Chapter 7: Teacher Leadership in Chile: Opportunities to Develop Professional Policy Frameworks

A significant proportion of Chilean teachers hold both formal and informal leadership roles. Specifically, formally recognized positions such as principals, vice principals, mediator, and academic coordinator (in Chile: Heads of the Technical Pedagogical Units). These teachers with formal management positions represent 7.5% of the total teaching population. Additionally, teachers with other functions besides teaching account for approximately 30,987, representing 12.3% of the total. Given this scenario, there is an opportunity to distribute school leadership in Chile, as teachers’ influence is valued in organizational aspects, school climate, teaching practices, and educational improvement, among other areas. However, academic research has focused on the figure of principals and/or leadership teams (Sepúlveda & Volante, 2019), reporting less evidence on teacher leadership and its potential to contribute to the development of professional capital, collaboration, and organizational coherence. This chapter exams policy efforts in Chile that have had a direct impact on teacher leadership practice in Chile. Furthermore, it argues that teacher leadership can contribute to effective schools as long as the focus remains on teaching and learning.