When I started my post in August 2018 my starting point was to explore the research around middle leadership. I discovered a lot of research from the 1990s to 2000 and then a lull until around 2014 to the present. This more recent research is largely from Australia and New Zealand.

I found an article called ‘Towards a theoretical model of middle leadership in schools’ (Nobile, 2018) by John De Nobile which argued that the area of middle leadership remains under-theorised and ambiguous in relation to who middle leaders are and what they do. The Middle Leadership in Schools (MLiS) model (pictured above) describes factors that influence middle leadership, the roles performed and how middle leaders perform them. To support his article John issued a questionnaire to middle leaders around their roles which provided evidence to support his work.

Following conversations about his work I am delighted to announce that Education Scotland are linking with John and his research to publish a questionnaire to gather evidence and data around middle leadership in Scottish education. This data will allow John to identify differences in roles in middle leadership across Scotland and allow us to be at the forefront of research in exploring middle leadership. Crucially, this will allow us to clarify what middle leadership looks like in Scotland and support us in identifying professional learning which will enable us to move the conversation away from the ‘what’ of middle leadership to the ‘how’. I would encourage you to share this questionnaire far and wide to gather as much data as possible to support this work.

Please click here to complete the survey and help us improve support for middle leadership in Scotland. 

Thank you!