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1 Introduction

The educational literature is replete with theories of leaders and leadership but until relatively recently the focus has tended to be on the positional leadership of the educational leaders with a view to understanding what skills and traits are required to lead change in educational institutions. The emphasis has been on the characteristics and behaviors of the single ‘heroic’ leader. However, over the last three decades there has been an increasing awareness that educational organizations are much too complex for leadership by a single leader resulting in participatory and distributed models of leadership (see Harris, 2004; Spillane, 2006).

Distributed approaches to educational leadership allow for new opportunities for teachers to take on leadership roles and typically these have been in three contexts—the classroom, the profession and the organization. Theoretical perspectives on teacher leadership are not new. What is significant in their re-emergence is the realization that leadership is the work of everyone (Berry, Daughtrey & Wieder, 2010).

At the same time as new perspectives about educational leadership have emerged, there has been a corresponding growth in understanding the most effective approaches to professional learning and development of pedagogical and leadership skills (Lloyd & Mayer, 2010). This has included the role of LTAs for networking and the development of ‘communities of practice’ (Wenger, 1998). Both concepts of networking and communities of practice assume that learning is fundamentally a social phenomenon; knowledge is inseparable from practice and is integrated in the life of communities that share values, beliefs, languages, and ways of doing things. According to Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder (2002) circumstances in which individuals engage in real action that has consequences for themselves and their communities of practice create powerful learning environments.

Taken together, the three elements of LTA leadership, teacher leadership and communities of practice underscored the study’s objectives to gain a better understanding of how leadership capacity can be developed, specifically through LTAs. The international literature highlights some important elements of successful leadership learning and these are elaborated here.

2 Literature Review

As the limitations of individual leadership have become increasingly evident through recent research, collective or teacher leadership has become increasingly well established and consists of “teachers who lead within and beyond the classroom, contribute to a community of teacher learners and leaders, and influence others towards improved educational practice” (Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2001, p. 17). Teacher leadership is emerging throughout LTAs across the globe where leadership is shared with a continued focus on expertise in teaching. The focus is on leadership practice rather than leaders, leadership roles, or leadership functions and takes form in the interactions between leaders, followers, and their situation (Berry, Daughtrey & Wieder, 2010). Teacher leaders generate instructionally specific conversations, develop trusting relationships and advocate shared leadership development resulting in team-oriented cultures (Lloyd & Mayer, 2010).

Emerging research suggests that the effectiveness of teacher leadership roles is dependent, in part, on support received from other leaders (Barth, 2013). Where teacher leaders have direct and regular contact with the organizational leaders, they are better able to communicate learning improvement messages to others in organizations such as LTAs.

Leadership in ELT and LTAs, therefore, is a complex, multi-dimensional and social process of self-discovery (Cunliffe, 2004). ELT leaders are those that other teachers and educational leaders value for their collaboration, coaching, modeling, mentoring, guidance and professional support. In the current ELT context, given the turbulence, uncertainty and contradictory tensions leaders face on a daily basis, new and different leadership approaches are necessary, and it is essential that leaders are well prepared for leadership and leadership learning through formal and informal means (Berry, Daughtrey & Wieder, 2010; Robertson, 2005). Drawing on the vast leadership literature, the following section takes a multidimensional leadership development perspective.

2.1 Leadership Learning

Leadership learning is concerned with the interrelated formal processes, contexts and mechanisms within courses or programs and the informal processes in and through which professionals interact with the social experience they encounter in their workplaces (Billett, 2008). As such, similarly to Gunter and Ribbins (2002), I propose that leadership and leadership development can only be “understood through the gathering of professional experiences from within contextualized settings” (p. 388).

Leadership learning typically occurs through stages of awareness, interaction and mastery. Awareness is primarily about recognizing one’s leadership potential. As leadership is a social process, the second stage involves preparing for interaction, that is, engaging in leadership practices, testing possibilities, reaching limits, reflecting and taking further action. The mastery stage is about using leadership skills and abilities to generate new interest and energy for self and others. In this stage leaders know themselves, their beliefs, their values and what motivates them. This stage is also about being seen and recognized by self and others as exemplary, ethical and authentic leaders.

The dimensions of leadership development include:

  1. 1.

