Calling all Teacher Leaders

Are you interested in becoming a mentor or coach, serving as a teacher leader, or formally influencing school policy? You are not alone. In a recent survey of 1,000 teachers, 87% said they wanted to become a mentor or coach, 83% said they wanted to become a teacher leader, and 96% said they wanted to have the ability to influence school policy (Ippolito & Bean, 2024). Becoming a teacher leader means learning to facilitate and promote a collaborative culture among administrators, teachers, and students to solve problems, create and modify common goals, and drive meaningful change. You will also help the school create a culture of inclusivity, where all perspectives are welcomed, by taking time to understand the different ethnicities, backgrounds, and cultures of the school (Doraiswamy et al., 2022). Above all, you will learn the four key mindsets that all teacher leaders and academic coaches share: thinking like a leader, designer, advocate, and facilitator (Ippolito & Bean, 2024). Becoming a teacher leader is a fulfilling and rewarding career move that has many benefits for the teacher leader and the school.

Why should You Become a Teacher Leader?

Did you know that becoming a teacher leader will actually make you a better teacher? Many teacher leaders have reported that their role not only improved their class instruction but also their professionalism and sense of empowerment. Furthermore, teacher leadership has been shown to increase teacher satisfaction and decrease teacher turnover rates (Ippolito & Bean, 2024). It is apparent that teacher leaders tend to feel more heard and seen in their schools, which increases their job satisfaction and makes them more willing to stay at their schools. For a school, the collaboration that teacher leaders facilitate offers personal, professional, and social benefits for school staff, including greater social support, enhanced confidence, and teachers using better pedagogical practices (Karbalaei & Arefian, 2026). This means that teacher leaders are helping teachers become more effective in their classrooms, which improves student outcomes. Teacher leadership also helps create an innovative school culture by emphasizing community building, learning and development, educational quality, and operational planning (Jakavonyte-Staškuviene et al., 2023). The more innovative a school is, the more exciting it is a place to be. In an innovative school, meaningful changes are continually made to the curriculum, and there are teaching approaches that are up-to-date and reflective of teachers’ strengths.

Overcoming Challenges to Becoming a Teacher Leader

Unfortunately, there will be challenges to becoming a teacher leader. Many schools have environments characterized by individualism, autonomy, and isolation (Ippolito & Bean, 2024). This means that teacher leaders can sometimes find themselves promoting collaboration in an environment where teachers are often expected to be autonomous. It might not happen overnight, but building a collaborative environment is possible, especially with increased support. In order to make sure that teacher leaders are successful schools need to reduce teaching loads for teacher leaders so that they have more time to facilitate collaboration, embed teacher leadership training into school improvement plans to make sure that teacher leaders are up to date on current best practices, and provide stipends for teacher leaders to give them encouragment to do an outstanding job (Fancera & An, 2025). Schools also need to make it easier for teacher leaders to engage in power structures by giving them the authority to make crucial decisions and foster a sense of responsibility in the school by allowing teacher leaders to do things like lead professional development sessions in areas of need that they have identified through school data (Reid et al., 2025). What kind of support do you think your school would have to implement in order for you to become a successful teacher leader?

References

Alireza Karbalaei, & Mohammad Hossein Arefian. (2026). Fostering preservice and novice EFL teacher leadership through collaborative reflections: A narrative phenomenology. PROFILE: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 28(1), 37–54. 

Doraiswamy, N., Wilson, G. M., C., Tuttle, N., Porter, K., & Czajkowski, K. (2022). Teacher leader model standards in context: analyzing a program of teacher leadership development to contextualize teacher leaders’ behaviors. European Journal of Educational Management, 5(1), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.12973/eujem.5.1.49

Fancera & An. (2025). Promoting and supporting teacher leaders: The potential of targeted professional development. Research in Educational Administration & Leadership, 10(4), 946–981. 

Ippolito, J., & Bean, R. M. (2024). The power of instructional coaching in context: A systems view for aligning content and coaching. Guilford Publications.

Jakavonyte-Staškuviene, D., & Barkauskiene, A. (2023). Transformative teacher leadership experiences in schools in creating an innovative educational culture: the case of Lithuania. Cogent Education, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2196239
Joshua W. Reid, Allison B. Hardee, Brett A. Criswell, Melody Elrod, Steven B.

Berryhill, & Gregory T. Rushton. (2025). Empowering teacher leaders: The role of research in changing teacher leaders’ sense of themselves as professionals. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 28(4), 758–801. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2022.2045629