How do the leadership strategies of middle leaders affect teachers’ learning in schools? A case study from China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research on how to support school-based teacher learning has largely focused on the role of leaders at the top of the school organisation. It has paid little attention to middle leaders, who directly initiate and are deeply involved in teachers’ learning processes. Linking leadership constructs with organisational learning, we examined how middle leaders practise leadership to support teachers’ learning and professional development in school-based settings. Taking a qualitative case-comparison approach, we recruited 22 teachers and middle leaders from two school-based communities in a secondary school in Shanghai, China. We found that two combinations of leadership approaches were enacted by middle leaders to motivate various forms of learning for change. A bureaucratic leadership approach, supplemented by professional strategies, supported teachers’ performance-oriented learning; and a coordinated bureaucratic and professional leadership approach supported teachers’ meaning-oriented learning. Different interpretations of the role of middle leaders and the goals of school-based teacher learning and professional development resulted in various combinations of leadership strategies, which shaped the form and quality of learning. We further suggest ways to promote teachers’ sustainable learning and professional development in school settings.