Middle leaders as policy actors: The ‘hyper-enactment’ of school-level assessment policy

Schools today often operate in a context of performative accountability in which forms of student assessment become representative of success in a competitive global knowledge economy. While research has explored the nature of top-down assessment directives and the implications of these for local stakeholders, the way in which assessment policy is enacted in schools has been largely neglected. Through analysis of interviews with six middle leaders working across public and private primary and secondary schools in NSW, Australia, this study investigates assessment policy work at the school level, drawing upon Ball et al.'s (2011) typology of policy actors to explore how middle leaders understand their role, and the influences upon and implications of this work. The study highlights the complex role of middle leaders in the enactment of assessment policy, characterised by tensions between innovation and compliance, and a ‘hyper-enactment’ of assessment work that goes beyond both regulatory mandates and understandings of best practice. This school-level policy work may therefore be an important contributor to current work pressures in schools. Understanding how such work is – and is not – related to systemic requirements may thus enable such pressures to be more effectively supported moving forward.