would enable them to adapt to the implementation of a more formally acknowledged decision-making process that facilitates their leadership.

In the above findings and that relate to the first three questions with their lived experiences, participants have shown awareness about teacher leadership as a concept and the desired roles that relate to it. They also shown an eagerness to perceive themselves as teacher leaders and described this by pointing out different professional capitals that they see as necessary for teacher leaders. These necessary skills naturally also need the opportunity to flourish, and several factors might support or block teacher’s ability to take up or perform well in leadership roles. The section below therefore discusses the factors that the participants viewed as enabling or disempowering them in utilizing their human and decisional capital as teacher leaders in their schools.

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5.4 Factors enabling or disempowering teacher leadership