By Daniel APRIL and Anna Cristina D’ADDIO, GEM Report In classrooms across the globe, teachers do far more than deliver lessons. They spark curiosity, nurture creativity, and create communities of learning. Many also step into leadership roles, mentoring colleagues, shaping school culture, and building bridges with families and communities. The 2024/5 GEM Report on leadership […] The post Unlock teacher leadership through collaboration in schools appeared first on World Education Blog.
By Daniel APRIL and Anna Cristina D’ADDIO, GEM Report
In classrooms across the globe, teachers do far more than deliver lessons. They spark curiosity, nurture creativity, and create communities of learning. Many also step into leadership roles, mentoring colleagues, shaping school culture, and building bridges with families and communities. The 2024/5 GEM Report on leadership in education, along with its regional editions for Latin America (Lead for Democracy) and East Asia (Lead for Technology), highlight an essential truth: teaching is, at its core, a collaborative profession. Schools thrive when teachers are recognised and supported as leaders.
“After collaborating with staff and learners and making everyone feel part of the decision makers, we noticed that the teachers and learners were now working towards a certain goal. Teachers have taken up different responsibilities and we understand our roles in school. We are also getting positive feedback from parents and all stakeholders,” said Vincent Kioka, a school principal in Kenya.
The GEM Report called for policies on shared school leadership to be improved. Yet the PEER country profiles on leadership developed alongside the report showed that only half of countries emphasize teacher collaboration in their leadership standards. And barely one third of leadership programmes focused on developing school leaders’ preparedness to share responsibilities through openness, collaboration and partnerships.
This blog outlines four key ways in which teachers can help collaborate as leaders within schools.
Leadership that connects
Teacher leaders build connections within schools and with families. Whether mentoring peers, guiding school initiatives, or supporting students, they strengthen collaboration with whole school communities important for students’ learning and wellbeing.
In Latin America, teachers are invited to collaborate through school management boards for instance, with formal structures in place to support their involvement. In Cuba, teachers called profesor guía meet with community members to help students learn and grow. In Ecuador, course or grade tutors also serve as vital links between students, teachers, and school leadership.
In mainland China, teacher leaders have also been found to successfully bridge formal leadership and classroom teaching helping build a positive school climate. When teachers are enabled as leaders, they thrive. Evidence shows that leaders who excel in inter-school collaboration can empower teachers.
Pedagogical leadership
Most of us think about teachers’ leadership in teaching and learning. In many Latin American countries, however, teachers are not just teaching, but also managing teachers. Out of 17 countries studied, 12 officially give teachers responsibility for supervising teaching and supporting both classroom practices and school operations. In Costa Rica and Nicaragua, teacher leaders monitor pedagogical processes and ensure effective use of resources, bridging classroom practice and school management.
In Japan, 96% of school management teams appoint a department head, allowing teachers to help shape instructional decisions. Moreover, ‘GIGA Leaders’ promote digital innovation in schools and help teachers integrate technology into pedagogy. In China, the White Paper on Smart Education 2025 assigns teachers ‘new roles and missions’ to lead digital learning and innovation in schools.
Mentoring and professional growth
Teacher leaders also nurture professional growth as seen in Guatemala and Uruguay. Sometimes teachers’ influence on other teachers’ professional experience can exceed that of instructional and middle-leaders, as seen in Hong Kong. The way they support colleagues’ development can vary. In the Republic of Korea, teachers take on multiple middle leadership roles to guide technology-mediated lessons and assessments, developing school-specific implementation strategies, mentoring peers, and serving as trainers in local professional development programmes.
One way that this leadership can be recognised is through appraisal processes. In Uruguay, teacher evaluations consider the extent to which teachers take initiative, prioritise teamwork, and contribute to school development. They act as an incentive for teachers to embrace leadership roles.
Influencing curriculum and governance
When teachers collaborate, they add critical insights into school governance. According to OECD TALIS 2018, teachers sit on school boards in 81% of countries globally, alongside parents, students and community members. With their expertise and insights, teacher leaders contribute to making schools more inclusive, innovative, and responsive to the needs of all learners.
In Latin America, school management boards include teachers in all countries, though their level of influence varies. In Colombia and Paraguay, teachers co-decide on resource allocation, whereas in Brazil and Costa Rica, principals or management teams lead on those choices. Beyond the school walls, teacher leaders also engage with governments, communities, and experts, ensuring that education policies are inclusive and improve school programmes.
In the Republic of Korea, meanwhile, teachers are influencing curriculum and governance by tailoring AI-powered digital textbooks to meet their classroom requirements and actively contributing to the implementation of nationwide digital education initiatives.
Challenges and the path forward
Despite significant progress, challenges remain. Teachers often face unclear responsibilities, limited recognition, and insufficient support. Even where leadership structures exist, policymakers tend to underestimate teachers’ influence and contributions, as seen in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. Moreover, pre-service programmes rarely include leadership training, and opportunities for ongoing development in management and collaboration remain uneven.
In East Asia, our research found other challenges. In Japan, less than 20% of teachers have autonomy over teaching materials, course offerings, student assessment, or discipline, restricting their classroom leadership. In the Republic of Korea, new AI-powered digital textbooks and nationwide digital education initiatives require teachers to rapidly develop technology skills, which can create additional pressure and workload.
Principals play a crucial role in empowering teachers, but inconsistent support and lack of methods for teachers to demonstrate leadership can limit the impact they can have. In some cases, teacher leaders are encouraged: the 2019 Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE) showed that two out of three principals in Latin America reported actively encouraging collaboration among teachers, for example, rising to above 80% of principals in countries such as Argentina, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
In Colombia, however, research found that even if teacher leaders have been shown to have important roles in schools, they frequently lack formal career pathways, often exerting influence through their teaching rather than through hierarchical positions. In Mexico, schools tend to operate effectively without designated formal leaders, instead relying on small, dedicated teams of teachers who prioritise collaboration and building strong interpersonal relationships.
Celebrating teacher leadership
This International Teachers’ Day, we celebrate teachers who lead, formally and informally, by shaping learning environments, guiding colleagues and building communities of trust. Supporting teachers with training, establishing clear responsibilities, and inclusive decision-making processes ensure that schools remain spaces of growth for both students and educators. Collaboration is not an empty word; it is the very heart of teacher leadership. When teachers are empowered to lead, classrooms become places of shared growth, innovation, and democratic engagement.
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