This article reports a mixed-methods study examining 29 academic middle leaders' viewpoints on supporting educational change in higher educational institutions in Poland. Following a three-dimensional conceptual framework emphasizing support at the individual, collegial, and environmental levels, Q methodology was adopted to collect and analyze…

Schools are a complex system made up of not only relationships, infrastructures, and challenges, but also constraints. It seems essential that schools, as complex organizations, work in synergy, according to a shared vision with all the actors involved in the educational process. School management is now part of a process that is increasingly…

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the experience of student learning outcomes assessment among four midlevel student affairs managers to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of change readiness to engage in assessment practices. This study sought to address the theory-practice gap in student affairs…

In what are often described as modern Western school systems, the supervision of elementary schools generally shifted from the hands of clerical administrators to genuine state officials during the nineteenth century. The Prussian state, like other predominantly Protestant states, relied on clerical personnel and church supervision structures to…

School middle leadership is a complex and increasingly important school leadership position, with research showing the significance of middle leadership to school improvement and teacher development. The purpose of this article is to identify and analyse empirical peer reviewed articles on middle leadership from 2006 to 2020, to understand how…

As part of its project on instructional leaders at the middle tier, International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and Education Development Trust (EDT) conducted case studies in five jurisdictions, exploring the professional practices and perceived impacts of instructional leaders and the enabling factors present in the systems in which…

This study examined perspectives among mid-level administrators in higher education of essential competencies and skills deemed essential for leading effective change efforts. The success of change management has implications throughout an institution and driving forward initiatives in student services, as well as employee engagement and…

Department heads are central in the university setting as an important buffer between university leadership and academic staff. However, taking on a middle management role can lead to significant disruptions in academic careers. To investigate the career trajectories of 31 academics in middle management roles, two waves of semi-structured…

Heads of department (HoDs) are commonly made responsible for implementing gender balance change in academia. Research has found that they are often reluctant to take ownership of this problem. Our study found that department heads in Norway did take on a lot of ownership for gender balance change and we divided their leadership approaches with…

This study considers the extent to which a professional development programme for educational leaders in a research-intensive university contributes to participants' adaptive expertise in the domain of leading educational change. We evaluated the programme by asking participants to execute an authentic task at the beginning and end of the…

Purpose: This study addresses a gap in the knowledge on how longitudinal engagement in a school improvement initiative influences change in middle leaders' (MLs') interactions and assesses how school-university partnerships around school improvement can support teachers with formal leadership roles (i.e. MLs') leadership development.…

This article examines the experiences and coping strategies of four university middle-managers during the unprecedented time of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We use the research approach of autoethnography to reflect on our experiences and decision-making processes. To reflect on how we managed the rapid change and moved from…

This case illustrates Professor Saitoh's struggles in a middle-management position leading an education committee called the Assurance of Learning (AOL) Committee at a business school in Japan. The committee assessed students' learning outcomes and provided suggestions for curriculum improvement. The school was accredited by the Association to…

On a global level, COVID-19 has shaken the foundations of every sector. In the South African education context, the traditional methods of teaching, learning, and managing schools changed drastically overnight and management roles and responsibilities were pushed to unprecedented levels. Moreover, the roles of middle leaders and managers took…

Research to date is rich in its claim that practice development in schools, and the leadership and professional learning that it demands, requires relational trust. However, reasonings for, and understandings about, relational trust are described mainly in general terms, leaving its complexity and multidimensionality implicit. Much trust research…