The Future of Education

The enactment of teacher leadership (TL) has its significance in the professional growth of teachers (Warren,2021). This could result in the enhancement of overall teacher effectiveness and capability, learner motivation and participation and consequently an increase in overall school performance (Bellibas et al., 2020). Professional development (PD) practices can be regarded as a tool of development, enabling teachers to enact TL to their full potential (Taylor et al., 2019). However, models of training used during PD for TL are often inadequate, insufficient, and frequently do not attain the required results (Grimm,2020).  The research question; what professional development practices can be implemented to enhance the enactment of teacher leadership, guided the research. The nature and structure of PD practices, as well as the limitations of current PD practices and features of effective PD practices for the enhanced enactment of TL, were identified. The researcher used a qualitative approach with a phenomenological research strategy, embedded in an interpretive paradigm.  Purposive sampling was used to select 12 participants from various schools in South Africa. Data were generated using individual, semi-structured interviews. Ethical clearance from the Ethics Committee of the North-West University and consent from the District Director of the education department, principals and participants were obtained. The significance of this research was rooted in the contribution towards determining professional development practices that could be implemented in schools to enhance the enactment of TL. The recommended practices could be employed by leaders responsible for the overall leadership and management of schools and departments of education to enhance the school’s culture and climate, teacher effectiveness and capability, learner motivation and participation, as well as overall school performance through distributive TL. Knowledge constructed from these findings is transferable, will contribute to current literature and research on the phenomenon, and could be applied in similar situations to enhance the enactment of TL.