Successful Middle Leadership in Secondary Schools

A Practical Guide to Subject and Team Effectiveness

Peter Fleming

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138479043
• eBook ISBN: 9781351066686
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book aims to help those in middle leadership posts become more confident and effective in their roles. It will also assist anyone considering becoming a middle leader to prepare for the challenges ahead and avoid common mistakes made by the novice team leader.

Packed with practical advice, the book encourages readers to engage with key issues, reflect on their approach and make the changes needed to improve their performance and that of their team. Covering all aspects of the leadership role, it contains advice and information on:

• developing a clear vision
• improving teaching and learning
• raising standards
• team building
• holding others to account and conducting challenging conversations
• managing meetings.

The second edition has been updated throughout to reflect current role expectations within a rapidly changing education landscape. New chapters have been written by a current head teacher and a highly successful head of department and the author has provided more detailed guidance on improving teaching and learning through the provision of effective in-school professional development for teachers and support staff.

With self-evaluation tools, case studies and reflection and action points, this book is essential reading for all current and aspiring middle leaders in secondary schools.

CHAPTER

1

What is middle leadership?

Introduction

Middle leaders have a pivotal role in school; without them schools cannot run effectively and are unlikely to improve. Middle leaders are in many ways the engine house of a school with those occupying middle leader roles having a direct and potentially powerful impact on colleagues and students alike. All aspects of school effectiveness can be linked to the quality of leadership in a school. Ofsted inspectors and school improvement professionals are usually keen to explore the impact of leadership at all levels not just the work of the head teacher and senior staff. This is because they understand that a head teacher and senior staff, important as they are, need effective leaders at all levels in order for a school to thrive and improve. A good understanding of leadership and management is therefore important for those in the middle tier. Well-managed and motivated middle leaders with a deep understanding of leadership will contribute significantly to driving up standards in their school.

Defining middle leadership

The terms ‘middle leadership’ and ‘middle management’ are sometimes used interchangeably, though they do in fact refer to different things. Effective middle leaders need also to be effective managers and so it is important to clarify what these labels mean. Let’s start with ‘leadership’. In essence, leadership involves motivating people to act towards achieving a common goal. It follows therefore that leaders are people with a clear sense of where their team is heading. They have a vision of what excellence looks like and the ability to motivate others to join them on the journey towards excellence. By contrast, managers are people who can use available resources to accomplish tasks and reach targets; to move a team towards agreed goals; to plan the route. Middle leaders in schools constitute a layer of leadership between the senior leadership team and classroom practitioners and must be able to both lead and manage to be effective. They need to have a clear vision of excellence in their subject or team and be able to motivate and challenge colleagues. They must also ensure the smooth day-to-day operation of school business and monitor the progress of students and performance of staff. As most middle leaders are still actively teaching for much of their working week, middle leaders in schools must also serve as role models in the classroom. While these responsibilities may seem daunting, middle leaders can take comfort in knowing that many teachers and senior leaders alike see them as ‘the voice of reason’ in a school, displaying clear ambition for their students and their subjects but at the same time having their feet firmly on the ground in respect of what is really practical and possible.

In an increasingly diverse school system a wide range of staffing structures and middle leader job titles exist. Whatever titles are used, however, the vast majority of middle leadership roles involve motivating and managing people in order to improve the quality of education and/or outcomes for students. In most secondary schools middle leadership and management jobs will include posts such as head of department, head of year, head of key stage, head of faculty, head of learning strategy and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities coordinator (SENDCo). Most of these jobs will be undertaken by teachers but some, rightly, may be held by people without qualified teacher status (QTS) as the roles concerned might not require a deep understanding of curriculum or pedagogy. Some middle leader roles may be for a fixed period to ensure capacity is in place to accomplish a particular task, for example strengthening the teaching of numeracy across the curriculum. Others may be linked to particular priorities, for example ensuring the needs of students in receipt of student premium are being met through appropriate policies and practice.

A quick look at the kinds of questions asked at interviews for middle leadership posts (Table 1.1) will shed light on the nature of middle leadership in schools.

TABLE 1.1 Interview questions for middle leadership posts

Head of department	Year head
What values will you bring to this role?	What values will you bring to this role?
What unique learning experiences can your subject offer young people?	What outcomes should there be for students as a result of spending time in tutor groups?
Are there any teaching and learning strategies you would expect your team to use and if so how would you ensure this happened?	What qualities does a good form tutor possess? What would you do about a tutor not showing these qualities?
How would you deal with a member of your team who was regularly experiencing difficulties meeting deadlines?	How would you deal with a tutor who failed to monitor his form’s academic progress?
How would you ensure all students made at least expected progress in your subject?	How would you identify vulnerable children and what would you do to ensure their needs were met?
Tell us about any experience you have had of supporting the development of another teacher.	Tell us about any experience you have had of supporting the development of another teacher.

These questions illustrate four major components of middle leadership:

■ Having a clear vision for the subject or area you are responsible for and being able to get others on board. This is leadership.

■ Being clear about what constitutes good practice and using it. This is having specialist knowledge or know-how and being able to model good practice.

