Middle leaders use their management knowledge and skills to optimise processes, systems and resources to enable a clear focus on improving student learning.
Middle leaders work strategically in their sphere of influence to lead the implementation of the school's strategic agenda by planning and scheduling implementation strategies. They identify evidence-based team strategic goals and establish mechanisms for accountability, negotiating the adoption of these goals with the principal and other senior school leaders. They provide advice and information to the principal and other senior leaders and share insights from the staff they lead and from collected evidence about the effectiveness of operational and strategic matters.
Middle leaders implement required policies and processes ethically and transparently, ensuring procedural fairness. They implement performance and development processes and performance management processes to maximise staff performance. They ensure staff and student routines are fit for purpose and consistently implemented to prioritise instructional time.
Middle leaders strategically and transparently manage resources to meet the priority goals of their school and the diverse needs of their students. They increase the time available to teachers by leading the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning and streamline administrative and record keeping systems and processes. They recognise teaching staff as the single most powerful in-school influence on student learning and ensure a safe, supportive and orderly learning environment where all students are included and diversity is valued.
Focus areas
6a: Ensuring a safe, supportive and orderly learning environment
Creating an inclusive environment where teachers can teach well, and students can engage with and succeed in their learning.
Table: A continuum of increasing leadership capabilities
- Build an inclusive learning culture by modelling inclusive practice and building deep understanding of the diverse learning, social and behavioural needs of the full range of students. Develop teachers’ use of evidence-based inclusive practices such as tiered interventions.
- Support teachers to have high expectations of student behaviour and to implement evidence-based practices for positively and proactively supporting respectful student behaviour through explicitly teaching expected behaviours.
- Develop teacher understanding and use of evidence-based behaviour management strategies and model their use.
- Implement relevant behaviour and work, health and safety policies and processes consistently, fairly and equitably, while responding agilely to different circumstances
| - Ensure evidence-based systems are in place to recognise and respond appropriately to support the wellbeing of staff and students.
- Strategically provide differentiated support to build the capacity of staff to create a safe, supportive and orderly learning environment, by identifying and leveraging teachers with expertise in behaviour management to collaboratively develop the capabilities of others.
- Set high expectations of professional staff conduct and design support systems to assist staff to consistently meet those expectations
| - Lead evaluation processes which use quantitative school data and qualitative data from a range of stakeholders including teachers, specialist school staff, students, parents/carers to determine the safety, supportiveness, sense of belonging, and orderliness of the learning environment for students and staff over extended time periods and use this information to plan improvements.
- Use research and school evidence about student behaviour and wellbeing to challenge and test assumptions about what does and does not work in managing student behaviour.
- Balance case and incident management of student behaviour with strategic reviews of school policies and procedures
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Resources
6b: Students, parents/carers and the community
Building productive relationships with students, parents/carers and the community to enhance student learning and wellbeing.
Table: A continuum of increasing leadership capabilities
- Promote the importance of student, teacher and parent/carer partnerships in achieving learning and wellbeing goals and celebrating success.
- Recognise and value diversity within the school community and create an inclusive culture to support student, parent/carer and community engagement.
- Ensure interactions with students, parents/carers and the community are caring, respectful, culturally aware and focused on the learning and wellbeing of students
| - Set and maintain high expectations for staff interactions with students, parents/carers and the community to promote student learning and wellbeing.
- Support staff to demonstrate empathy, open-mindedness and cultural awareness in their interactions and challenge behaviours which hinder relationship development with students, parents/carers and the community
| - Initiate and lead processes to evaluate team culture and the status of relations with students, parents/carers and the community to inform plans for improvement
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Resources
6c: Staff management
Managing implementation of required policies, procedures and processes in an ethical, transparent manner, ensuring procedural fairness so that staff have clarity about expectations and mechanisms of support in their workplace.
Table: A continuum of increasing leadership capabilities
- Enact processes to onboard and mentor/coach new staff and early career teachers.
- Model a positive, caring, inclusive culture and relationships of mutual respect while ensuring compliance with policies and procedures.
- Provide opportunities for staff to receive training to develop an understanding of policies and procedures. Provide feedback to improve staff alignment with policies.
- Establish a culture of shared accountability by clearly identifying staff policy accountabilities, roles and responsibilities and collaboratively developing transparent systems to support staff to meet them in a timely manner being aware of workload.
- Organise and lead efficient team meetings by circulating an agenda and requirements for meeting preparation, with actions recorded and allocated to staff responsible. Communicate routine administrative items digitally, outside meeting times
| - Use performance and development processes or where required performance management processes to scale up success and identify areas for staff improvement, in order to ensure their strategic development.
- Challenge staff practices, beliefs or behaviours which do not align with policy-based expectations, while maintaining a relationship of trust.
