Middle leaders in schools are increasingly recognised as playing pivotal roles in school improvement. Although some school systems provide formal professional development for middle leaders, many middle leaders express a preference for job-embedded learning. Yet, international research has documented difficulties in providing intensive support…

The purpose of this phenomenological, qualitative study was to explore how curriculum specialists in middle leadership positions perceive their use of democratic leadership to build teachers' leadership capacity across high schools within one Midwestern public school district. The key democratic leadership practices that guided this study include…

This study explores the link between principals' leadership practices and learning achievements from a distributed leadership perspective, using semi-structured interviews with TVET supervisors, middle leaders, and teachers. A detailed discussion on how school principals actually practised distributed leadership (DL) and how these practices…

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.…

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…

The article reanalyzes findings from a systematic review on the work situation and training needs of middle leaders in schools. Following an update search, 37 articles were analyzed and consistently reveal that middle leaders have trivial jobs that do not build their competence. Researchers conclude that they instead should be instructional…

A major concern for policymakers around the world is how to design an entire system of education that provides high quality teaching and learning outcomes. This paper aims to make a significant contribution to this debate by looking closely at the middle part of education systems -- the regional, district, and sub-district level -- as a critical…

This study builds on research which contends that just as effective principals must lead across a broad purview of responsibilities in order to build successful schools, so too must middle leaders. Decentralisation of school management has resulted in an expansion of school principals' responsibilities, contributing to a further distribution of…

This article investigates, from the perspective of senior and middle leaders, how secondary principals in England lead their schools to achieve sustainable performance despite policy shifts. Empirical data were drawn from structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses of a questionnaire survey from 309 effective and improved secondary schools in…

Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of learning-oriented leadership as being integrated in managers' daily work. The particular focus is on managers' efforts to change how work is carried out through indirect acts of influence. In their daily work, managers influence the organisation's learning conditions in ways that go…

The past few years have witnessed a wave of unrest in Egypt toppling down two regimes in less than three years. Yet was this sufficient to bringing the demanded change and meeting people's expectations? In several Arab countries, citizens are offered patronage through public sector employment, subsidies, and limited taxation (Razzaz and Razzaz,…

Over the past 30 years, school principals have been exhorted to articulate a clear vision as a key tool for stimulating the improvement of teaching and learning in their schools. Over the past decade, as school systems have sought to distribute leadership more broadly within schools, the same imperative has applied to middle-level leaders. Indeed,…

This account of practice describes the introduction of an accredited postgraduate management qualification which used action learning as a major contribution to a blended learning approach in a fragile cross-border setting on the edge of Europe. Conventional management education has frequently been challenged on the grounds of relevance, efficacy…

We report on a succession planning pilot project in an Australian university health faculty. The programme aimed to enhance organisational stability and develop leadership capacity in middle level academics. Six monthly sessions addressed university and general leadership topics, communication, decision-making, working with change, self-management…

Supervision, as this author discovered, is about building relationships with groups and individuals, as well as implementing policies and practices to create clear expectations. These policies, practices, expectations, and relationships should give rise to a work environment that encourages creativity, learning, and personal growth. In this…