The ‘willies’ of teacher leadership

This article follows Katie Ryan’s uneasy entry into a department leadership role and her shift from viewing leadership as an individual authority to a collective practice. Through a series of evolving department team meetings, Ryan illustrates how norms, shared agendas, and protected collaborative time can transform isolated teachers into a distributed leadership community. Drawing on research and lived experience, she argues that sustainable teacher leadership requires time, trust, and institutional support, not just titles or added responsibilities.