■ Being an effective manager of people and resources. This involves being able to plan, motivate, monitor, encourage good practice, challenge bad practice, solve problems and see tasks through. This is management.

■ Being able to put in place procedures to secure efficiency. This is administration. Although rarely asked about directly in interviews for middle leadership posts, efficient ‘systems’ support smooth management and effective leadership and their importance shouldn’t be underestimated. Colleagues soon begin to feel frustrated if things feel chaotic on a day-to-day basis!

Successful middle leaders usually have, or very quickly develop, specialist knowledge relating to their roles. They then combine leadership, management and administration in the right proportions. Less effective middle leaders may be good in one area but less effective in others. We can all call to mind heads of department who are good administrators but fail to create any real vision for their team and never challenge poor performance. This means people have no real goals to be aiming for (or don’t understand the purpose of goals they have been given) and never feel the need to push themselves beyond their comfort zone. Equally, heads of department can be very charismatic and inspirational about their subjects but simply fail to put in place systems which result in good day-to-day organization. This can be annoying and even demoralizing for their team. Some posts will require more of one skill than another. At certain times the proportion of each skill needed to achieve results may change. Effective middle leaders are sensitive to the need to develop their leadership, management and administration skills and are flexible in their application. Good leaders are also honest about their weaknesses and will often successfully compensate for them by using the strengths of others in their team. Done well, this use of distributed leadership can be very motivating for colleagues. It is reassuring to know that almost all the skills required to be an effective middle leaders can be learned, developed and improved. The art of middle leadership involves good judgement, the ability to assess a situation and the knack of combining leadership strategies and styles in just the right proportions. Really skilled middle leaders do this with considerable flair.

Twenty years ago the Teacher Training Agency brought out a set of standards against which to judge the effectiveness of middle leaders in school. Although the agency has long been superseded and the National Standards for Subject Leaders (1998) are no longer in widespread use, they still provide a useful starting point for considering middle leader responsibilities (subject and pastoral), which the document defined as:

TABLE 1.2 Changing expectations of subject leaders

Moving from middle leader as …	Moving to middle leader as …
• Subject expert and role model • An implementer of school policy • An implementer of National Curriculum • A buffer between teachers and SLT • An implementer of systems to ensure day-to-day smooth running • Operational problem solver	• Subject expert and role model • Curriculum designer • Accountable for student outcomes • Responsible for standards across the subject • Responsible for monitoring and holding to account • Expert in data analysis • Collaborator • Operational problem solver • Strategic thinker

■ strategic direction and development of the subject

■ teaching and learning

■ leading and managing staff

■ efficient and effective deployment of staff and resources.

The National Professional Qualification for Middle Leaders now involves studying the following strands:

■ strategy and improvement

■ teaching and curriculum excellence

■ leading with impact

■ working in partnership

■ managing resources and risks

■ increasing capability.

This content reflects changes that have taken place over the last two decades, particularly the need for schools to work in partnership with other schools (often through being part of a trust) and the increased emphasis on middle leaders being accountable for attainment and achievement in their subject, thus the need for them to monitor and hold others to account. Table 1.2 highlights the changing expectations being placed on subject leaders.

Action point

Use the self-evaluation schedule (Appendix A) to assess your skills as a middle leader.

A trusted and experienced colleague who can act as a mentor should be well placed to guide you in areas you feel insecure in. Don’t be reluctant to share with a mentor your less strong areas; good leaders become better leaders by learning from others.

The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) document The Heart of the Matter: A Practical Guide to what Middle Leaders can do to Improve Learning in Secondary Schools (2003) provides some interesting ideas (still entirely relevant) about what middle leaders can do to improve learning and achievement.

■ Focus on learning and teaching

■ Generate positive relationships

■ Provide clear vision and high expectations

■ Improve the learning environment

■ Provide opportunities for collaboration

■ Distribute leadership

■ Engage the community

■ Evaluate and innovate.

Noticeable by their absence from the list above are words and phrases like ‘monitor’, ‘hold to account’ and ‘provide challenge’. Although t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 What is middle leadership?
• 2 What do head teachers expect from middle leaders? (written by Kathryn Stephenson)
• 3 Leadership basics: how your behaviour impacts on other people
• 4 Understanding different leadership styles and when to use them
• 5 Working together: building a high-performing team
• 6 Getting communication right
• 7 Teaching and learning: setting high expectations around pedagogy
• 8 Vision and effective planning
• 9 Developing your team through effective professional learning
• 10 Case study: departmental improvement (written by Hayley Gregg)
• 11 Monitoring, appraisal and holding to account
• 12 Looking after yourself: time and stress management
• Appendix A Subject leaders’ self-review and individual professional development plan
• Appendix B The subject leader’s file: suggested contents – this is not a prescriptive list, nor is it exhaustive!
• Appendix C Effective departmental self-evaluation
• Appendix D Subject leader self-evaluation of roles and responsibilities
• Appendix E CPD audit
• Appendix F General student questionnaire
• Appendix G Student interviews
• Appendix H Student feedback: the double checklist
• Appendix I Developmental lesson observation focus: improving questioning
• Index