Teacher leadership : Exploring islamiyat teachers' understanding of their role & their practices in leading their subject CT at a private school in Karachi
Date of Award
8-1-2008
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
This qualitative case study attempted to explore Islamiyat teachers' understanding and practice of their role as leaders of their subject in a private secondary school, Karachi, Pakistan. The data were collected by using interview, observation and document analysis methods. Two Islamiyat teachers (one was the coordinator and the other teacher) participated in this study as research participants. The study found that Islamiyat teachers, like other teachers, have the potential and expertise to be leaders, by playing multiple key leadership roles in the school context. The two Islamiyat teachers studied were found to be committed with and enthusiastic about the teaching profession, due to their interest, influence of their backgrounds and their beliefs, as they deliberately joined the teaching profession and wish to continue with it till the end of their lives, which is one of the indicators of teacher leaders. Furthermore, the two teachers were also found to be teacher leaders in terms of leading teaching and learning by being expert teachers and continuous learners, making decisions and solving problems at classroom as well as school level. The study also found that teacher leadership is enacted/practiced at two levels; formal and informal by coordinators and teachers respectively. It was evident that Islamiyat is an important subject in terms of exposing the students to the principles of their religion and imparting ethical education. However, parents give less importance to Islamiyat as a subject and do not acknowledge Islamiyat teachers' importance and efforts, which is discouraging and frustrating for the teachers. The implications of the findings for teachers and school are to recognize and advocate the notion of teacher leadership at school level, which may contribute to improve the status of the teaching profession. The insights gained from this study regarding Islamiyat teacher leadership can be seen as a significant addition to the existing body of knowledge in the field of educational leadership, as very little attention has so far been paid to this subject, which is a compulsory subject in schools in Pakistan.
Recommended Citation
Ahmad, S. (2008). Teacher leadership : Exploring islamiyat teachers' understanding of their role & their practices in leading their subject CT at a private school in Karachi (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.