When teacher leadership backfires: Exploring the unintended consequences of teacher leadership

This study explores the unintended consequences of teacher leadership within the centralised and hierarchical education system of Türkiye. Utilising a phenomenological approach, data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers, and content analysis was employed to analyse the data. Our findings reveal that teacher leadership practices unintentionally lead to stress, burnout, isolation, and role ambiguity at the individual level; peer jealousy and rivalry, along with challenges in promoting collaboration at the group level; create operational fragmentation and hierarchical tensions and power conflicts at the organisational level; and result in reduced time for student support and diminished instructional quality at the student level. This study adds nuance to the global school leadership literature by challenging the prevailing positive narrative surrounding teacher leadership and exposing its often-overlooked unintended consequences. We discuss implications for policy and practice.