School middle leaders in Australia, Chile and Singapore

ABSTRACT

The paper brings together for the first time a sequence of six studies, from the one university faculty, on middle leaders from Australia, Chile and Singapore. All studies followed a consistent approach using multiple-perspective interviews. Middle leaders were seen to be key personnel in improving teaching and learning, and when they have well-defined roles and sufficient expectation and support were seen to be impacting on student outcomes. Yet too often they had limited impact, did not receive sufficient support from senior leaders, and worked in school structures that hindered their work.

KEYWORDS:

• Middle leaders
• school success
• school improvement
• leadership

Acknowledgements

Whilst I take full responsibility for the paper I draw on the empirical and conceptual work of my research students and colleagues including: Peter Cooper, Director of Burke Hall, Xavier College; Michelle Cotter, Principal, Avila College; Lawrie Drysdale, Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, The University of Melbourne; Marcel Huerta Villalobos, early childhood educator, and research student at The University of Melbourne; William Keane, Deputy Principal, Emmaus College; Stanley Koh, Centre Co-ordinator, Centre for Vocational and Educational Policy, The University of Melbourne, Peter White, CEO, Australian College for Emergency Medicine.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.