How Teacher Leadership Encourages Community Engagement
BY Amanda “Amy” Passmore, Ph.D. | 5 MIN READ
Being a teacher leader is about more than guiding colleagues—it’s also about connecting communities. One way that strong leaders can accomplish that is through the development and implementation of community conversations that bring together families, students, teachers, administrators and staff through structured discussions aimed at creating a shared vision that reflects the lived experiences of everyone involved.
So, what’s the best way to engage stakeholders, get the conversation started and facilitate meaningful collaboration to achieve actionable results?
Inviting Interaction with the World Café Protocol
Many community conversations utilize the World Café (WC) protocol. The WC protocol is a widely used participatory method for organizational change, based on the notion that conversation drives personal, business and organizational life.
Organizational change, like that in a school system, often involves heterogeneous decisions from leaders; however, studies in organizational change cite multilevel perspectives across a variety of entities. Additionally, collective networks play an important role in the perception of change as well as the transition from change initiation to adoption (Pallotti et al., 2022).
The WC model of community engagement has been used across various community-based organizations, including nonprofits and cooperatives as well as educational institutions. It contributes to organizational development and strategic planning. Increasingly, the WC model is also being used in academia as a bottom-up participatory research approach (Löhr et al. 2020).
This method is ultimately designed to facilitate community change by encouraging as many community members as possible to share their ideas and opinions in an inclusive space (Brown & Isaacs, 2005).
Why Community Conversations Are Important in Education
This model can be highly effective in educational settings for fostering collaborative discussion, critical thinking and shared learning among students, educators, parents and other stakeholders. It helps break down hierarchies and gives everyone a voice, while building trust and tapping into collective knowledge, making it a good tool not only for strategic planning but also for curriculum development and school culture initiatives.
Leading community conversations via the WC model brings together individuals to contribute to questions relating to an area of collective change, while ensuring that a variety of perspectives are heard, that participants have a vested interest in the outcomes, and that actional next-step items are developed.
Teacher leaders who design and implement WCs to take an inquiry stance within their school community can contribute to real-life, education-based solutions that benefit their classrooms and beyond.
Steps to Planning Effective Community Conversations
- Explain Context—Ensure that the group members know the purpose of the conversation and why they are being asked to participate. Consider sharing key questions ahead of time and ensuring that a diverse representation of stakeholders is present. Send out invitations ahead of time.
- Create Hospitable Space—Select a location that is welcoming and consider serving food and drinks to build a community atmosphere.
- Explore Questions that Matter—Select three open-ended questions that encourage dialogue. Display these questions during the conversation so that participants can reference them.
- Encourage Everyone’s Contribution—Organize individuals in heterogeneous groups based on their roles. Make the groups small enough to encourage conversation. Consider establishing protocols to ensure equity of voices.
- Cross-pollinate and Connect Diverse Perspectives—Have groups rotate and add to ideas or questions posed. Groups can document their thinking so that new members to that group/question can add on to the ideas already discussed.
- Listen Together for Patterns, Insights and Deeper Questions—Provide a way for individuals and groups to document their thinking to encourage transparency of ideas. Monitor the conversation and take note of emerging ideas or themes.
- Harvest and Share Collective Discoveries—End by summarizing the discussion and highlighting next steps. The facilitator may need more time to synthesize e data; their findings should be shared with the group via an email or follow-up newsletter.
- Prepare for Questions—Topics and themes may inspire stakeholders to reflect and/or begin brainstorming ideas for their own line of work. Be prepared to offer suggestions and guidance so they can continue the practice themselves.
Why Elmhurst’s M.Ed. Program?
Elmhurst University’s M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership program provides experienced teachers with the tools to lead change in their classrooms, schools and districts. With a flexible format geared to fit busy schedules and courses that focus on curriculum design, collaborative professional development, data-driven decision-making and more, the program prepares teachers to make an impact on the future of learning.
Next Steps
Explore Elmhurst University’s M.Ed. teacher leadership program today and take the next step in your education career. To learn more about the M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership, the Teacher Leader endorsement and School of Education at Elmhurst University, go to elmhurst.edu/Education or fill out the form below.
