Teacher leaders and policy making: Examining access, influence, and boundaries

Teacher leadership is framed as participatory governance, yet teacher leaders (TLs) may remain implementers rather than authorized co-deciders. This qualitative study examines TLs’ participation in school-level policy making through three governance dimensions: access, influence, and boundary crossing. Findings from semi-structured interviews with 20 classroom TLs suggest that access is managed through selective invitation, service-based entry, and informal corridor decision circuits, shaping where TLs can exert influence. Consequently, influence concentrates in low-stakes pedagogical domains and is often diluted or reversed during formal approval as issues become more sensitive and consequential. Under such conditions, boundary regulation tightens, producing performative participation and self-silencing.