Practising middle leadership in improving teacher professional development: evidence from a centralised education setting

Middle leadership is recognised as being critical for teacher professional development in recent years. However, although previous studies focus mainly on the practice of middle leadership in low-stakes assessment contexts, the current research attempts to bring a new perspective on the practice of middle leadership in countries with centralised education systems. As such, it aims to provide an understanding of the role of middle leadership in the improvement of teacher professional development in countries with a centralised education system. The research used a qualitative phenomenology design, including teachers as middle leaders (n = 28), based on purposive sampling. It showed how middle leadership is practised in schools with a centralised education setting in improving teacher professional development. Although there are efforts by middle leaders in centralised education settings to provide professional development for teachers, there are some drawbacks due to role ambiguity and identity, resource and structural limitations, and limited authority and autonomy.