Teacher leaders’ brokerage practice in China: Impact on teacher learning in a school–university partnership

Abstract

School–university partnerships bring meaningful learning opportunities for teachers, and empowering teachers with leadership roles has become an important approach for teacher learning. This study shows how teacher leaders exercised brokerage practice to support teacher learning in one small-scale school–university partnership in China based on interview data from a university expert, three school management team members, eight master teachers and backbone teachers as teacher leaders, and nine teachers. The study discusses the significance of expanding the forms of teacher leadership with brokerage practices, examines the combination of professional and managerial roles embedded within teacher leaders’ brokerage, and addresses the issue of unequal distribution of learning opportunities. Implications are also discussed.