ABSTRACT

In Australia, there is a national education agenda for school improvement with an increasing focus on how school leaders can fulfil this agenda. As school principals are arguably faced with increasing demands, the importance of school middle leaders is increasing. This article presents the initial findings from a larger project on middle leadership in Australian schools, the first phase of which is a documentary analysis of significant texts including policy documents, websites and reports. The purpose of the document analysis was to examine expectations placed on, and support provided for, school middle leaders in Australian schools to make explicit the potential implications for policymakers, leaders and researchers investigating this field. We argue there is a lack of clarity about the role of middle leadership across Australia, with unclear policies, and variations in expectations, titles and levels of support. What is evident is that middle leaders play a pivotal role as they lead teaching, learning, and pastoral care. They carry out these roles in subject areas, key stages and classrooms, and among teachers. While there are a range of professional development provisions for middle leaders across different states, middle leadership needs to be an area of increased focus across Australia.

摘要

在澳大利亚，有一项全国性的学校改进教育议程，越来越注重学校领导者如何实现这一议程。随着学校校长面临越来越多的要求，学校中层领导的重要性日益提高。本文介绍了来自澳大利亚学校中层领导的一个较大项目的初步发现，该项目的第一阶段是对包括政策文件，网站和报告在内的重要文本进行文献分析。文件分析的目的是检验对澳大利亚学校中层领导的期望和支持，以明确表明对研究该领域的决策者，领导者和研究人员的潜在影响。我们认为，澳大利亚中层领导层的角色尚不明确，政策不明确，期望，职称和支持水平也不尽相同。显而易见的是，中层领导者在领导教学，学习和教牧方面起着举足轻重的作用。他们在学科领域，关键阶段和教室以及教师中扮演这些角色。尽管为各州的中层领导制定了一系列专业发展规定，但中层领导需要成为整个澳大利亚重点关注的领域。