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Teachers leading change in Singapore primary schools : a grounded theory of change engagement
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Type
Thesis
Author
Nguyen, Thanh Dong
Supervisor
Ng, David Foo Seong
Williams, J. Patrick,
Abstract
Teacher leadership has been established as one of the core leadership models in the field of educational leadership and management. Research on teacher leadership has developed considerably over a period of three decades. A contemporary and systematic review (see Chapter 2) found at least 383 peer-reviewed articles relevant to teacher leadership published between year 2003 and year 2016. However, this review identified quite a number of noticeable gaps for future empirical research on teacher leadership. The current empirical study was conducted to address one of the review’s calls, i.e., to conceptualize how teacher leaders initiate change and engage peers in implementing that change.
The current study adopts a grounded theory methodology for the purpose of theory building. The data comprised 38 individual interviews with teachers and school leaders, field notes from 50 days of participant observation in four schools, 3 focus group interviews with teachers, and email exchanges. Data collection and analysis were concurrently conducted in six iterative stages over approximately 27 months. Employing a theoretical sampling strategy, the author analyzed data in each stage prior to gathering data in the subsequent stage. Generally, the essentials of data analysis included three main interactive tasks: coding, constant comparison, and frequent memo writing.
The key outcome of this study is a grounded theory of change engagement that describes and explains the process of how teachers engage their peers in planning, implementing, and promoting educational initiatives in their school. The proposed theory comprises four interrelated concepts (i.e., persuasion, modelling, collaboration, and trust) and is presented in the form of a parsimonious model and theoretical propositions. Persuasion, modelling, and collaboration represent three stages while trust plays a central role in the entire process of change engagement.
The current study hopes to advance conceptual understandings of leading teacherinitiated change in the school setting. Equally importantly, it seeks to provide teachers a referential framework, drawn from scientific enquiry, on how to engage peers in change.
The current study adopts a grounded theory methodology for the purpose of theory building. The data comprised 38 individual interviews with teachers and school leaders, field notes from 50 days of participant observation in four schools, 3 focus group interviews with teachers, and email exchanges. Data collection and analysis were concurrently conducted in six iterative stages over approximately 27 months. Employing a theoretical sampling strategy, the author analyzed data in each stage prior to gathering data in the subsequent stage. Generally, the essentials of data analysis included three main interactive tasks: coding, constant comparison, and frequent memo writing.
The key outcome of this study is a grounded theory of change engagement that describes and explains the process of how teachers engage their peers in planning, implementing, and promoting educational initiatives in their school. The proposed theory comprises four interrelated concepts (i.e., persuasion, modelling, collaboration, and trust) and is presented in the form of a parsimonious model and theoretical propositions. Persuasion, modelling, and collaboration represent three stages while trust plays a central role in the entire process of change engagement.
The current study hopes to advance conceptual understandings of leading teacherinitiated change in the school setting. Equally importantly, it seeks to provide teachers a referential framework, drawn from scientific enquiry, on how to engage peers in change.
Date Issued
2018
Call Number
LB2806.15 Ngu
Date Submitted
2018