The Role of Motivation to Lead in Teacher Leadership

Abstract

While there is consensus that teacher leadership plays an important role in school development, it is often unclear what exactly teacher leadership requires. However, there is limited understanding regarding the driving forces that impact the rise and progression of teacher leadership within the Turkish educational framework. The objective of this study is to analyze the perspectives of teachers concerning the significance of motivation in relation to their capacity to assume leadership roles within the teaching profession. Phenomenological design, which is one of the qualitative research methods was used in this study. The data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers selected with purposive sampling method. The driving forces that affect teachers’ transition from a teaching role to a leadership role in the emergence of teacher leadership were examined on the basis of the "Motivation to Lead Model" of Chan and Drasgow (2001). The research findings partially supported the claims that professional tendencies in the teaching profession might transform into teacher leadership. While the findings of the research partially supported the previous research results on motivation in teacher leadership, they largely explained the importance of motivation to lead in teacher leadership. A number of recommendations have been made to researchers and education policymakers that take individual differences in teacher leadership into account to maximize investment in leadership education and development.