Challenges of teacher leadership in a Saudi school: Why are teachers not leaders?

Teaching as a legitimate profession where teachers could practice their leadership agency as leaders has been under debate over the last two decades. The support for teachers' inclusion in the development of schools as well as their leadership is numerous and varies. There seems to be a few when it comes to teacher leadership in the Saudi context. Teachers' professional identity as a downgraded profession leads to the status of the profession of teaching as a flat career where head teachers are viewed as decision makers whereas teachers as followers. This hegemony, which i a critical issue has attributed to school culture of distrusted, undervalued and marginalised situation for teachers. This small scale study investigates how English language teachers in a Saudi school are viewed in the context of teacher leadership and the challenges that disempower them from being legitimate leaders in their profession. Specifically, the study aims to explore whether these teachers are able to practice their identity and agency as leaders in their classroom as well as the school development. Three Saudi English Language teachers were interviewed where semi-structures interviews were used to collect data; they were transcribed, coded and thematically analyzed. One of its findings is teachers recognize themselves as legitimate leaders and school culture and top-down policy are two factors that disempower them from practicing their leadership capacity. Key words: Agency, identity, teacher leadership.