Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Hutchinson, Anna E.
Language:	English
Published:	University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK 2020
Subjects:	Education teacher leadership professional identity teacher leader organizational behavior STEM teacher identity
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1581333163812174

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin15813331638121742021-08-03T07:13:46Z Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders Hutchinson, Anna E. Education teacher leadership professional identity teacher leader organizational behavior STEM teacher identity The professional identity of an educator frames one’s decision making as they navigate within K-12 systems. A teacher’s ability to contribute to the profession of teaching and learning creates teacher leaders who experience a renewal of skill development, increased engagement, and the transfer of knowledge in building a culture of collaboration, commitment, and shared leadership. When opportunities for teacher leadership are lacking, teachers become isolated within K-12 systems, disenchanted with teaching, and disengaged from the teaching profession. The problem will persist if conditions for educator development are incremental and isolated (Fullan, Galluzzo, Morris, & Watson, 1998). Using professional identity as a conceptual framework for teacher leadership, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate how the development of professional identity of 17 STEM teacher leaders form within embedded organizational structures of leadership activities. A case study was conducted to accomplish the purpose of understanding how experienced STEM teacher leaders perceived teacher leadership and how their professional identity was influenced as a teacher leader by their interactions within organizational structures of teacher leadership support. Qualitative research methods including semistructured interviews, online surveys, and program and district documents, were used to obtain narratives of the professional identity of seventeen participants. Data were analyzed using the analytical framework of York-Barr and Duke’s (2004) dimensions of practice to understand the influences organizational factors of beliefs, contexts, and activities have on the development of STEM teacher professional identity. The study yielded evidence that (a) perceptions of teacher leadership are dependent upon self-efficacy, agency, skills, dispositions, and content knowledge within K-12 systems; (b) interactions within K-12 systems develop skills and dispositions for operating as effective teacher leaders; and (c) effective professional development is a result of being aligned to personal and professional growth goals that increase awareness of professional identity. This research identified connections between organizational structures and professional identity of experienced teachers. Findings may facilitate an understanding of the factors that mitigate teacher professional identity. Findings may also assist in implementing systematic professional development for experienced teachers and provide an alternate view for teacher educator programs to utilize knowledge from veteran STEM educators to strengthen pre-service teacher education. 2020-06-02 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1581333163812174 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1581333163812174 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Education teacher leadership professional identity teacher leader organizational behavior STEM teacher identity
spellingShingle	Education teacher leadership professional identity teacher leader organizational behavior STEM teacher identity Hutchinson, Anna E. Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders
author	Hutchinson, Anna E.
author_facet	Hutchinson, Anna E.
author_sort	Hutchinson, Anna E.
title	Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders
title_short	Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders
title_full	Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders
title_fullStr	Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders
title_full_unstemmed	Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders
title_sort	perceptions of teacher leadership: the influence of organizational structure on the professional identity of urban stem teacher leaders
publisher	University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
publishDate	2020
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1581333163812174
work_keys_str_mv	AT hutchinsonannae perceptionsofteacherleadershiptheinfluenceoforganizationalstructureontheprofessionalidentityofurbanstemteacherleaders
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Perceptions of Teacher Leadership: The Influence of Organizational Structure on the Professional Identity of Urban STEM Teacher Leaders

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