    Leadership information (learned knowledge about leaders and leadership).

  2. 2.

    Leadership attitude (learned values or dispositions).

  3. 3.

    Communication (learned influence).

  4. 4.

    Decision making (influence in ethical and socially responsible ways).

  5. 5.

    Stress management (learned self-regulation) (van Linden & Fertman, 1998).

Leadership skills, like most other skills, require practice in context (Billett, 2008) and leadership development needs to be connected to the goals, structures and processes of the organization (Zenger, Ulrich, & Smallwood, 2000). Therefore, part of the challenge in leadership development activities/programs is to create such experiential opportunities.

2.2 Informal Leadership Development Opportunities

Research indicates that educational leaders have a preference for forms of informal professional learning, mentoring and experiential leadership development rather than formal courses (Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). There are a broad range of informal leadership development opportunities to support leadership learning. Some of these include critical self-reflection through journaling, sharing opinions about current ELT issues; engaging in debate, discussion and critique of those issues, conversations and decisions about learning norms and expectations, and behavioural boundaries and expectations; and conversations and decisions about teaching, learning and assessment. The social aspects of networking and communities of practice enable individual and collective leadership learning. Learning from this point of view requires developing the dispositions, demeanour and outlook of the practitioners involved, rather than merely acquiring information (Brown & Duguid, 1991). As such, peer support, buddying, critical friends, mentors and coaches play a critical role in supporting the development of leadership capacity.

3 Leadership Learning Through Mentoring/Coaching

There is also a large and growing literature on developing leadership capacity through quality mentoring and coaching. Bush and Glover (2005) suggest mentoring and coaching as highly successful in promoting the development of practising and aspirant leaders. Coaching differs from mentoring in that it is generally for a short period of time and focuses on helping an individual with specific current leadership performance challenges or issues in the present, whereas mentoring is for a longer period and focuses on developing the individual holistically for the future—professionally, personally, and often, spiritually.

Recent research offers a range of skills and qualities of mentoring that effective coaches and mentors demonstrate that include:

  1. 1.

    Being accessible to a mentee, being willing to listen; being reflective and sharing ideas; providing honest and constructive feedback to the mentee; being understanding and supportive; being patient with questions and uncertainty; having strategies for and knowledge of effective leadership and being a role model for aspiring leaders (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Victoria, 2010, p. 3).

Coaching leadership is defined as leadership that is learned, modeled and reflected upon through the lived experience of leadership in action (Robertson, 2005). Such authentic leadership learning opportunities occur reciprocally as individuals learn new skills and practices leading to further dialogue and critical reflection. Holmes (2003) suggests that effective coaching depends on four variables: the task focus of the coaching; the personal mastery and competences of the coach; the skills, attitudes and knowledge of the person being coached; and the context or ecology of the organization. Robertson (2005) found that those leaders who had themselves been coached were more willing to coach others and sought opportunities in their daily interactions to do so.

3.1 Relational Leadership

Relational leadership is a process of social influence, construction and distribution (Uhl Bien & Ospina, 2012) and as such, knowing and learning are ongoing processes of relating and meaning making determined by socio-cultural contexts (Bandura, 1977). A relational leadership perspective suggests leadership effectiveness is determined by the ability of the leader to create positive relationships “differently constructed in different relational and historical/cultural settings” (Dachler & Hosking, 1995, p. 4). A relational approach to leadership, therefore, means understanding that interdependent relationships and intersubjective meanings continuously emerge as organizational phenomena (Uhl Bien & Ospina, 2012). Attributes of individuals involved in leadership behaviors or exchanges are no longer as important as social construction processes by which certain understandings of leadership come about and are privileged.

According to Komives, Lucas, and McMahon (1998), the primary components of relational leadership are that it is inclusive of people and diverse viewpoints, empowers others involved, is purposeful, ethical and process-oriented. Relational leaders inspire, motivate and empower others to be their best authentic selves. Similarly to relational leadership’s focus on social relations, Spillane’s (2006) view of distributed leadership focuses on interactions rather than actions.

4 Methodology

The aim of this research project was to begin to understand some aspects of leadership in ELT from the perspective of five leaders in the field. Specifically the project sought to identify the leadership approaches, critical significant events, successes, challenges and relationships that impacted the leadership practices of these leaders.

