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Leading from the middle : A praxis-oriented practice
Grootenboer, Peter Rönnerman, Karin Edwards-Groves, Christine
Grootenboer, Peter
Rönnerman, Karin
Edwards-Groves, Christine
Abstract
Educational leadership has long been a focus of research and scholarship that focuses on effective education and school improvement. This has usually centred on the important practices of principals; but here we focus on the leading of those who are closer to the classroom—middle leaders. Middle leaders are those who have an acknowledged leadership position, but are also involved in teaching in the classroom. In this landscape, a prime role of middle leading is site-based staff and curriculum development. In this chapter, we discuss the features, characteristics and issues associated with leading from the middle, and we show how this is a mediated practice that is critical to educational development in school sites. It is mediated since the work of the middle leader is enabled and constrained by the cultural-discursive , material -economic and social-political arrangements exuding from policy and school personnel that are brought to bear on their practices. To navigate these arrangements, we will argue that the complex relational nature of this role demands practical wisdom, and the enactment of praxis .
Keywords
Date
2017
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
Practice theory perspectives on pedagogy and education : Praxis, diversity and contestation
Volume
Issue
Page Range
243-263
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled