Conference Agenda

Middle leadership in schools has gained increasing attention as a key mechanism for mediating instructional improvement and supporting teachers’ professional learning under intensified global accountability demands over the past decades (Fullan, 2015; Harris et al., 2019; Harris & Jones, 2017). These developments have positioned instruction-based middle leaders in a crucial role for school-based improvement (Shaked, 2023). Within this broader international trend, the concept of middle leadership is emerging in the Chinese secondary school context and has been institutionalised through the introduction of an instruction-based role, the Teaching Research Group (TRG) leader. Teachers appointed into these positions are formally responsible for coordinating subject-based instructional work and teachers’ professional learning within their curriculum area expertise.

In the context of the Chinese educational system, TRG leaders are widely recognised for their positive impact on effective teaching and learning. Curriculum-focused TRGs operate as the key mechanism for Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in Chinese schools, serving as a significant platform for teachers to refine classroom practice and engage in ongoing professional learning (Chen & Zhang, 2022). Situated in a school-based management model shaped by hierarchical norms, TRG leaders exert their influence within a predominantly top-down organisational structure (Lo, 2019). In practice, their work centres on collaborating and supporting colleagues to strengthen instructional and professional growth, while also modelling effective classroom teaching (Tang et al., 2022).

Although recent policies (MoE, 2019) have highlighted the pivotal role of TRG leaders in enhancing teaching quality and organising activities to support teachers’ professional development, there is limited empirical research evidence in the Chinese literature related to the implementation of the TRG leader’s position and any impact on teachers’ effectiveness or student outcomes, particularly in less developed regions of China . This study involved an in-depth investigation into the role of TRG leaders in an underdeveloped area of China (including rural areas), encompassing their conceptualisation, implementation strategies and approaches to teacher development. Based on the data analysis, it was evident that TRG leaders’ role conception remained contested at both the policy and practice levels. The absence of an explicit role description and clearly defined responsibilities at the local and school level has generated divergent interpretations and expectations of TRG leadership within schools. More specifically, TRG leaders were found to serve as administrative organisers who maintain teaching routines and collective activities in a stable, predictable manner within daily practice, reflecting senior leaders’ and some teachers’ expectations that collaboration will translate into pedagogical improvement. Nevertheless, TRG leaders frequently resist being characterised as “leaders,” given their constrained mandate for decision-making and limited formal authority within the school context.

Although TRGs were commonly recognised as leaders of site-based professional learning for teachers (Thurlings et al., 2015), the scope of this role was shaped by the logistics of the wider accountability environment. However, TRG leaders routinely organised collective activities to foster teachers’ growth, and shared instructional practices to facilitate the exchange of practice-based, transferable strategies that supported student learning. In a high-stakes examination system, professional learning was often subordinated to a focus on learning for summative assessment, potentially narrowing what counts as legitimate inquiry and limiting deeper learning.

In India, educational institutions experienced significant teaching-learning interruptions and moved in and out of several lockdowns during the COVID-19 crisis (Murali & Maiorano, 2021). Despite lacking a strategic plan and the unpreparedness of educators and students, the mainstream education system was compelled to acclimate itself suddenly to online platforms (Suneja & Bagai, 2021; Khanapurkar et al., 2020). Evidence (Oxfam India’s status report, 2020; Murali & Maiorano, 2021; Narang & Bedi, 2024) suggests that many schools either responded slowly or lacked the capacity to respond effectively to the call for a digital education system during the COVID-19 crisis. Rising anxieties, repeated delays in school reopenings, and unsatisfactory responses from formal schools led students and families to turn to diverse forms of private tutoring (Narang & Bedi, 2024). Amidst this situation, when schools faced ongoing challenges and transitioning to online education was difficult, what activities were parallel education providers, such as private tutoring (PT) centres, engaged in that captured student attention? What made the PT centers responsive? What are the factors that allowed or hindered their ability to respond the way they did?

This research adopts the crisis leadership framework to analyse how PT leaders responded to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Crisis leadership scholarship is particularly relevant here, as it centers on the processes by which a crisis shapes leadership behaviour and decision-making, and on how leaders act and influence others. Although crisis leadership has emerged as a promising domain within leadership research, it remains a neglected aspect and underexplored dimension of educational leadership research (Striepa & Cunningham, 2022; Urick et al, 2021). Only a handful of scholars have used crisis leadership scholarship to understand and explain how educational leaders address disruptions. This is concerning because a leader must possess a set of specific skills to manage and cope with a crisis, which differ from those required in regular times. Given the pandemic context, the researcher employs a crisis leadership lens to deepen understanding of leadership processes and to contribute to the evolving literature.

The intensification of work has become a defining feature of contemporary working life across many sectors. Growing expectations, accelerated work rhythms, and the increasing complexity of daily tasks shape how professionals experience and make sense of their work. In early childhood education and care (ECEC) centre leaders’ work is increasingly characterized by simultaneous demands, extensive administrative responsibilities, pedagogical leadership, and the need to respond rapidly to changing organisational and societal expectations. As ECEC units have expanded and expectations regarding pedagogical quality have risen, leadership work has become more complex and demanding (Heikkinen et al., 2022). Against this backdrop, it is critical to understand how leaders themselves discuss and make sense of their work in an era marked by intensifying demands.