This study draws on the discrete story narrative tradition where discrete stories are told in response to single questions and are typically brief and topically specific (Labov, 1997). Because people live out their lives in a storied way, this study privileges positionality and subjectivity. Relativism rather than absolute truths is at the core of this qualitative approach. A social constructionist perspective is also taken where the changing meaning of events for these ELT leaders is in history and culture. The methodology used acknowledges that all personal stories are selective and open to editing and change. Therefore, the findings should be regarded as representations open to other interpretations and contested meanings.

Over 30 male and female leaders, acknowledged for their highly visible international profiles and their broad and rich experiences of leadership in ELT, were invited to participate in the study. Their selection did not assume that leadership is a senior position or that holding a senior position reflects the achievement of leadership.

Neil J Anderson, Anne Burns, Susan Barduhn, Christine Coombe and Peter Grundy graciously accepted the invitation and responded to the leadership interview questions emailed to them. These ELT leaders have worked across the globe from the USA through to the UK, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. In the context of their lives, they were invited to share their opinions, perspectives and memories of their own lived leadership experience in ELT and specifically LTAs. They each gave permission to use their real names.

4.1 Participants

Neil J Anderson, a Professor and Chair of the Department of English Language Teaching and Learning at Brigham Young University–Hawaii, USA, served as President of TESOL International from 2001 to 2002. He currently teaches courses in the TESOL undergraduate program as well as language classes to second language learners. He also served on the Board of Trustees for the International Research Foundation for English Language Education from 2004 to 2008.

Susan Barduhn, Past President of International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), is Professor Emerita at SIT Graduate Institute in the US, where she was Professor, Chair of the Summer MA TESOL program, and Director of the Teacher Training and Professional Development Institute. She has been involved in English language teaching for more than 40 years as teacher, trainer, supervisor, manager, assessor and consultant; and she has worked for extended periods in Kenya, the UK, the US, Switzerland, Colombia, Spain, and Portugal.

Anne Burns is a Professor in TESOL in the School of Education at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. She has worked as an English teacher, teacher educator and researcher in France, Kenya and Mauritius; and in higher education in the UK and Australia. She has held leadership roles in several LTAs.

Christine Coombe, President of TESOL from 2011 to 2012, currently works as an Associate Professor at Dubai Men’s College. Dr Coombe has served on the IATEFL Conference Committee and she previously served on the TESOL Board of Directors as Convention Chair for Tampa 2006. During her tenure in the Gulf, she has served in various leadership positions on the TESOL Arabia Executive Council including President and Conference Chair.

Peter Grundy, past President of IATEFL, began his teaching career in the 1960s and has taught in schools in the UK and Germany in initial teacher training and in higher education in the UK and Hong Kong. He retired from full-time employment at the University of Durham in 2002, where he had taught Linguistics and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) since 1979.

4.2 Data Collection and Analysis

Data were collected in the form of electronic interview, participant reflection, storytelling and email. This form of data collection acknowledges that memory is selective and shaped, and retold in the continuum of one’s experience. The responses were often told as stories dependent on the individual’s past and present experiences, values and beliefs. Each narrative was initially treated as an individual ‘case’ and these individual cases were then compared, and inter-case themes identified in order to showcase some leadership perspectives in ELT and specifically LTAs.

The quality and trustworthiness of the study was ensured through the data generation procedures and an adaption of the narrative research process as outlined by Moen (2006). I aimed to capture the participants’ voices over a six-month period of time. I also began writing early, reported fully, and kept accurate records. I was a reflexive researcher and aimed to be candid and at all times aware of my own subjectivity and biases. As such I sought verification of participants’ views of the accuracy and credibility of the findings, interpretations and conclusions (Miles & Huberman, 1994), a technique that is considered critical for establishing credibility (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

5 Findings

5.1 Leadership Learning Opportunities

Each participant acknowledged that Language Teacher Associations such as IATEFL and TESOL International are key ways for educators to network, develop and sustain communities of practice and learn from each other (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002), particularly in special interest groups that are focused on leadership and management. It continues to be the case that opportunities for leadership in ELT are too often a consequence of someone who is good at teaching being promoted within an organization, but who is not given formal or informal support in the new skills to be an educational administrator and leader. Rather, leadership support has often come from LTAs and colleagues (Killon, 2013).

