Perspectives on teacher leadership

In this chapter, I address the ways in which Portuguese teachers look at conditions and opportunities for them to exercise leadership, particularly at a time marked by an increase of the workload and bureaucracy and the deterioration of their working conditions including their social economic status (see Flores, 2014). In the first part of the chapter I look at international literature on teacher leadership in order to clarify the concept which subject to different interpretations. Then, I address the methodological features of the research project on which the second part of the chapter is based. Findings are presented according to the key themes emerging from both quantitative and qualitative data. The chapter ends with a discussion of the findings and their implications for teacher professional development.Portuguese national funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) within the framework of the CIEC (Research Center for Child Studies of the University of Minho) project under the reference UID/CED/00317/201