Understand the Middle Leader Standards

What is a middle leader?

Middle leaders are qualified teachers who hold recognised management and leadership responsibilities, usually in addition to their teaching responsibilities (Grootenboer et al., 2020). For many, middle leadership is a career goal, for some it is an important step towards becoming a principal. Some examples of middle leaders include:

• heads of department
• year level coordinator
• stage coordinator
• head of curriculum
• head of student welfare
• pastoral care leader
• learning area leader.
  

What are the Middle Leader Standards for?

The Middle Leader Standards:

• define key attributes, knowledge, and skills for effective middle leaders.
• support middle leaders to lead improvement in teaching and learning.
• speak to current and aspiring middle leaders and those who work with them.
• provide a common language for professional dialogue and growth.
• provide the missing link in a leadership developmental continuum for teachers, extending from early career teaching to senior leadership.

How were the Middle Leader Standards developed?

Development of the Middle Leader Standards involved research, expert advice, broad consultation, a national validation process, national impact assessment, and a trial of draft Standards across Queensland.

A comprehensive literature review provided a wide research base for the development of the Middle Leader Standards. It gathered information from both academic papers and international and national practice.

AITSL also drew on the advice of an expert panel and feedback from key stakeholders to refine the Middle Leader Standards.

The expert panel members were:

• Dr Viviane Robinson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, The University of Auckland
• Dr Peter Grootenboer, Professor of Education, Griffith University
• Dr Kylie Lipscombe, Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Wollongong
• Dr Kerry Elliott, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

The Middle Leader Standards were extensively validated by the profession using a national online process. 940 educators across Australia provided feedback during the psychometric validation. This provided statistically significant, detailed insights which enabled adjustments to the Middle Leader Standards to ensure that they were clear, relevant, useful and fit for purpose.

An implementation trial was conducted across more than 82 Government, Catholic and Independent schools in Queensland. An external evaluation of the trial found that nearly all participants considered the Middle Leader Standards to be useful and relevant for developing middle leadership capabilities.

An impact assessment was commissioned to understand the potential positive impacts and unintended consequences of introducing the Middle Leader Standards. A series of interviews with 23 key stakeholder groups revealed that the positive intention of the Standards aligned with the likely impacts of their introduction. It highlighted not only the need for the Middle Leader Standards, but a desire for middle leaders to be acknowledged for the important roles they play in schools across Australia.

AITSL would also like to thank approximately 2,000 individuals who contributed to the development of the Middle Leader Standards through consultations or who provided feedback through the national validation, the national impact assessment or the Queensland trial.

Find out more

If you would like further information on the Professional Standards for Middle Leaders, please email middleleaders [at] aitsl.edu.au

To learn more about middle leaders, explore the resources below.