Each participant identified the importance of knowing and understanding the self, their beliefs and values as these determine leadership behaviours (Avolio & Walumbwa, 2014; Branson & Gross, 2014). For example, Neil Anderson believes keeping a leadership journal is an extremely effective tool in helping people develop as leaders. It ensures that leaders engage in critical self-reflection (Cunliffe, 2004) through regular journaling: “Journaling is one way that we can each gain insights into our own experiences as leaders and to record our own development.”

Susan Barduhn is an advocate for formal training in administrative operations, procedures and people skills where its impact can be measured (Killon, 2013). “A responsible administration will identify those whose experience lends them insight to the real needs of students and teachers, and then follow up with appropriate training and mentoring.”

However, similarly to the other participants, she also believes that the majority of leadership capacity development occurs in the actual doing of the leadership and through informal professional learning opportunities (Uhl Bien & Ospina, 2012; Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). “I have learned a great deal about leadership through experience that I think cannot be covered or acquired through formal training. When a similar situation occurs, the learning that took place through previous experiences is the teacher.”

Likewise, Peter Grundy believes that there is much to be learned that cannot be covered by formal training and he is not in favor of formal leadership training programs (Gunter & Ribbins, 2002; Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). He is not supportive of policies in advance of encountering a situation. “I think leadership skills are developed on the job and come about by thinking hard about people and the situation and remembering that in a sense the leader is only there, and certainly only leading effectively, because others agree to it. The few things I know are all particularized to contexts and people and so are unlikely to result from formal training.”

Each participant commented that their practice of leadership and learning about leadership in action and through action provided significant leadership capacity development (Billett, 2008; Gunter & Ribbins, 2002; Zenger et al., 2000) and leadership development is grounded in knowing the self and needs to be connected to the goals and strategies of the organization. When Neil Anderson took a seminar class during his graduate studies in the master’s program in teaching English as a second or foreign language at Brigham Young University, he was asked to become familiar with the names and areas of expertise of the presidents of the professional association, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). “That is when I first became familiar with such names as H. Douglas Brown, TESOL president from 1979 to 1981, and Ruth Crymes, TESOL president in 1979. I learned that Professor Crymes had died in a plane crash on her way to the 1979 Mexico TESOL conference. Other names included Harold B. Allen (1966–1967), TESOL’s first president; Mary Finocchiaro (1970–1971), a nonnative speaker of English from Italy; Russell N. Campbell (1971–1972); Betty Wallace Robinett (1973–1974); Christina Bratt Paulston (1976–1977); and Bernard Spolsky (1978–1979). Many of these TESOL presidents wrote the textbooks that we were using in our master’s program. As I have been actively engaged in the profession and the professional association, these people became now more than just names; they were role models of strong leadership. I have benefited from these role models. I have been influenced by learning about TESOL’s leaders.”

Anne Burns had not meant to set out to be a “leader” or have advanced plans about where her career should go (Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). “Basically, I was just very interested in and fascinated by the field I found myself teaching in, realized that I didn’t know enough about it and wanted to learn more through further studies and teaching experiences. As I worked in various places, I feel I’ve been very fortunate indeed to have opportunities put in my way by great mentors who sort of “tapped me on the shoulder” and gave me opportunities to participate or pushed me to go beyond what I was currently doing.”

This was similar for Peter Grundy in that he never asked for a leadership post but had always been asked to take on specific leadership roles or responsibilities (Zhang & Brundrett, 2010). “Usually, you’re asked to take something on because they can’t find anyone else—this is to some extent a compliment but mostly reflects the fact that most people are too nice to want to be leaders or too honest to be likely to do the job well. I don’t think this is the way it works in politics. By nature, I side with the underdog and have very little time for leaders. Inevitably one finds oneself in a leadership role from time to time in life, both at work and in one’s family relationships.”