- Plan and coordinate the work of a team by strategically delegating leadership responsibilities after consideration of staff capabilities, aspirations, areas of interest and expertise. Provide clear expectations of responsibilities. Agree upon timelines and establish transparent supervision procedures to support staff in managing their leadership responsibilities.
- Organise and lead productive team meetings which advance a collaborative improvement agenda. Proactively manage workload issues for staff, in collaboration with the principal and other senior leaders where required
| - Work collaboratively with other leaders to establish evidence-informed processes to review and improve management processes and the implementation of common policies.
- Develop the capacity of others to organise and lead productive team meetings which support the advancement of a collaborative improvement agenda.
- Address workload issues by considering reform to systems and processes within the team
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Resources
6d: Resource allocation
Strategically managing resources in a fair, inclusive and transparent manner that meets the diverse learning needs of students and monitor its impact. Resources may include staff, budget, teacher and student time, teaching materials, and technology.
Table: A continuum of increasing leadership capabilities
- Interpret and use evidence to monitor students’ needs and target resources towards evidence-based strategies to improve student progress and achievement.
- Ensure effective allocation of resources to support learners with additional needs.
- Strategically allocate resources to support the implementation of school strategic plans, through a transparent, objective process where staff can see alignment of allocation to key improvement goals.
- Engage with digital technologies to streamline administration and enhance learning improvement through an approach which is targeted, integrated and purposeful
| - Collaboratively establish processes to monitor the alignment of resource allocation to strategic planning, so that the resources are used optimally to enhance the learning of all students.
- Develop a culture in which teaching expertise is seen as a resource and is used to support collaborative improvement of teaching practice.
- Implement strategies to develop and retain expert teachers.
- Demonstrate organisational agility in planning by responding quickly to changes in context and need.
- Seek opportunities to prioritise instructional time when decisions are being made about the scheduling of events or processes.
- Work collaboratively with the principal and other school leaders to optimise the deployment of technologies for streamlining administration and enhancing learning, using evidence
| - Establish evidence-informed and collaborative processes to review the impact of resource allocation on the diverse learning needs of students.
- Lead the transparent reallocation of resources away from lower priority uses to new, higher priorities by discussing the need for change and managing staff expectations.
- Use evidence-informed and collaborative processes to review the impact of digital technologies and consider future needs in conjunction with principal and other leaders
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Resources
6e: Strategic planning
Using clear structures and collaborative procedures to determine goals, and develop, execute, monitor and evaluate plans for improving teaching and learning.
Table: A continuum of increasing leadership capabilities
- Lead staff to collaboratively plan how to implement those aspects of the school strategic improvement plan that lie within own area of responsibility.
- Ensure that the improvement agenda is ‘narrow and deep’ and has adequate timeframes for staff learning through iterative problem-solving efforts.
- Lead team in using data to collaboratively identify goals and strategically plan to address student learning needs specific to own area of responsibility and not addressed by the school strategic improvement plan.
- Liaise with the principal to prioritise implementing plans to achieve these team-identified, teaching and learning improvement goals, in line with agreed strategic priorities.
- Encourage staff to take collective responsibility for the achievement of school strategic improvement plan goals and additional team goals required to meet the needs of identified student groups
| - Lead staff to develop processes that will assist them in sustaining implementation of improvement strategies until goals are achieved.
- Systematically guide teaching staff to implement the improvement plan. Provide feedback and prioritise collaborative support to staff who would benefit from additional assistance with implementation.
- Provide feedback to principal and other senior leaders about progress and challenges in meeting improvement goals
| - Lead staff to design mechanisms to collect and review the thoroughness of implementation of improvement strategies.
- Lead staff to use data on implementation to review its success and make necessary adjustments.
- Collaboratively review evidence of impact to inform future goal setting and problem solving
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Resources
School planning and performance—policies, procedures, guidelines and resources
6f: Administrative systems and processes
Implementing effective and streamlined administrative and record keeping systems and processes including through available technology.
Table: A continuum of increasing leadership capabilities
- Ensure team administrative and record keeping systems are fit for purpose.
- Support staff to maintain accurate records, by ensuring they have the required skills to operate administrative systems and that they understand legislative and policy requirements.
- Collaboratively develop procedures that make clear expectations for optimal staff use of administrative and record keeping systems
| - Establish processes to enable an agile response to improve team administrative and record keeping systems.
- Monitor consistency of implementation of processes and inquire respectfully into reasons for variable practice
| - Lead processes to evaluate the effectiveness of established administrative and record keeping systems and processes to ensure they are streamlined and meet the needs of all users.
- Lead a collegial problem-solving process to improve ineffective administrative routines
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Source: Professional Standards for Middle Leaders © 2024 Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). Used with permission.