Tips for teachers to cultivate their leadership skills

All teachers are leaders. It would be hard to argue with that statement, since teachers are the people who design and execute a vision for a classroom experience and guide students through it.

Increasingly, a subset of teachers are taking on collaborative roles with administrations and other forms of leadership within the education system. An evolving education system is resulting in the need – and opportunity – for classroom teachers to take on a variety of new leadership roles.

Today's teachers claim roles that used to be the exclusive purview of principals and other administrators. Some of these responsibilities include mentoring, leading teams to determine school curricula, and modeling instructional best practices.

For teachers interested in improving their leadership skills, what are the best steps to take? Here are some suggestions.

1. Work with a vision beyond hierarchies

Teachers should work with principals and other administrators to design and rate assessments that they believe truly measure learning in their classrooms.

2. Collaboration

Not all administrators will be open to collaborating with teachers, but the most insightful and thoughtful ones will. Your job as a future teacher-leader is to pursue the latter. Discuss school improvement projects you can work on together with the institution's staff and let the partnership take shape from there.

3. Find other teachers with the same ideas as you

The internet can be a powerful tool in building these networks, especially if you are not finding like-minded co-workers at your own school. Many professionals can offer advice, share practices and ideas that have worked in their own schools, and provide mentoring opportunities.

4. Demand education policies that support and prepare teachers

Teachers interested in taking on these leadership roles and seeing their colleagues do the same need to demand action from policymakers.