How do the leadership strategies of middle leaders affect teachers’ learning in schools? A case study from China

ABSTRACT

Research on how to support school-based teacher learning has largely focused on the role of leaders at the top of the school organisation. It has paid little attention to middle leaders, who directly initiate and are deeply involved in teachers’ learning processes. Linking leadership constructs with organisational learning, we examined how middle leaders practise leadership to support teachers’ learning and professional development in school-based settings. Taking a qualitative case-comparison approach, we recruited 22 teachers and middle leaders from two school-based communities in a secondary school in Shanghai, China. We found that two combinations of leadership approaches were enacted by middle leaders to motivate various forms of learning for change. A bureaucratic leadership approach, supplemented by professional strategies, supported teachers’ performance-oriented learning; and a coordinated bureaucratic and professional leadership approach supported teachers’ meaning-oriented learning. Different interpretations of the role of middle leaders and the goals of school-based teacher learning and professional development resulted in various combinations of leadership strategies, which shaped the form and quality of learning. We further suggest ways to promote teachers’ sustainable learning and professional development in school settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Middle leaders
• leadership strategies
• teacher learning
• organisational learning
• china

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the This work was supported by Shenzhen Planning Office of Educational Science [zdzz18006]; the Ministry of Education of China under the Young Fund for Social Sciences and Humanities [15YJC880135].

Notes on contributors

Xiaolei Zhang

Xiaolei Zhang is an associate professor of Education at Tianjin University in China. Her work focuses on teacher learning and professional development, teacher leadership, curriculum and instruction, and educational reform.

Jocelyn L. N. Wong

Jocelyn L. N. Wong is an associate professor of Education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, SAR China. Her work focuses on teacher professional development, education policy, teacher training and school improvement, and qualitative research methodology.

Xiaofang Wang

Xiaofang Wang is an associate professor at School of Education, Normal College of Shenzhen University in China. His work focuses on teachers’ professional development, school leadership, and school organizational learning.