In this collection we focus on some of the challenges of middle leadership, whilst also considering how these can be opportunities.
The blog posts in this collection centre on the following aspects of middle leadership:
- Position – ‘Sandwich’ leadership
- Role – Operational versus strategic demands
- Skills – Transition from teaching to leadership
- Balance – Utilising full-time teaching for leadership
We aim to provide the ‘how to’ for transformative middle leadership and signpost some of the leadership research and theory available.
Therefore if you are a current or emerging middle leader, or a senior leader or Headteacher with a priority to develop your middle leaders, these posts may be of interest to you.
Are your challenges also opportunities?
This blog post digs into the realities and practicalities of being a middle leader and aims to highlight some of the challenges within the role, as well as consider how these could also be opportunities. There are a series of questions throughout the article for you to reflect upon.
What educational model are you ‘sandwiched’ within?
This blog post shares a range of theoretical models that may help you recognise how your school or your educational organisation is structured and led, and how you ‘sandwich’ within the structure in your middle leader position.
How to transform learning in your context
In the following case study we provide an empirical illustration of effective, transformational middle leadership. Note the pointers we provide and how you can transfer the learning to your own context, as you consider your position, role, and skills to balance teaching and leadership.
Applying pedagogy and andragogy to team meetings
This blog post focuses on how to lead effective meetings and how to create a culture of learning among team members, by considering the skills that can be transferred from your classroom into leading your team, and those skills that may need developing to be more adult-focused.
Implementing change: outlining the pitfalls and complexities
In this blog post, we examine some of the reasons that leading change in a school or college can fail and offer some opportunities to reflect on the skills you already have which can avoid some of the common pitfalls of implementation.
Frameworks for successful implementation
In this blog post, we explore some of the research around successful implementation and we present some models to use which will help you to navigate the complexities and avoid the pitfalls outlined in our reflection piece on implementation.
Implementing curriculum change
This case study blog post draws all of the implementation themes together through a real example of implementing curriculum change to improve pupil outcomes.
Selecting Goleman’s leadership styles
In this blog post, we explore some of the research around leadership styles. We focus on Goleman’s emotional leadership styles specifically and consider how these can form part of your leadership toolbox.
Putting your ‘toolbox’ into practice
In this blog post, we explore some of the scenarios that you may face in your middle leadership role, and what styles are most appropriate to which scenario when selecting them from your leadership ‘toolbox’.