Examining Teacher and Teacher Educator Perspectives of Teacher Leadership in Extensive Support Needs

Teachers of students with extensive support needs (ESN) often perform many leadership-related tasks, such as supervising paraprofessionals or advocating school wide for student accessibility and inclusion. While teacher leadership has received considerable attention in research and practice, much of the attention has resided in general education and on formal pathways toward increased responsibility in the school. In this study, the authors explored the perspective and experiences related to teacher leadership competencies of both teachers and teacher educators in the field of ESN in one midwestern state. Teachers reported high confidence and moderate to high engagement in each of the competencies, contrasted with self-reported low coverage of many related topics in their teacher training programs. Teacher educators perceived the competencies as highly relevant to the teaching position and generally held moderate to high confidence in their program coverage and their student preparation to perform the related activities.