An Integral Analysis of One Urban School System's Efforts to Support Student-Centered Teaching

Introduction

The current political climate of accountability, performance, and achievement in the province of Alberta, Canada, has placed greater emphasis on increased high school completion rates as a measure of student success (Alberta Education, 2009). Today Alberta secondary schools are not only being held responsible for raised completion rates and student outcomes in compliance with government expectations, but, due to an increased public demand, for more efficient schools and school leaders as well (Wright & Marianicz, 2014). This pressure has created a shift in the core work of school leaders toward a deeper focus on high quality educational experiences that promote the development of qualities and competencies central to learning and life (Slater, 2008).

Today, the term school leader does not only refer to a principal or assistant principal of a school, but also includes those teacher leaders employed to lead the instructional and managerial work of a subject department. These teacher leaders have many titles, such as curriculum leader, department head, pastoral lead, or middle manager, but for the purpose of this study are referred to as learning leaders. The definition of a learning leader employed throughout is a teacher who undertakes formal leadership roles that have both managerial and pedagogical responsibilities, and include leading a subject area team and fulfilling expectations and goals as directed by the school principal. This definition was designed by examining and blending characterizations of similar formalized teacher leadership positions recognized within western countries (Aubrey-Hopkins & James, 2002; Busher & Harris, 1999; Fitzgerald, 2009; Turner, 2007; Weller, 2001).

Learning leaders, as formal teacher leaders, now have to manage the increasing expectations and often competing demands of a rapidly changing educational system. As a result, the scope of the learning leader’s role has expanded to include monitoring and coaching duties, contributions to school policy, the development of professional relationships, improvement of teacher practices, and the encouragement of a liaison between staff and principal. The learning leader is now expected to function as an agent of change, as the emerging needs of today’s students, school leadership and teaching strategies will require practices that are “engaging, motivating, appropriately challenging, varied and differentiated” (Stoll, 2009, p. 120).

Secondary schools in the province of Alberta, Canada, follow a hierarchical structure consisting of a principal, one or two assistant principals depending on the size of the school, and a team of learning leaders who support the work of teachers, who are typically organized by a subject, pastoral, or specialized program grouping. The formalized leadership position of learning leaders is often a one-year term, sometimes selected by a committee through a competitive formal review process, and other times appointed by the school principal. The roles and the delegated responsibilities of the learning leaders in secondary schools are diverse, often complex, and can vary widely according to country, department, school, and urban location (Weller, 2001).

Course content and subject areas dominate high school teaching, which in turn creates an organizational structure of departments staffed with teachers trained and designated to be subject experts. Harris (2000) describes the secondary school department structure as an “important missing link in school improvement” (p. 1), noting that the lack of research focused at the level of the department is unfortunate as its organization has a significant impact on teacher practice and student learning. In the high school system the department, as the hub for subject, curriculum, or program areas, requires a leader at the helm to organize and supervise the work being carried out. Learning leaders fulfil this function and, in doing so, are accountable to the school principal for the work of the staff in their specific area of responsibility (Busher, Hammersley-Fletcher, & Turner, 2007). The scope and extent of the learning leaders’ responsibility is defined and observed by the school principal (Hammersley-Fletcher & Brundett, 2008).