Exploring teacher leadership for professional learning in response to educational disruption in Qatar

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore the way teacher leadership for professional learning was manifested during the disruption to education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were recruited from three public and three private schools in Qatar, and included a total of 12 primary teachers and six school principals. A phenomenological research design was employed using interviews for data collection. The analysis of the data revealed eleven themes distributed across the five principles of leadership for learning, used as the theoretical framework in the study. Findings revealed participants’ engagement in many instances of leadership practices, which were focused on learning in the broadest sense, thus encompassing student learning, their own professional learning, and the learning of other teachers in their schools and communities. However, several factors emerged as constraining teacher leadership for learning in the different school contexts, which carry important implications for educational leaders, teachers, and systems in the aftermath of the pandemic.