Susan Barduhn too is someone who is asked to take on extra responsibilities and positions of leadership. “I started teaching English in Colombia when only 18. I was identified early for administrative and teacher development roles. At the age of 29 I was given the tremendous opportunity to go to Kenya and create a language school. It was an immediate success and I remained the director for eight years. It is still going strong! After that I moved to London to International House [IH] and was soon promoted to Deputy Director. I remained with IH for ten years before going freelance—trainer, trainer of trainers, consultant, assessor, school inspector, supervisor, conference organizer, President of IATEFL.”

5.2 Leadership Learning Through Mentoring/Coaching

Mentors, mentoring and coaching approaches influence the majority of the LTA leaders in this study because each leader believes in maximizing their own potential as well as that of others and of situations (Bush & Glover, 2005; Robertson, 2005) albeit in slightly different ways.

Susan Barduhn commented specifically on the support and leadership mentoring of Adrian Underhill at various stages in her career. Anne has also been most influenced by leaders who adopted a coaching approach (Robertson, 2005): “In my experience, they open up opportunities for you that take you beyond your current comfort zone (for me, e.g. being asked to edit a journal when I was a very early career researcher). Then, they give you support to do the job at just the right time but make themselves available as soon as they can for input and advice when you need it. The rest of the time they get out of your way and show you they have confidence in you to do a good job. These kinds of leaders are also generous in not taking credit for work that others have done or being threatened by talented people they have around them.”

Similarly, Neil Anderson has been greatly influenced by five TESOL presidents: Donald Freeman, Denise Murray, MaryAnn Christison, Kathleen Bailey, and David Nunan (Bush & Glover, 2005; Robertson, 2005). “For me these five individuals have served as mentors of leadership. As I have watched their exemplary leadership, I have learned to develop my own leadership skills. Each of these leaders has extended personal invitations to me to enhance my skills and take on new leadership roles.” Neil also reminds educational leaders of the importance of giving back through mentoring and coaching activities (Zhang & Brundrett, 2010): “As I have benefitted from mentors, I recognize that I must serve as a mentor for others. Therefore as I have been actively involved in TESOL leadership roles, I have tried to identify, encourage and support others who can serve as leaders. My point is that we can each benefit from mentors and from being a mentor.”

Christine Coombe has also been influenced by a number of individuals in her quest for professional success. “There were all the influences at university—so many…Fast forward a bit to my time in the Gulf, perhaps the most significant event for me in my development as a leader was my involvement with TESOL Arabia because it was with TESOL Arabia that I acquired and honed most of the skills in my leadership arsenal. The most significant has been my involvement with organizing events. My experience in this arena was largely responsible for my being elected Convention Chair for Tampa. My role models for this were the past convention chairs who were always ready to provide advice and support when things got difficult. In my quest to be TESOL President, several Past Presidents were very supportive of my nomination. Suchada Niammit, Lisa Barlow and Gabriel Maggiolli also were very supportive, especially of my second run for President.”

Peter Grundy also favored a coaching leadership model (Roberston, 2005) where leadership is learned in action through modeling and action in context (Holmes, 2003). “To be honest, I try to use mentors as last resort. I kind of skim read the files handed to me when I became IATEFL president and tried not to be too influenced by them. But then I wouldn’t have wanted to become president (or director of a summer school) if I hadn’t had lots of ordinary experience of the set-up already. Mentoring, by definition, is for people who don’t know enough to do a job. I prefer the system in which you get asked questions on a need to know basis if you’re a person who might mentor.”

5.3 Relational Leadership

Each of the five leaders recognize that leadership is a social influence process (Uhl Bien & Ospina, 2012) and as such, an ongoing process of relating and meaning making determined by socio-cultural contexts (Dachler & Hosking, 1995). Anne Burns’ quote here captures this very effectively: “Well, for me leadership is not a question of being out there in front and assuming people will come along with you, or that decisions from the top will automatically be accepted. It’s more a philosophy of how leaders work with others and how their actions influence others. Leaders need to roll up their sleeves and be prepared to do the things they recommend that others do. I’ve always thought too that good leaders trust their colleagues to do a good job and don’t micro-manage how they do it—they get out of their way! I feel very strongly that if you can’t relate well to people and have them work with you, it’s impossible to be a good leader.”

