To afford school middle leaders meaningful opportunities to initiate change, we must provide them with the space and flexibility to engage with agentic and creative responses to policy and practice. Whilst we argue that the tensions identified in Bennett's seminal reviews persist, there may, nonetheless, be opportunities for school middle leaders…

Purpose: Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach that emphasizes improving teaching and learning. This study explores how school middle leaders -- teachers holding leadership positions in schools, who are responsible for a particular area or discipline of the school's curriculum -- fulfill their instructional leadership role.…

Purpose: Middle leadership is difficult to define and fathom as these roles are fluid, adapting to the context of individual schools. However, little is known about the relationships among middle leadership, teacher commitment and job satisfaction in the field of education. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework on the…

This paper provides a review of recent empirical research investigating middle leadership practices in New Zealand secondary schools. Eight academic articles and one report are included to establish an analysis of the recent evidence of practices of curriculum middle leaders. The majority of the research utilises mixed methodology and aligns…

This paper presents an examination of identity "in" and "as" practice as it relates to a group of educational practitioners known as middle leaders. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures as a site-ontological approach for conceptualising educational leading, the paper considers an individual's identity as being…

Purpose: Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach that places great emphasis on enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. This study explored the enabling factors of instructional leadership in subject coordinators. Design/methodology/approach: The participants in this qualitative study were 24 subject coordinators in…

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…

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 ignorance of the role of middle leaders as a 'key broker' between school principals and teachers in the literature has motivated this study to investigate the effects of middle leaders' learning-centred leadership on teacher professional learning through teacher mastery goals and their self-efficacy with the moderating effect of the quality of…

Background: Middle leaders are well placed to exert a positive influence on teacher learning, due in part to their proximity to the classroom. However, to maximise that potential, more needs to be understood about the complex connections between instruction-oriented middle leadership and professional learning, particularly in non-Western contexts.…

Academic middle leaders play a critical role in facilitating the leadership of learning and teaching in universities. Previous research has reported the undervaluing and under-resourcing of these academic middle leadership roles. To promote a greater understanding of academic middle leaders, middle leading and middle leadership of learning and…

We explore how relational trust was evidenced within the leadership activity of one mathematics leader using cultural-historical activity theory as a theoretical perspective. We use data from interview and observation sources to suggest that relational trust was a motive object of that mathematics leader's activity. Findings contribute knowledge…

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…

Mid-level leaders (MLLs) play a vital role in higher education often taking on responsibilities that span various roles. The qualitative exploratory case study approach was used to explore the need for a coaching based leadership (CBL) development program for mid-level leaders and its potential impact on retention and succession of MLL. This…

Middle leaders play an essential role in schools but for many their position is characterised by tensions caused by 'being caught in between or sandwiched between senior management to whom they were accountable … and subordinates for whom they had some functional and often moral responsibility'. Moreover, Catholic school middle leaders face…