Does middle leadership matter? Evidence from a study of system-wide reform on English language curriculum

ABSTRACT

This quantitative study was designed to examine how the interplay of middle leadership and other contextual factors such as teachers’ receptivity toward the reform and teacher professional development impacts on implementing system-wide English language curriculum reform. Through stratified random sampling, 352 English language teachers from 51 local secondary schools were recruited to participate in the study. Structural equation modeling and multilevel analysis techniques were employed to examine the direct and indirect effects of different contextual factors on teachers’ pedagogical change and perceived student learning. The results indicate that middle leadership at the subject department level exerts substantial positive and direct influence on teachers’ change in pedagogical practices, their participation in system-wide professional development activities, teachers’ receptivity toward the reform and their perceived student learning. The results of the multilevel analysis also indicate that middle leadership at the subject department level accounts for over 60% of the variation of the perceived student learning across the participating schools. We argue that unleashing the full leadership potential of middle leaders is conducive to effecting change in schools.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

Sandy C. Li

Sandy C. Li is a Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is the Chairperson of the University’s eLearning Committee and has been a member of the HKSAR government’s steering committee on IT in Education. He has published widely in the areas of e-leadership, social media and learning, mobile learning and computer supported learning environments.

Anita Y.K. Poon

Anita Y.K. Poon is an associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research areas are English language education, language policy and education policy. She has published widely in international refereed journals such as Current Issues in Language Planning, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and International Review of Education.

Tony K.H. Lai

Tony K.H. Lai is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Education Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has been involved in teacher education for over a decade and he  is currently teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in English language education, morphology & semantics and phonetics & phonology.

Selena T.C. Tam

Selena T.C. Tam was a research assistant at Hong Kong Baptist University and is now serving as a teacher in a Hong Kong secondary school. She has taught English at different organizations and has been involved in a number of large-scale ELT research. She is currently in charge of the reading programme in school and is working on research related to reading and writing.