What is Middle Level Leaders

The term middle leadership is used in education to broadly describe the swathe of administrative roles that connect the classroom teacher with the top-tier management level role of head of school. The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the criticality of this role to school effectiveness and its relevance to crisis response. This chapter presents findings from a qualitative study conducted to understand how middle leaders were empowered during the pandemic in the international school context. Thirteen in-depth interviews with heads of schools, across three continents, were conducted to better understand how middle leaders were activated during the crisis. The findings revealed that while middle leaders were empowered through authentic collaboration, increased communication, and role clarity, due to the experience of the crisis, this was not always intentional. Finally, this chapter shares a conceptual framework that senior leaders may utilise for the sustainable empowerment of their middle leaders.