How principals’ instructional leadership impacts schools’ middle leadership

Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach that prioritizes enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. This study explores how the principal's instructional leadership influences the school's middle leadership. The study participants were 24 principals from elementary schools in Israel, and data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews. The collected data underwent three stages of analysis: sorting, coding, and categorizing. The findings revealed three key areas in which the principal's instructional leadership influences the school's middle leadership: the expectations of middle leaders, the selection and appointment of middle leaders, and the hierarchical structure of middle leaders within the school. These findings highlight the comprehensive impact of instructional leadership on various organizational aspects of middle leadership in schools.