Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHRISTINE FORDE
The term middle leadership is quite generalised. It’s not a specific role. It covers a layer of leadership.
KATHLEEN KERRIGAN
The rule of the middle leader and the extent to which they can contribute to those whole school matters is actually determined by the senior leaders and the school, how much are they willing to share of their roles, their responsibilities? How do they conceptualise the role of the middle leader? And therefore, how is the school organised as a result of that?
CHRISTINE FORDE
Different school contexts and size will impact upon how middle leadership is exercised.
KAREN WATHAN
Lots of schools now have different terms for their leaders within their schools. So they’ll be branded actually as quite different things in different schools.
CHRISTINE FORDE
The task is to build middle leadership. And that’s a role that contributes. It’s not a staging post on a journey. It is a place that is really important. And I think we have to get away from the idea that it’s simply about moving up a hierarchy.
SUE ROBERTS
When you decided about where you want to go as a teacher from a teacher, there’s two ways. You might want to be a middle leader who wants to progress to lead a school of their own to become a head teacher. But then there are others who don’t want that. But they want to be a middle leader. They want to be leading a team possibly with an AoLE, as it is for us now developing the new curriculum.
TANIA RICKARD
Leading in the middle grounds theory at the site of practice. And I think that’s really absolutely true because as senior leaders, we tend to be in that helicopter pilot mode, overseeing strategically. And we really need to rely on those middle leaders and the practice that they’re seeing and the influence that they can have, not just on the teaching in the classroom but also on how we lead our schools.
KATHLEEN KERRIGAN
Middle leaders are the closest to what goes on in the classrooms. They are working day to day with those teams. And they are quite often classroom teachers themselves. So with that in mind, they’ve got their finger on the pulse, if you like, of what’s going on. And they can make assessments about what needs to change. And they can be the drivers of that change for improvement.
CHRISTINE FORDE
If we are looking to improve the learning outcomes of young people, middle leadership has not just got a role to play. It’s got a crucial role to play.