Teach Middle East Magazine Sep - Dec 2020 Issue 1 Volume 8 | Page 30

Sharing Good Practice
STEPPING UP TO LEADERSHIP:
IS IT YOUR TIME?
BY JENI LING
Effective middle leaders:
• Model
outstanding
teaching and learning
classroom
• Innovate and lead change
• Set direction and plan
• Motivate and influence others
• Make best use of professional
expertise and knowledge
• Value and demonstrate inclusive
practices
• Foster teams and teamwork
• They do this through the process of
• Curriculum leadership to meet the
needs of the pupils
• Data driven analysis to identify gaps
in attainment
Middle Leadership
The role of the middle leader is one of
the most challenging in any school. It
is often presumed that great teachers
will be great leaders and managers,
but there is little evidence to back this
up, so it is important to look carefully
at the additional skills required in
fulfilling the middle leader role.
This may be the first step up into a
leadership role, or an opportunity to
stay as an exemplary class teacher
with some leadership responsibilities.
The expectations of a middle
leader vary enormously according
to the setting. A middle leader in
a big secondary school may have
a significant team to lead, usually
a subject or a phase. In a primary
school you may be leading a subject
area across a school, which may entail
leading staff who are senior to you. In
a special school setting you may be
leading a team, which might include
a significant number of support staff.
Each setting provides its own rewards
and challenges.
The nature of schools and their
leadership roles, means that teachers
moving into a leadership role need
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to transform themselves, almost
instantly, into a leader. Achieving
a balance between the demands
of a full-time classroom role and a
new leadership role is vital, whilst
ensuring a relentless focus on high
quality teaching and learning for every
student.
It is therefore important to have a
clear vision, underpinned by clear
processes and structure. These act
as an underlying compass, a toolkit
to guide and prioritise your decision-
making process. This is an essential
process as you are shaping your
leadership role.
How do Middle leaders
contribute to school
effectiveness?
The core role of the middle leader
is to lead and support their team
of teachers, to turn the strategy of
the senior leaders into outstanding
classroom practice on a daily basis.
High performing middle leaders
balance the drive for consistent
teacher performance in their area of
responsibility and work collaboratively
across the school to ensure
consistency between teams.
Class Time
• Lesson
observations
with
constructive,
developmental
feedback
• Building effective relationships
within and beyond their team
• Holding staff to account for their
pupils’ progress
• Identifying,
supporting
and
evaluating
staff
professional
development
Focus for middle leaders
Learning on the job as well as
maintaining and modelling their
classroom practice can be difficult to
balance.
Strategy- middle leaders will need
confidence and a clear sense of
direction, as well as a strategy for
addressing underperformance. They
will need to be able to influence and
inspire the team to come on board
with their ideas. It is the middle
leaders who drive the school forward,
by supporting and implementing the
strategic direction of the school.
Leading and managing people- this
can be one of the biggest challenges
for middle leaders. They will no doubt
have colleagues of varying abilities
and motivations, each of whom may
need a different style or strategy to
manage, to nurture, to challenge and