Leading and Learning in the Middle: How Middle Leaders in Independent Schools Define, Engage In, and Learn About Shared Leadership at the Workplace
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| Publicado en: | ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (2025) |
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ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
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| Acceso en línea: | Citation/Abstract Full Text - PDF |
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| Resumen: | This qualitative case study explored how middle leaders in independent schools engage in shared leadership and workplace learning to address the complex adaptive challenges facing their institutions. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with 20 participants across five independent schools in the New York City metropolitan region, including grade-level deans, department chairs, and operational middle leaders, this research examined three questions: How middle leaders describe shared leadership, how they navigate lateral and hierarchical influences, and how they engage in workplace learning regarding shared leadership.The findings revealed that middle leaders conceptualize shared leadership primarily as a relational-collaborative process that depends on trust, community building, and distributed expertise. Middle leaders strategically navigate institutional complexity through adaptive approaches that prioritize lateral networks and "soft power" over positional authority while managing dual identities as both faculty and administrators. Their workplace learning occurs predominantly through informal and incidental learning embedded in authentic leadership practices, with collaboration and reflection serving as key mechanisms for developing leadership capabilities. Time constraints emerged as the most pervasive barrier to realizing the full potential of shared leadership, limiting opportunities for meaningful collaboration, relationship building, and reflective practice.These findings indicated that shared leadership in independent schools is characterized by relational foundations, adaptive navigation, practice-based learning, and the strategic management of time constraints. This study contributes to the literature by extending shared leadership theory to educational contexts, integrating shared leadership with workplace learning, emphasizing the critical role of relational foundations, highlighting time constraints as a key factor, and providing a model specific to middle leadership in independent schools. Recommendations include creating protected time for collaboration, aligning formal structures with informal networks, prioritizing relationship development, normalizing reflective practice, and supporting practice-based learning.By conceptualizing shared leadership as a relational practice embedded within specific institutional contexts rather than merely a structural arrangement, this research provides insights that can help independent schools more effectively support middle leaders who serve as essential connective tissue between diverse institutional constituencies and enhance their capacity to address the complex adaptive challenges facing educational institutions today. |
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| ISBN: | 9798315738121 |
| Fuente: | Publicly Available Content Database |