Middle-level School Leaders: Understanding Their Roles and Aspirations

Middle-level school leaders (e.g., deputy principals, assistant principals, associate principals) have received considerably less attention by researchers in recent years compared with their principal colleagues. This is despite several decades of self-managing school trends and more recent arguments for distributive leadership models in schools. As a result of this research dearth, there are few documented understandings of how their roles and responsibilities have been evolving under the plethora of changes impacting on schools. Further, in a context of a potential growing demand for principals in the near future to replace retiring baby-boomer principals, the intentions (or otherwise) of such school leaders to seek principal positions are of interest. This chapter draws on a number of recent studies that looked specifically at just what such middle-level schools leaders did in their roles, what attitudes they held regarding various aspects of their roles and what their views of the principalship were in a context of possible future career aspirations. The chapter concludes with some issues for schools and school systems to consider.