Transformational Classroom Leadership: Developing the Teacher Leadership Notion

The literature on teacher-leadership suggests that the notion has developed over time and some have argued that this development comprises three stages or ‘waves’ that progressively de-link the idea from the formal organizational hierarchy. The third wave emphasizes that teacher-leadership is a process rather than a positional concept and notes that \teacher-leaders tend to possess many of the characteristics of transformational leaders. The literature also suggests that third wave teacher-leaders are excellent classroom instructors. This paper described a Hong Kong study that explored the relationship between the exercise of transformational leadership in the university classroom and student perception of the quality of their classroom instruction. In a university setting, the results indicate that a fourth wave of teacherleadership could include transformational classroom leadership as one of the defining qualities of a teacher-leader.