Teachers are often seen as role models and leaders in their schools and communities. They play an invaluable role in guiding young minds and shaping the next generation. As leaders, they manage the complex demands of students (Richardson, 2025), influence colleagues, and liaise with parents and other key stakeholders.
Many teachers demonstrate key leadership traits every day in the classroom, whether it be through problem-solving, mentoring, or supporting student wellbeing. Managing students can also help foster leadership skills, such as resilience, empathy, and adaptability.
For teachers looking to pursue continuous learning to improve their leadership abilities, everyday experiences can be great informal learning opportunities. It’s also possible to expand expertise through formal programs like a Keuka College online MSW, which can deepen their understanding of human behaviour, advocacy, and student support services.
Why is leadership important for schools?
In Australia, the New South Wales Department of Education (2026) has published a paper on empowering teachers and inspiring confidence in public education. Its opening point was that a teacher’s ability to support every student in learning and growing is shaped by the leadership and support structures around them.
The summary outlines why effective leadership skills in teaching staff are crucial for the success of a school and students’ learning. Evidence from research cited in the paper includes:
- School leaders create the conditions for effective teaching and the school’s culture.
- Leaders play a crucial role in community engagement and school communication, influencing parent and carer confidence and school choice.
- Increased leadership effectiveness is associated with meaningful improvements for student outcomes.
- Strong leadership positively impacts students’ long-term success, influencing factors such as attendance, engagement, and behaviour.
The influence of leadership also goes beyond the classroom and students. Leadership influences how schools organise teaching and learning, and plays a critical role in fostering a positive working environment. These factors all play a role in teacher engagement and their decision to remain with a school.
When teachers feel valued by their peers in either leadership positions or by demonstrating leadership traits, they feel empowered and connected to their school’s purpose.
Why it matters for communities
The influence of leadership on schools goes beyond the front doors and gates. Leadership displayed by faculty staff, from the principal down to teachers, has an active influence on how the families of students and the broader community perceive a school. In turn, how a community perceives a school influences the trust the community has in the school and their decision on where to send their children.
When it comes to community, effective leadership requires educators to foster a positive, collaborative relationship with parents and carers, ensuring their voices are actively sought, heard, and used to inform education.
The lasting impact of teachers
Besides parents, there aren’t many people who will spend as much time with children as their teachers. This puts teachers in a unique position, where they’re present at almost every stage of life a person goes through until they reach adulthood. They play a formative role, teaching children hard and soft skills.
Research shows that almost three-quarters of Australians (73%) believe that their teachers have had a positive impact on their lives (Teachers Health, 2022). Teachers also play a crucial role in teaching noncognitive skills (soft skills), which are crucial for workplace success later in life.
How do teachers demonstrate leadership?
As a profession, teachers have the chance to demonstrate leadership in almost every facet of the role. From interacting with students to liaising with teachers and formulating lessons with colleagues, there’s an opportunity for teachers to demonstrate leadership in all their duties.
When it comes to interacting with students, a teacher’s leadership position is inherent to the student-educator dynamic. Teachers often act as role models for students to follow in the footsteps of, as well as being the direct source of new knowledge and information.
Research has shown that intentional modelling can be an effective way to teach morals and virtues to students in a classroom (Sanderse, 2024). By demonstrating consistent and clear leadership, a teacher may be able to pass these on to students through emulation and modelling.
The value of lifelong learning
Lifelong learning, also known as ongoing learning or continued learning, is critical for professional development in every industry. In education, it ensures teachers are up to date with the curriculum and best practice.
Lifelong learning will look different for every individual, depending on their goals. For example, the pathway for an individual looking to climb the career ladder may differ from someone who is just looking to learn complementary soft skills.
For teachers looking to build on their leadership skills or shift into a leadership position, higher education provides a great learning opportunity. It’s also possible to enhance your noncognitive skills (including those associated with leadership) through self-reflection after everyday experiences.
Learning from everyday experiences
Teaching is a unique job where no 2 classes or 2 students are the same. This provides plenty of opportunity for a professional to learn from everyday experiences through critical thinking and self-reflection. Self-reflection, itself, is a vital component of critical thinking – a noncognitive skill that allows an individual to evaluate a situation, acquire and filter through information, recognise their own gaps in knowledge, and make an informed decision.
Some experts describe critical thinking as an ‘intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualising, applying, analysing, synthesising, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication’ (Chisum & Turvey, 2011).
For teachers, employing critical thinking skills in a classroom setting by observing students, their behaviour, and evaluating the information acquired, is an opportunity to both better understand students and, at the same time, learn how to become the best possible educators, and our best selves.
For more information on the Keuka College online MSW, visit our website.
References
Chisum, W.J., and Turvey, B.E. (2011). Practice standards for the reconstruction of crime. Crime Reconstruction, 91-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386460-4.00005-9
NSW Department of Education. (2026). Why effective leadership in every school matters: Empowering teachers and inspiring confidence in public education. School Leadership Institute. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/school-leadership-institute/research/effective-school-leadership
Richardson, K. (2025, August). What do teacher leaders do? Learning Forward. The Professional Learning Association. https://learningforward.org/journal/maximizing-resources/what-do-teacher-leaders-do/
Sanderse, W. (2024). The intersection of teacher modelling and student emulation in moral education. On Education. Journal for Research and Debate, 7(19). https://doi.org/10.17899/on_ed.2024.19.5
Teachers Health. (2022, October 28). Australian teachers leave long-lasting positive impact, new research shows. https://www.teachershealth.com.au/newsroom/media-releases/australian-teachers-leave-long-lasting-positive-impact-new-research-shows/