The aim of this study is to examine how ECE centre leaders describe their work within a rapidly changing professional landscape and how a work-related sense of coherence (work-SoC) is reflected in their accounts. In addition, the study explores the types of arrhythmias or disruptions that challenge or undermine centre leaders’ sense of coherence at work.

The central theoretical concept in the study is work-related sense of coherence (work-SoC), which is based on Aaron Antonovsky’s concept of sense of coherence (SOC; 1979, 1987). The work-SoC consists of three dimensions. Comprehensibility, referring to the extent to which one perceives work-related experiences as structured and predictable; manageability, the perception of having the resources to meet work demands; and meaningfulness, the sense that work is worthwhile and emotionally engaging (Bauer & Jenny, 2007).

In this study, disruptions that weaken work-SoC are approached through the concept of arrhythmia (Lefebvre, 2004). Arrhytmias refers to moments where the flow, order, or logic of work appears disrupted, reflecting the tensions that arise when intensified work rhythms collide with the need for clarity, manageability, and meaningfulness. This phenomenon is known to involve multitasking, the compression of tasks into shorter time frames, and the accelerating pace and efficiency demands that shape everyday work. By analysing how these elements surface in leaders’ descriptions of their work, the study contributes to understanding how intensified working conditions affect leadership in ECEC and how leaders make sense of—and strive to maintain coherence within—their increasingly demanding roles.

Prior research has consistently shown that a strong work-SoC is associated with better work-related wellbeing, greater resilience in the face of stress, and improved coping with demanding situations. Thus, examining how these dimensions appear in leaders’ speech offers insight into their work-related wellbeing in a rapidly changing environment. Also, by addressing the moments of fragmentation in center leaders’ accounts, the research aims to understand the conditions under which work-SoC is strained or restored within the complex context of ECE leardership.

Research questions are:

1. What kinds of interpretative frames regarding the work-related sense of coherence can be identified in the speech of ECE centre leaders?

• In what ways do these interpretative frames reflect comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness in work?

1. How do arrhythmias become visible in the interpretative frames of work- SoC?

INTRODUCTION/THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Educational systems undergoing decentralization and continuous reform increasingly rely on leadership models that extend beyond formal school management. Despite many leadership approaches-styles , distributed leadership has been promoted as a mechanism for enhancing teacher empowerment, professional learning, teacher motivation, teacher collaboration and instructional quality (Bellibaş et al., 2021; Bektaş et al., 2022). However, empirical evidence explaining how distributed leadership translates into teacher self-efficacy remains limited, especially in educations systems undergoing transition. This study seeks to contribute to the ongoing academic debate on the factors that may influence the enhancement of teacher self-efficacy in context of leadership roles and autonomy by examining the role of distributed leadership and the mechanisms through which it may operate. Enhancing teacher self-efficacy is essential due to its documented associations with multiple professional outcomes (Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008; Marcionetti & Castelli, 2023).

Self-efficacy is defined as individuals’ beliefs in their capability to organize and execute the courses of action required to attain desired outcomes in specific situations (Bandura 1997) .

In education this can be translated as teachers’ beliefs in their capability to plan, organize, and carry out the actions required to successfully accomplish specific teaching tasks and to positively influence student learning, engagement, and classroom management, even in challenging or demanding situations (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy 2001). Self-efficacy has been linked to reduced burnout and increased teacher resilience, enhanced teacher agency and overall student’s academic outcomes (Li,2023; Wang,2022). In the Kosovo context, strengthening and sustaining teachers’ self-efficacy is particularly important, as the education system is undergoing continuous reform and transition.

On the other hand, two constructs that are widely discussed lately in the contemporary educational leadership literature and that may have important implications for teachers’ professional functioning and enhanced self-efficacy are teacher autonomy and teacher leadership.
Teacher autonomy refers to teachers’ perceived control over instructional practices and may operate as a key mechanism through which distributed leadership enables teachers to exercise professional judgment in instructional decision-making, potentially contributing to enhanced instructional quality and teacher agency (OECD, 2019).

Teacher leadership, in turn, can be understood as teachers’ active involvement in leading instructional improvement, professional learning, and school-level initiatives beyond their classroom responsibilities, which may support teachers’ professional capacity and sense of efficacy (Sawalhi & Chaaban, 2022).

Furthermore, although teacher self-efficacy has been consistently associated with positive professional outcomes, integrative models that simultaneously examine how distributed leadership may influence teacher self-efficacy through teacher autonomy and teacher leadership and how these variables interact with each other remain scarce in European education systems undergoing systemic transition.

The conceptual model is grounded in Distributed Leadership Theory, the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) model, and Social Cognitive Theory. Distributed leadership is conceptualized as a collective and relational practice enacted through interactions among school actors rather than being confined to formal roles (Spillane, 2006). From a JD–R perspective, distributed leadership functions as an important organizational resource that enhances teachers’ autonomy and professional agency, thereby activating motivational processes (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, such supportive leadership conditions are expected to strengthen teachers’ self-efficacy by shaping beliefs in their instructional capabilities (Bandura, 1997). Accordingly, this study seeks to address the following research questions:

questions:

1.What is the impact of distributed leadership on teacher self-efficacy, teacher leadership, and teacher autonomy?

2. What is the impact of teacher autonomy on teacher leadership and teacher self-efficacy?

3. What is the impact of teacher leadership on teacher self-efficacy?

4. How do teacher autonomy and teacher leadership, individually and sequentially, mediate the relationship between distributed leadership and teacher self-efficacy?