Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Teacher leadership always plays a very important role in the increasing of education reform initiatives around the world. The current teaching profession in Chinese education background is very challenging, and teachers must be prepared to deal with it. The role of teacher leadership in Chinese education reform continues to receive attention. The purpose of this study is to explore teachers’ perception of teacher leadership practice and the influence of gender, age, teacher education level, teaching experience, and other variables on teacher leadership practice in vocational schools. The Teacher Leadership School Survey (TLSS) developed by Katzenmeyer and Moller was administered to 157 teachers in the vocational schools in Shenyang City, located in Liaoning Province in North China. The results of descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance show that in the sample vocational schools, the frequency of teacher leadership practice is often. In addition, data analysis shows that teachers’ perceptions of teacher leadership practice vary significantly with age and teaching experience. The gender and education level of teachers were not significant factors. Finally, the data analysis concludes the strengths and weaknesses of teacher leadership in the specific practical activities of vocational schools. This study contributes to the main body of teacher leadership literature in the context of Chinese education through the investigation of professional teacher leadership. More specifically, the findings of this study could provide information to the education policymakers about the perceptions of teachers in vocational schools in China about teacher leadership practices.