Quite literally, if a school has effective middle leaders, it will be successful. Without a strong middle leadership team, there is no way that a senior leadership team can sustainably function or implement change in a school.
Middle leadership roles can be complicated though and getting it right can be difficult. Middle leadership is an art. It isn’t something that can be mastered overnight, but that said there are certainly some areas to focus on if you are looking to be an effective and, more importantly, an efficient middle leader.
Effective Middle Leadership Series
Part 1: The principles of effective middle leadership: This article
Part 2: Six middle leadership styles: Published September 7. Click here.
Part 3: Leading the subject curriculum: Published September 13. Click here.
Part 4: Assessing and quality assuring teaching as a middle leader: Published September 20. Click here.
Part 5: Collective efficacy for your team: Published September 26. Click here.
Know your stuff
As a middle leader, you should be a font of knowledge for your area in your school. You need to know your subject or area inside-out.
That may mean being informed about the curriculum or it may mean being up-to-date with current guidelines and legislation.
And being informed means being up-to-speed on a local level, specific to your context, but on a national and policy level too.
The first step is your subject knowledge. You will need to be able to translate subject requirements to others, including non-specialists. It is also important to have an understanding broader than just the curriculum and exam requirements.
Not only will this give you the ability to support others, but it will mean you can focus on ensuring learners really build a love for your subject. You will also be able to respond more easily to any changes in policy.
So keep your ear to the ground in terms of exam board, curriculum or general subject updates and developments. Get signed up to Twitter and follow reliable sources of information. It’s incredible how quickly you can get isolated if you stay in your own bubble.
The second step is translating your knowledge to the classroom. Effective middle leaders can decode their subject knowledge, interpret curriculum requirements and then “re-encode” that knowledge in the form of their own curriculum.
Of course, this isn’t a one-person job, but ultimately the responsibility of the curriculum for your subject rests with you as a middle leader.
Finally, and potentially most importantly, is to be pedagogically sound. A key part of middle leadership is guiding teachers and having a strong pedagogical grounding means that you can fulfil this role more easily.
The SecEd Podcast: Effective middle leadership
One of our most popular episodes, this February 2021 discussion considers the skills, traits and approaches that effective middle leaders employ in the secondary school environment, offering a range of practical advice, tips and reflection. The podcast features guidance and advice from three practising middle leaders: https://bit.ly/3KADitL
Know your staff
To lead any team successfully, you need to know what makes them tick. Knowing your team well gives you some distinct tactical advantages when it comes to progressing your area of responsibility as a middle leader.
The more you know your team, the more you can play to their strengths and help them address any weaknesses. Understanding those around you also builds a culture of trust – it really doesn’t take much, but the effects are incredible when it comes to morale, outcomes and longevity. And ultimately, all of this will benefit staff retention levels, and if you can get that right, you will have a team that grows together.
On top of this, it is you who manages your team day-to-day, meaning you need to have a clear understanding of how your team is functioning and what you can do to help.
It is important to remember that good middle leaders create an “environment for thinking”. Often, middle leadership is the first taste of responsibility and authority that teachers get. As such, it is instinctive to think that you have to micromanage everything that is done by your team.
It may feel counterintuitive, but the best way to get the most out of the staff that you line manage is to empower them as thinkers. If they can make informed decisions, it significantly improves the efficiency of the department. It means that they are not always looking to you for instructions and therefore they are not waiting around to be told what to do.
Building a team atmosphere is important too. A sense of collective efficacy is one of the most influential factors when it comes to student progress. Build a shared responsibility. Create shared goals. It is important that your team shares your vision and everyone understands where they fit into the bigger picture.
Model positivity and lead
When you are a middle leader, you need to support the party line. It can be difficult sometimes, but your team will be looking to you and, as such, their acceptance of whole school initiatives and change will (often subliminally) depend to some extent on you, with teachers looking for your reaction and responses to things.
It will be hard at times because you won’t always agree with what you have been asked (or told!) to do, but a part of the responsibility of a middle leader is to support the senior leadership team with the dissemination and implementation of approaches.
The important thing is to make sure your team understands that at the same time you are also feeding back to the senior leadership team. You are the eyes and ears on the ground essentially, and another key part of being a middle leader is this upwards feedback so that those in the ultimate position of power can make the most informed decisions and know when initiatives have not landed well.
Many schools fall down because middle leaders become disaffected with the senior leadership team. Interestingly, this is sometimes due to senior leadership becoming detached and misinformed because middle leaders aren’t communicating to them what is really happening on the ground.
Difficult conversations
There will be times when you must take decisions and you must have difficult conversations. As always, communication is key. Be honest, act with integrity and, most importantly, know your policies and protocols. If in doubt, seek some reassurance from your line manager and make sure that you voice any concerns if you are asked to do something new or something you don’t feel comfortable with.
Have a plan
If you want to succeed, you need to know where you are going. Having short-term and long-term aims is important for you and for your team. They will allow you to build that valuable sense of shared direction and also keep you motivated.
Short-term goals may include the rewriting of schemes of work or maybe the training of staff on a particular topic. The timeline for these things is likely to be a few weeks or maybe months. Normally, such goals will have a valuable place in terms of improving teaching and learning.
The advantage of short-term goals is that you can be responsive to the needs of the students and your team. Remember: the more informed you are, the more likely it is that you will make effective decisions around short-term goals.
Long-term goals may include data targets or mass overhauls of your department or team ethos and approach. These goals take longer and need time to embed before you will see results. The key here is having a plan and sticking to it.
A pivotal role
Middle leaders are the glue that keeps the school stuck together. Remember how important you are in school and be aware of how much of an impact you can have.
- Adam Riches is a senior leader for teaching and learning, a Specialist Leader in Education and author of Teach Smarter (Routledge, 2020). Follow him on Twitter @TeacherMrRiches. Read his articles for SecEd at http://bit.ly/seced-riches