Teachers and Assistant Principals as Instructional Leaders: Pathways to Collegial Sharing of Formative Assessment

Supporting teacher professional development in formative assessment is a key priority in current Czech educational policy. This study examines how instructional leadership in formative assessment develops among teachers and assistant principals. The sample comprised 15 participants from two schools, including two teachers and three assistant principals who participated in a training course. Our findings show that among teachers, leadership emerged through their own learning, gradually gaining legitimacy as their confidence grew, and was enacted informally, sometimes incidentally. Among most assistant principals, it emerged earlier through their formal position and the course, while sharing their own uncertainty tempered this authority-based influence.