This research examines how social justice teacher leaders can support diverse students and colleagues in Ontario schools. It employs a qualitative research design, wherein I conduct semi-structured interviews with ten experienced social justice teacher leaders. The majority of these leaders belonged to minoritized groups in Southern Ontario schools and held informal leadership positions. Using the constant comparative method, I identified codes and themes grounded in the literature on social justice and teacher leadership. Results revealed how participants were committed to creating inclusion in their classrooms and schools. They described a variety of inclusive practices, such as empowering student voices, engaging in critical conversations to examine power and privilege, and guiding students in exploring and understanding their social locations and identities. Participants identified several strategies to develop themselves as leaders, raise the critical consciousness of colleagues through collaborative activities; and advocate for students and colleagues at the school. The working conditions also influenced their leadership and social justice work. This study expands the scope of teacher leadership studies by highlighting the crucial social justice work that teacher leaders do within their classrooms and schools.

This paper presentation focuses on the characteristics of quality teaching and learning as demonstrated in a doctoral program leadership course that enrolls students that in professional leadership roles. In particular, we feature three major areas of Servant Leadership that underscore our students' professional experiences, and the strategies that we adopt for this course. These include flexibility, empathy and compassion, and conceptualization and awareness. Northouse (2022) underscores that the model of Servant Leadership, "emphasizes that leaders be attentive to the concerns of their followers, empathize with them, and nurture them. Servant leaders put followers first, empower them. And help them develop their full personal capacities" (p. 253). In this sense, servant leader is aligned with several qualities that overlap with an educational profession, as well as student-centered missions that drive higher education. It also underscores tensions that arise in a student-leader position, particularly when introspection and growth in a certain area is needed.

To further explore pedagogical practices that help support a Servant Leadership mindset, we adopt a practitioner lens to engage in reflexive practice in our roles to design and deliver curricula that support students' growth in their application of leadership theories and practices in their academic and professional roles (Del Carlo et al., 2010; Miller et al., 2020). In analyzing our own practices and student engagement, we find alignment and misalignment to these three major areas of focus and offer implications and lessons learned for their development into effective learning strategies. Through this, we speak to practices that support quality teaching at the postsecondary level that support adult student education, continued lifelong learning, and the skills necessary to become leaders in their respective field.

Despite broad consensus on the centrality of the field practicum in educator preparation programs (EPPs), the role of field supervisor is understudied, undersupported, and underappreciated. Field supervisors are often seen as technical administrators, monitoring and evaluating pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) progress, while course instructors and mentor teachers shoulder the “real work” of teacher preparation (McCormack et al., 2019; Zeichner, 2005). Our research analyzes the practices of two veteran supervisors who view their work as more fundamental and important to EPPs than often portrayed.

We adopt Cuenca’s (2010) framework of care, thoughtfulness, and tact to examine these supervisors’ practices. This framework, theorized in terms of Noddings’ (1992, 2003) care theory and van Manen’s (1991) pedagogical thoughtfulness and tact, envisions the supervisor-PST relationship as analogous to that of teacher-student.

Our data come from a larger self-study aimed at aligning supervisor practices with Cuenca’s (2010) framework and conducted at a small, Hispanic-serving college in the United States. We recorded conversations between two veteran supervisors and their critical friends, as well as supervisor conferences with PSTs. With these data, we present a comparative case study of how two supervisors enacted pedagogical tact in their teacher education practices, connecting supervisors’ intent and motivation to their pedagogical actions.

Using deductive and inductive coding, we find meaningful differences in the enactment and goals of supervisors’ tactful interactions with PSTs and link these differences to specific elements of their instructional context. We also find evidence of a spectrum of tactful action, with prioritization of PSTs’ comfort and emotional wellbeing at one end and prioritization of supervisor’s pedagogical vision at the other. These findings support a conception of supervisors as uniquely positioned teacher pedagogues rather than simple monitors of programmatic compliance, who have the potential to model and promote many high-leverage practices and characteristics of quality teaching (ISATT, 2025 CfP).