Establishing an evidence-base for supporting middle leadership practice development in schools

Journal article

Grootenboer, Peter, Tindall-Ford, Sharon, Edwards-Groves, Christine and Attard, Catherine. (2023). Establishing an evidence-base for supporting middle leadership practice development in schools. School Leadership and Management. 43(5), pp. 454-472. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2023.2271957
AuthorsGrootenboer, Peter, Tindall-Ford, Sharon, Edwards-Groves, Christine and Attard, Catherine
Abstract

Amidst ongoing calls for teaching improvement, there has been growing interest in the work of middle leaders in leading school-based curriculum and professional development. Research and policy initiatives have acknowledged that these leaders in schools are well placed to successfully drive educational change that leads to improved educational outcomes for students. This has led to an increase in development programmes for middle leaders, but there appears to be a distinctive disconnect between the research and theory that should inform these, initiatives. This article reports findings gathered from a questionnaire completed by almost 200 middle leaders from across Australia, conducted as part of a larger national mixed method research studying middle leader practices. The instrument was designed to investigate the practices of middle leaders who were responsible for leading school-based development, based on three domains of middle leading practices: leading and teaching, managing and facilitating, and communicating and collaborating. Multivariate analysis techniques were used to analyse the data, and there were statistically significant differences in the practices of middle leaders based on school type and their professional accreditation levels. Participant responses related to highlighted high administration workload potentially impacted ML practices related to leading teaching and learning.

KeywordsMiddle leadership; educational development; leading practice; leadership development
Year01 Jan 2023
JournalSchool Leadership and Management
Journal citation43 (5), pp. 454-472
PublisherRoutledge
ISSN1363-2434
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2023.2271957
Web address (URL)https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632434.2023.2271957
Open accessPublished as non-open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range454-472
Publisher's version
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All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online15 Nov 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted10 Oct 2023
Deposited26 Aug 2024
Additional information

© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Place of publicationUnited Kingdom
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