Positioning Middle Leaders as Learning Leaders

Whether intentional or not, this kind of phrasing signals that the team leader wasn’t meaningfully involved in the decision; the message is simply being passed along. And we’ve all felt the results: the team slips into compliance mode, doing the task because someone higher up told them to, not because they see its purpose. If middle-level leaders are routinely placed outside the decision-making circle, how can they realistically lead with confidence or influence? These are the leaders who shape teacher practice and team culture most directly. When they feel disconnected from the rationale behind school initiatives, building genuine ownership among teachers becomes incredibly difficult.

Throughout this series on supporting middle leaders, we have examined what helps department heads, team leaders, instructional coaches, and curriculum coordinators thrive. The first article emphasized organizational clarity and clearly defining instructional leadership responsibilities. The second explored how to make the role appealing so that the right people step into these positions. The third focused on how senior leaders can empower middle leaders through mentoring, partnership, and continued development. This final installment considers how schools can more intentionally position middle leaders to lead, cultivate, and sustain a strong culture of professional learning.

Middle leaders should be guiding instructional learning with support, structure, and high expectations. Teachers frequently report having the strongest trust in their team leader around curriculum guidance because of how closely their role intersects with day-to-day teaching and learning (Handy, 2025). When middle leaders take an active role in guiding instructional improvement, they contribute to a sense of psychological safety, reinforce consistent routines, and model openness through their own learning.

One important lever is involving middle leaders in decision-making as often as possible. Because many middle leaders are still in the classroom, they remain close to students and understand evolving needs. For example, my current school set three school-wide goals this year. Early in the year, we brought middle leaders together to imagine what meeting these goals would look like for their teams and across the school. They offered suggestions, helped articulate what the goals meant for our division, and asked clarifying questions before leading conversations with their teams. Beyond this, they routinely shape decisions that impact students and colleagues—selecting guest speakers for our Spring Share conferences, providing repeated feedback on our schedule, and contributing their perspective to transdisciplinary experiences. Their involvement ensures decisions are grounded in alignment, student experience, and practical relevance.

Middle leaders also need some choice in how they lead and extend the learning. Depending on the experience and readiness of a particular middle leadership team, senior leaders may need to provide more scaffolding while still allowing room for autonomy. Recently, after an external consultant facilitated professional development (PD) at our school, teachers commented that the learning was helpful but expressed concern that it might become a one-off. To address this, we asked middle leaders to reflect on key takeaways and offered a range of options for how they could continue the work. They could share visual prompts, use articles and reading protocols, or design a follow-up process tailored to their team. This communicated that the responsibility for extending the learning rested with them, while still giving space for professional judgment. It also reinforced a trusting, collaborative relationship between senior and middle leaders.

Another example of meaningful involvement is curriculum development. When I began my role as curriculum leader, it was clear that our learning design planner needed a refresh to better support our instructional work. While I had ideas about what might help, I knew implementation would only succeed if team leaders had shaped the revisions. They would be the ones guiding their teams through curriculum conversations, so the tool needed to be usable, relevant, and aligned with their workflow. We began by clarifying the curricular challenge and revisiting the purpose of the planner. Then we used a Keep, Cut, Create protocol to gather teacher input. The final version reflected their insights, strengthened their investment, and showcased their expertise. Middle leaders saw firsthand how their contributions improved teaching and learning.

Middle leaders should also facilitate professional development, whether during PD days or in regular meeting cycles. Their position in the school enables them to translate broad priorities into meaningful instructional action. Job-embedded learning sustained over time has the strongest impact on teaching (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017), and middle leaders are well placed to support this kind of ongoing growth. When I worked as a math curriculum leader, I partnered with subject leaders to facilitate PD for the division. They had time to prepare, gather student work, and contribute to shared materials. This experience strengthened their leadership capacity and built deeper trust within their teams. Other opportunities include Teachers Teaching Teachers (TTTs), leading a jigsaw reading with a structured protocol, conducting a learning walk, or facilitating discussion around a webinar. These experiences help normalize professional learning as a collaborative habit rather than a top-down event. When middle leaders publicly model learning and reflection, they reinforce the idea that instructional improvement is a collective responsibility.

This work is particularly crucial in international schools. The intersection of diverse cultural backgrounds, varying educational histories, frequent student and faculty transitions, and evolving curricula means instructional consistency cannot be taken for granted. Middle leaders help maintain coherence across shifting contexts, ensuring that students experience stable expectations and high-quality learning regardless of teacher turnover or mobility. Their leadership becomes a key stabilizing force in environments where change is constant.

Ultimately, empowering middle leaders as instructional leaders increases teacher investment and leads to more consistent implementation of school priorities. As a new semester begins, it’s an ideal moment for senior leaders to reflect on how they are supporting middle leaders. Do they need clearer expectations? Adjustments to the role so it attracts strong candidates? Coaching or mentoring to strengthen their leadership? More intentional involvement in decisions that rely on their expertise? And if the answer is unclear…ask them!

I hope this series has been thought-provoking, encouraging, and forward-looking. I genuinely enjoy discussing this work, so please feel free to reach out or comment with additional ideas, questions, or experiences.

Read more about developing and empowering middle-level leaders in Unlocking Success With Middle-Level Instructional Leaders, Establishing Organizational Clarity for Middle Leaders in Schools, and How Principals Can Grow Their Middle Leaders. 



References

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., Gardner, M. (2017). Effective Teacher Professional Development (research brief). Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.