Conference Agenda

The Symposium poses a number of questions that relate to the concept of Middle Leadership, both nationally (Ireland) and internationally. The three papers are from the same school of education, MIC Thurles, and are connected by the common theme of addressing a number of key aspects of the topic including:

1. A definition of middle leadership

2. An exploration of effective research methodologies

3. A response to policy documents and assumptions within

4. An exploration of Middle Leadership in the context of theoretical frameworks including

Distributed Leadership

The purpose of this research project is to capture middle leader voice on Middle Leadership (ML) as a concept, in an Irish context. This is important research considering the current changing approach to recruitment, purpose and competencies in the middle leadership space in Irish policy. The research question focuses on capturing middle leader perspectives, asking ‘what is middle leadership?’ Three ML themes are the focus of the embedded research questions, namely, autonomy, impact and potential. It is important to capture voice as future policy iterations in this space must be informed by a multitude of stakeholders. Furthermore, in the absence of context specific research, there is a strong reliance on international studies which cannot capture the Irish experience and cultural context of ML in post primary schools. The study was designed in the context of a lack of research in Ireland, changing policy demands and the scope to examine the concept in a more nuanced way.

The methodological approach is Psychosocial (Holloway & Jefferson 2013). The approach and methods selected reflect an attempt to unlock both the participants internal and external world view with the visual vernacular as a key data source (Cleland & MacCleod 2018). Participants have been asked to keep an image diary of 'middle leadership' over a two-week period in the first stage of data collection. Free Association Narrative Interviewing (Holloway & Jefferson 2013) is being used in the second stage of data collection. Participants are encouraged to offer whatever comes to mind, free from overly rigid questioning by the researcher, using their image diary as the primary prompt. The images have been brought to interview and used as lines of enquiry, rather than the researcher determining the questions in a formally structured way prior to meeting.

Initial data analysis shows the Irish experience of Middle Leadership is in flux, and also that it is a change leading layer of leadership within the system. Specific contextual themes have emerged, such as Mental Health, Corporatisation, ML as a Career Destination and being Unseen. Other themes such as Time, Promotion and Collegiality have emerged and these are reflected in the international literature. Further exploration of the Irish contextual themes is ongoing, as they can inform future potential and professional development. A typology of Irish middle leadership may emerge, which is not reflected internationally, as this space appears to capture the very core inner workings of a school community and is at the heart of all that happens or otherwise.

This research connects well with the conference theme in bringing the voices of an established and strong layer of leadership within the distributed model espoused by Irish policy. If quality professional development is important for school effectiveness and improvement, this research, in capturing perspectives, can help to understand professional potential as well as professional stumbling blocks in this space. The changing nature of ML, against the backdrop of the recent policy updates of 2018 and 2022, mean that future professional education should be influenced by ML’s current experience.

Successive Irish policies have emphasised the importance of DL and the principal's role in developing leadership capacity in others (DES 2016a, 2016b, 2018, 2019). This change in the conceptualisation of leading schools and how/if principals engage with middle leaders' (MLs) capacity as leaders, as opposed to managers, is worthy of exploration. MLs are critical to the success of DL (Kavanagh 2020) and, therefore, to a sustainable principalship. Though the concept of middle leadership has drawn international interest, a dearth of Irish research endures (Forde et al., 2019). International research usually focuses on MLs' perspectives concerning their role, with some exceptions (Cardno and Bassett 2015, Fernandes 2018, Bush and Ng 2019). This paper's point of departure is the principal's perspective because research shows that the principal constructs the ML role (Gurr and Drysdale 2013). Thus, an in-depth understanding of their perspectives holds value for maximising ML potential.

Research Question: What are principals' perspectives on the role of middle leadership, and how can an understanding of these be used to inform policy, professional development, and practice?

- How do principals construct the middle leadership role?

- How is middle leadership being utilised by principals?

- How do principals plan for ML development, and what is the role of succession planning in this?

This research uses a grounded theory (GT) approach. Findings in this paper form part of a larger PhD project comprising five case study schools. This paper focuses on findings from interviews with five principals. Comprehensive analysis of policy and literature provided the basis for the initial interview. In line with GT, data collection and analysis occurred simultaneously. The analysis of each interview informed the interview protocol for each subsequent interview. Transcripts were analysed using an edited analysis in NVivo. The preliminary findings that began to emerge are detailed below.

Principals' desire to move away from task-based ML roles towards leadership is fraught with challenges, e.g., a lack of understanding of the ML role amongst both MLs and staff, lack of time to enact leadership and a lack of leadership training among MLs. Principals seek to match school priorities to peoples' strengths and passions, including among teachers without formal posts, rather than adhering strictly to duties lists.

Regarding succession planning, concerns exist regarding advantaging some staff over others regarding competency-based interviews. The removal of seniority concerning appointments has increased the principals' workload but is viewed positively overall. Seniority is still highly regarded among school staff. There is consensus that MLs are not equipped for the complexity of their leadership role, but disagreement on how to mitigate this. Reviewing the role involves educating the wider staff and is generally catalysed by upcoming appointments rather than routinely initiated as policy recommends. In theory, MLs are accountable to the board and the principal, but in practice, principals report a lack of mechanisms to deal with underperforming MLs.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the Symposium on Middle Leadership in schools. Evidence will be drawn from a range of applied assignments that participants on a Master’s programme in Middle Leadership and Mentoring have shared. Such insights assist in establishing emerging trends associated with the actions and emotions of those in positions, or seeking positions, of Middle Leadership in our schools.

The programme of study from which the actions and emotions of practitioners are gleaned, is team-taught and delivered in a hybrid format which allows access to participants from Ireland and also from a range of international settings including Australia, Brasil, England, Malawi, Nepal and Switzerland. As well as being an international programme the students come from a range of backgrounds including early childhood, primary, post-primary and further education settings. This relatively unique cross-sectoral and international dimension to the progamme makes a review of the work of the students all the more interesting and pertinent.

The data source for the paper is a random selection of students’ applied assignments and the themes and tensions that emerge from their own rich description of their experience of engaging in activities that can be described as leading from the middle (Hargreaves, 2020). The theoretical framework is guided by the work of David Gurr (2023) who describes middle leaders are teachers who have an additional formal organizational responsibility. The concept of Middle Leader is often expressed or suppressed by other attending concepts such as distributed leadership (Harris and Jones, 2017). It is also found that the title ‘Middle Leader’ can be vague in its definition and carries with it many inherent tensions as set against relational contingencies such as school culture, leadership styles, clarity of role, and the position of middle leader vis a vis that of teacher and colleague. These themes and tensions are explored in this paper within the context of two key theoretical frames, namely Social Capital and Positioning Theory.

The results and findings from this study identify some key research practices that might assist in developing a deeper understanding of Middle Leadership and the modes of study that might best support middle leaders to attain a level of interconnected confidence and competence. The paper pays particular attention to participants’ practice data and the insights that emerge including the place of mentoring in the context of leading and being led from the middle.

The paper aligns with the conference theme and the variables associated with school effectiveness and improvement. It addresses the role of teachers and school leaders in supporting and promoting student learning through an exploration of practice and interactions, as captured and shared by practitioners. It has an international dimension and a cross-sectoral approach that may appeal to conference attendees and assist in continuing to explore the concept of Middle Leadership in the interest of supporting school effectiveness and improvement.