Peter Grundy’s next quote also reinforces the importance of working together for a common purpose (Lloyd & Mayer, 2010). “To get everyone to do great work, they have to be in an environment where they set their own targets and are trusted to get on with it. Some people will fail, but most will achieve far more than in the ‘this-is-your-job’ culture. I also think that leadership is institutionalized to some degree so that almost everyone will succeed as a leader in the right institution and almost everyone will fail in the wrong institution.”

The participants indicated that their leadership learning largely arose out of a variety of informal routes, such as self-reflection, journaling, group work, learning communities and collaborative work within and across LTAs and other ELT organizations. The implications and recommendations for those who aspire to lead in Language Teacher Associations (LTAs) are now discussed.

6 Conclusion

Firsthand experience had far greater impact than professional development programs and that formal programs or readings could not sufficiently prepare for the rigors of professional activity. The five ELT leaders’ preference is for longitudinal experiential practice. In all cases the majority of their learning in the workplace is informal and involves a combination of learning from colleagues and learning from personal experience, often both together. This is reinforced in the educational leadership learning literature (Zhang & Brundrett, 2010).

This study suggests that teacher leadership development is best learned from others’ leadership experiences, their successes and challenges, which are clearly facilitated by involvement in LTAs. Though very positive about informal learning, the participants also acknowledged the important role of formal programs. The participants’ perceptions reveal that other leadership development providers and the contribution they make to ELT leaders’ professional learning should not be ignored.

The study’s findings emphasize that future ELT leadership development needs to be linked more fully and coherently with ELT leadership practice in context. It was clear that each participant has been significantly influenced by previous LTA leaders. They clearly felt that such role models were essential, and they had a high regard for their leadership, their attitudes and experience. Such evidence makes it clear that ELT leaders help to fulfil the learning needs of many leading practitioners by offering practical advice and real-world examples of experiential learning. The participants also stated that they highly valued support from their own learning community in terms of their personal development mostly through apprenticeship models and shadowing experienced leaders.

The study is significant in that it sheds light on the debates about how best to understand the location of the continuing professional learning of teacher leaders and who is best placed to grow future leaders. The main conclusion reached is that we need greater recognition that professional learning and leadership socialization are important sources of contextually grounded knowledge and understanding and, if anything, the increased complexity of leadership will continue to require greater individualized and contextualized support. The findings indicate that formal leadership programs, on their own, did not sufficiently prepare and develop these leaders but rather they learned leadership through internal and contextual support from within LTAs and their organizations. The results of the study also indicate the need for more diversified and differentiated program frameworks that cater for the individual and collective needs and interests of those practicing and aspiring to leadership in ELT. LTAs have provided significant opportunities for both formal and informal leadership learning through mentoring, coaching, networking and the development of communities of interest and practice. Changing the perception of leadership opportunities as no longer ‘supplementary’ to ELT but integral to professional growth is therefore essential. As reported by the five participants in this study, LTAs clearly have processes, policies and frameworks that enable and promote leadership learning and have enabled the enacting of democratic and relational models of leadership practice. LTAs foster inclusivity and recognise the need for new and developmental leadership learning models such as collective teacher leadership, mentoring, coaching, relational leadership and communities of practice. LTA leadership opportunities invite participants to develop integrative and adaptive habits of mind.

This chapter reports on an investigation of the leadership learning journeys of five internationally renowned ELT leaders’ leadership learning experiences as perceived within varied contexts, and specifically LTAs. Leadership development is best learned from leadership experience, successes and challenges, and is clearly facilitated by involvement in LTAs. Three main recommendations can be derived from the study. Firstly, LTAs are a key means of ensuring that leadership professional learning is emphasized and aligned with local and global contexts. Clearly there are many passionate advocates already providing strong leadership capacity development who have dedicated their work to support leadership learning. Secondly, teacher leaders must be encouraged to analyze comprehensively and respond knowledgeably to the local context and work closely with and through their colleagues to establish effective relational leadership practices. Thirdly, if ELT leaders are to become professionally competent, they need to be able to take control of their own professional learning and be actively engaged in research into professional practice. In support of new research and emerging knowledge in leadership learning, I recommend that future empirical investigation focuses on capturing the possibilities for developing new and future ELT leaders through more informal and experiential learning within LTAs and other organizations, and by identifying teacher leaders’ contributions to the enhancement of ELT leaders’ professional learning.