Abstract
This research study aimed to explore how Departmental Heads’ (DHs) middle leadership practices can advance active teaching in secondary schools. DHs plays a significant leadership role in advancing learning and teaching in schools. With reference to their role, DHs are regarded as middle leaders (MLs) who perform a role “in the middle”, implying that they act as liaisons between senior leaders and teachers in schools. Academic literature indicates that DHs’ efforts to advance active teaching are clouded with uncertainties. For instance, DHs do not have a thorough understanding of their role as MLs, they struggle with work overload, they lack skills in facilitating active teaching in secondary schools and they do not always have the time to support teachers in terms of active teaching. Having employed middle leadership as theoretical framework and conducting semi-structured interviews with three DHs and nine teachers from three different secondary schools, the findings revealed that middle leadership is a practice for establishing connections and to drive change for advancing teaching practices in schools. Also of significance was that, although DHs’ work is limited by resources and time, it is expected that they use their middle leadership role to support and advocate for best practices so that teachers can facilitate active teaching in schools. Another finding indicated that, when DHs’ middle leadership efforts are compromised, the advancement of active teaching becomes a constant struggle in secondary schools. Of significance was the notion that DHs need a stable emotional environment with the necessary knowledge and innovative tools to be more effective in advancing active teaching in secondary schools.
To assist DHs to advance active teaching, this study proposed a Middle Leadership Practice Framework (MLPF), suggesting that knowledge sharing, the creation of a collaborative atmosphere and active nurturing of teacher autonomy can be regarded as significant pillars in advancing active teaching in secondary schools. Education stakeholders like principals, DHs and teachers may find this framework useful in advancing knowledge and for practical implementation of active teaching in secondary schools.