Defining a Catholic teacher leader: Cultivating the seeds of Catholic school charism

This research study was an attempt to explore the attributes of a teacher as a leader in Catholic basic education schools. Becoming a teacher leader was a good reference to discover the attributes of teachers as leaders in Catholic basic education schools. It was considered as the substantive area of interest. In order to identify the main attribute of a teacher leader, the Classic Grounded Theory Methodology was utilized. It enabled the researcher to get closer to the phenomena under study through constant comparison analysis in each coding process – open, selective, and theoretical coding. Twenty-three participants from different Catholic basic education schools in the National Capital Region participated to provide a substantial response to the substantive area of interest. Hence, Cultivating the Seeds of Catholic School Charism has emerged as the main concern of teacher leaders in Catholic basic education schools. Four significant attributes have been identified and explained that resolved the emerging theory. These related attributes are: allowing to germinate, allowing to thrive, allowing to bloom, and allowing to proliferate. The main attributes of the teacher leader and the processes that go with it provide a new insight relative to educational leadership and management. Therefore, this study offers a better understanding of teacher leadership in Catholic basic education schools which has implications on leadership formation programs, succession planning, enhanced roles of teachers in these volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous times, application to other substantive areas, and further research