Gone are the days when teachers exerted a fascination on pupils, verging on worship. Ours are times when access to information and knowledge has been placed within the reach of our fingertips. No wonder then that the role and function of the school itself is under serious reconsideration. Whatever be the case, it is doubtful whether the time will ever come when schools or teachers will be supplanted altogether.

It should not be forgotten that, apart from its purely technical role of knowledge acquisition agency, the school is called upon to act, now more than ever, as an important socialization agency. What is certain, however, is that a thorough redefinition of the teacher’s assignment has become inevitable. Teachers must indulge in serious reflection on the issue instead of uselessly wasting their energies in finding escape goats for their nightmares.

All too often, teachers are locked in an isolating culture that consists in erecting barriers not only between themselves and administrators but also among themselves. A more collaborative professional culture, on the other hand, can encourage the exchange of ideas and mutual problem solving, thereby providing rich opportunities for the exercise of teacher leadership.

As Rosenholtz says, “Teachers’ beliefs about their own professional capacities are often eroded by taken-for-granted conditions of their work. These conditions include infrequent opportunities for teachers to receive feedback from credible colleagues about the quality of their practices as a consequence of isolated school cultures and ineffective supervisory practices”.

Although a great deal is known about the type of leadership exercised by administrators, much less is known about the type of leadership likely to be productive for teachers. Heads of departments and section leaders already exert formal leadership roles but these are most of the time of a transactional type.

What is required is a transformational orientation to school leadership where teachers learn to share their expertise, volunteering for new projects and bringing new ideas. It is an undeniable fact that each school is bound in its own specificity, which no expert coming from the exterior can understand thoroughly.

This explains the futility of “pronouncements” addressed to practitioners by well-intentioned foreign consultants. Within a school, teachers can offer leadership by helping their colleagues to carry out their classroom duties and by assisting in the improvement of classroom practice through the engagement of their colleagues in experimentation and the examination of more effective instructional techniques.

Is there a particular profile for the teacher leader? If we start with the assumption that leadership is learnable, the basic requirement is a strong commitment to the school, the profession and the welfare of the students.

Openness and honesty with colleagues and students combined with interpersonal and communication skills and a realistic sense of what is possible can make very successful leaders.

It would, of course, be the task of the authorities to help overcome some of the obstacles that inhibit the exercise of teacher leadership – extra-time for leadership functions, training and funding for leadership roles.