ABSTRACT
Drawing on a series of research studies of teachers’ professional learning and leadership in Canada, this chapter outlines five key reflections for teacher-led educational improvement. First, the development of humanity—the adults working in our schools and the students and communities they serve—should be the core purpose of educational improvement. This involves prioritising attention to developing and honouring people in the policies, processes and intended outcomes of schooling. Second, realising educational improvement requires a new form of collaborative professionalism which values and includes the voices of all involved in the education system through new ways of working committed to genuinely developing mutual respect and reciprocal influence. Third, central to such changes is the intentional development of teachers’ evidence-informed professional judgement combining and championing their knowledge, expertise, experiences and evidence. Fourth, enabling teachers to make their tacit knowledge explicit, to share their knowledge and to lead the de-privatisation of teaching practices is vital. Finally, to move from individually initiated but sometimes isolated improvements, a culture and infrastructure to support co-creation, mobilisation, adaptation and contextualisation of professional knowledge through networks and across education systems is required.
