Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine leading from the middle, which is consistent with calls to distribute leadership, while expanding the direction of influence, from the normal top-down to include a bottom-up or lateral direction. The paper proposes that the position of the vice-principal enables the role incumbent to lead from the middle as a boundary spanner. The research question was what leadership from the middle looks like for vice-principals.

Design/methodology/approach

The study consisted of interviews of 28 vice-principals and 10 principals. A mixed case and theme-oriented strategy was adapted, with member checking with each vice-principal.

Findings

The findings indicate that in leading from the middle, vice-principals play boundary spanning roles of connecting, translating and brokering: (1) connecting between organisational levels, (2) translating between vision/direction and actualisation, (3) connecting between middle managers and (4) brokering and translating between the ministry and the school.

Originality/value

Leading from the middle is a nascent concept which is worth exploring, given the complexity of educational systems with multiple ecological levels, and the need for leadership to create coherence between the levels.

中文翻译：

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从中间带头：新加坡的副校长担任分界线

目的

本文的目的是研究从中间开始的领导，这与分配领导权的呼声是一致的，同时扩大了影响的方向，从正常的自上而下包括自下而上或横向。本文提出，副校长的位置可以使担任中间职务的人作为边界扳手发挥作用。研究的问题是，副校长的中间领导层是什么样的。

设计/方法/方法

该研究包括对28位副校长和10位校长的访谈。调整了案例和主题相结合的策略，并与每个副校长进行了成员检查。

发现

研究结果表明，从中层开始，副校长在联系，翻译和中介方面发挥着跨越边界的作用：（1）在组织层级之间进行联系，（2）在愿景/方向与实现之间进行翻译，（3）在中层管理人员之间进行联系（4）在教育部与学校之间进行中介和翻译。

创意/价值

从中间开始领导是一个新生的概念，鉴于具有多个生态级别的教育系统的复杂性，并且需要领导才能在级别之间建立连贯性，因此值得探索。