Title:
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A case study of successful teacher followership in a Hong Kong post-secondary school
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This seven-year research project analysed the teacher followership traits of a
high-performing school in Hong Kong and discussed how the experience may offer
some insight into successful teacher followership traits and teacher competencies.
The qualitative approach was adopted to examine the process of successful teacher
followership in a total of seven cases-six teachers and their school head-with
reference to the exemplary followership model suggested by Robert Kelley (1992).
The embedded case study was designed to identify the differences among three
award-winning teachers, three non-award-winning teachers, and their school head.
Analysis of the six successful teachers yielded four primary categories related to
successful teacher followership and teacher competencies: (a) successful followers are
primarily doers in their organization; (b) successful followers are primarily
lovers/caring to their students/customers; (c) more successful followers tend to be
learners in behaviour; (d) more successful followers tend to be hunters in personality. I
address implications for teacher followership, teacher competencies, leadership studies,
teacher education, and government policies concerning education as well as teacher
tl:aining. Data collection was mainly done by (a) questionnaires; (b) recorded
semi-structured interviews; (c) written documents; and (d) the researcher's four years
of reflection notes.
From the interviews and themes identified in the seven cases, it is suggested that
values rather than skills or knowledge are the key teacher competencies found in the
six successful teachers and their school leader/head. And these educators were not only
the doers: Most important, they were also the lovers, the learners, and the hunters in
their school. The followership and leadership experience in this high-performing
school may provide a good case for understanaing the dynamics of followership and
leadership as well as drawing the theoretical and practical implications for research,
policy formulation and implementation, not only in Hong Kong but also in other
international communities.
This study on successful teacher followership will tender some insight into leadership,
teacher professionalism, and school success.
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