Breaking the Barriers: Teacher Leadership in the Hearth of Educational Reform in the Philippines

This paper describes the educational context and structure of the Philippines as I go through an analysis of the challenges that hinder school improvement and student performance. I highlighted two phenomena that make it a challenge for teacher leadership to thrive: one is the traditional ‘principal- oriented’ nature of leadership and second, the lack of teacher involvement and independence due to the structural and hierarchal nature that it follows. I argue that these conditions limit the role the teachers play in the organization. The application of teacher leadership in the local context can make a significant con- tribution to ‘de-privatizing the practice’ which is currently focused on the prin- cipal-ship or administrator-ship. The concept is so critical for collective learning where all teachers are given the opportunity to exercise influence on their own classroom or school settings and contribute using their own expertise, knowledge and other personal assets as the Philippines enters a critical period of a new era adopting a new-fangled educational curriculum called K-12.