Following on from last week’s post, this time we want to
discuss the philosophical characteristic of middle leading. While middle
leaders are those who are positionally placed ‘in the middle’ (i.e.,
between senior management and teaching staff), the term middle leading also reflects a philosophical stance about
the nature of their leading practices. Therefore, this implies that these
leaders are in the centre of their team or group, rather than being the crusader who charges ahead from the
front - a leader among peers rather than a distant and aloof director. This
leading is practiced from the ‘centre’ as opposed to the ‘top’.
One way to understand this idea is to consider the leading in a
sporting team. The coach or manager offers leadership and direction but from
the top and away from the action, whereas the captain is a leader from amongst
the players, and has to be in the centre of the action. This is a simplistic metaphor,
but in the school context the middle leader does have a role similar to that of
the team captain – they have to be very good at the core activity (teaching)
and simultaneously lead others both individually and collectively to also
practice well.
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