Middle Leadership and

Management:
Teachers leading from the middle

Module 2: Middle Leadership

Learning intentions
In this module you will explore what a middle leader is and some
of the benefits of middle leaders:

• Further develop your understanding of middle leadership

• Consider the possible benefits of middle leadership
• Explore middle leadership policies and practice in
internationally and in Ireland

Middle leadership 2
Distributed leadership
• Distributed leadership recognises that more than the principal is
involved in leadership and management of the school

• Leadership and management activities are ‘stretched’ over

people and the actions of people involved in leadership is what
is important, rather than structures, roles or positional authority
(Spillane and Diamond, 2007)

• ‘concentrates on engaging expertise wherever it exists within

the organization rather than seeking this only through formal
position or role’ (Harris 2004, p.13)

• The intention and reality of distributed leadership can differ, with

a focus on managerialism evident in many instances

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Distributed leadership in Ireland
Department of Education has placed an emphasis on distributed
leadership in Irish Schools

‘(the principal) leads learning through effective use of distributed

leadership models’
(LAOS, 2016)

‘Every teacher has a leadership role within the school community

and in relation to student learning’
(Department of Education, 2018)

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Middle leadership
‘Middle leaders are the
engine of the school. In
many ways the most
important leadership in
the school’ (Wilshaw,
2014)

Middle
leadership
Middle leaders play a ‘The middle tier is
central role both inside crucial within any
and outside the organisation, system or
classroom to bring structure, to generate
about improvement positive change and
(Harris and Jones improvement’ (Harris et
2017) al 2019, p.256)
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Middle leadership
Middle leaders are typically teachers with formal positions and
responsibilities outside of the classroom

Middle leadership tasks vary widely between administrative,

pedagogical or curricular activities (Hammersley-Fletcher and Kirkham 2007)

Administrative and managerial activities have dominated middle

leadership in the past (Lindahl 2008)

Many advocate that middle leaders should be primarily involved in

leadership tasks relating to curricular and pedagogical activities (OECD 2014)

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Middle leadership internationally

Middle leaders can have a direct impact on student outcomes by

supporting high quality teaching and learning amongst their
colleagues (Harris and Jones, 2017)

Middle leaders sometimes enacted through subject leaders with

assigned time, responsibilities and allowance

Varied expertise and experiences of those in middle leadership

roles (Pickup and Price, 2007)

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Challenges of middle leadership

Over emphasis Lack of

on support and
responsibility professional
and development
managerial for middle
tasks leaders

Organisational
Lack of real challenges
autonomy and such as a lack
power to lead of time and
dual role

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 Middle leadership in Ireland historically
• Post of responsibility management system
introduced in the 1970’s

• Additional responsibilities and monetary allowance

for classroom teachers to support principal

• Inclusion of management in title reflective of

emphasis on organisational and administrative
management duties

• Moratorium on appointments to posts of

responsibility for many years left schools with
limited middle leadership

Middle leadership 9
Middle leadership policy Ireland
• Renewed focus on distributed leadership by department of
education has broadened understanding of role in recent times

• Emphasis on leadership teams with defined and shared

responsibilities

• Regular review of posts to meet needs of school

• Move from organizational tasks to tasks ‘more strategically focused

on learning’ (Forde et al 2019, p.304)

• Emphasis on teachers building their leadership capacity within

Looking at our schools and SSE process

Middle leadership 10
Looking at our schools leadership
framework

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What Irish principals say about middle
leadership

http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/14412/1/2%20Burke%20%26%20Dempsey%20-%202021%20-%20Wellbeing%20in%20Post-Covid%20Schools%2005.05.21%281%29.pdf

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 Middle leadership Ireland
• Recent restoration of a number of middle leadership
posts in some primary schools

• The Irish Primary Principal Network has noted, however,

that middle leadership remains under resourced

• Calls for release time for middle management and a

more defined structure

Middle leadership 13