This was the message from Professor David Gurr at the the leaders and high-school teachers’ day of Mathematics Association of Victoria (MAV) conference in Melbourne in June.
Gurr, from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Education said, “teacher and middle leadership are not the same concepts, although there’s considerable overlap depending on how they’re defined”.
His keynote, What we know about teacher and middle leadership, offered a sweeping yet grounded exploration of leadership research.
He invited attendees to reflect critically on their current roles and consider how they might grow into leadership with greater purpose and clarity.
“We often talk about leadership in schools as if it’s neat and orderly, but it’s a complicated mess,” he said. “Education loves complexity.”
He urged educators to be wary of simplified solutions.
“If any guru says they’ve got the handle on what leadership should look like in your school - they don’t. These are ideas. Collect them, but make them your own.”
What (middle) leadership really is
Gurr emphasised the importance of distinguishing between teacher leadership and middle leadership. While both roles influence school improvement, they differ in scope and accountability.
Middle leaders hold formal organisational responsibility. This includes roles such as curriculum leaders, year-level coordinators, and heads of learning areas. These teachers typically report to principals or assistant principals but still teach regularly.
“Middle leaders are teachers with additional formal roles,” Gurr said. “They retain a substantial teaching load but also carry leadership responsibility. That’s the key distinction from more senior school leaders.”
Teacher leadership, by contrast, is influence-based rather than position-based.
“Teacher leadership focuses on improving practice beyond one’s own classroom. It’s often informal or project-based, but it plays a vital role in school culture and capacity-building.”
Gurr challenged a common narrative. “I hate it when people talk about teaching as leadership. They are similar, but I want teaching to be teaching. It’s a disservice to say teachers are just leaders of students.”
Understanding these differences is critical to building coherent leadership pathways. “You need role clarity - not only your own understanding of your role, but how your school understands it too.”
Why role clarity matters
One of Gurr’s strongest calls to action was for a formal standard to define middle leadership in Australian schools. It is, he argued, a glaring omission in education policy.
“A middle leader standard is absolutely needed,” Gurr said. “We have standards for teachers and principals, but there’s nothing to guide or support those who sit in between.”
One of his PhD students, Cailtin Lamont, has documented this gap in the research. In its absence, schools often fall back on vague job descriptions or assign leadership titles that amount to administrative coordination rather than meaningful educational leadership.
“If you pick up a leadership role, there’s a lot of obligation and responsibility and expectation that comes with it - that you’re going to make a difference,” said Gurr.
“But how do you do that if you’re not given the time, the support, or the framework?”
Early career teachers also encounter leadership demands from the start. Gurr referred to “first-level leadership” pressures placed on new teachers, often in the form of self-leadership, emergency leadership, or informal team coordination.
“You need to find a role you’re comfortable with. And that starts with having a job description that makes sense - one that reflects not just what the school needs, but what you bring to it.”
Frameworks and influence
Gurr drew on global evidence, including his contribution to the 2024/25 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, to go deeper into what effective leadership entails: setting direction, developing people, redesigning organisational structures, and improving teaching and learning.
He referred to work by Leithwood and colleagues (e.g. Louis et al., 2010) who concluded that leadership is second only to teaching in terms of school-controlled factors that influence student learning.
“Leadership has two basic features: influence, and setting direction,” Gurr said. “Middle leadership is about having influence beyond your classroom - and having the position to act on it.”
Australian researchers are shaping this discussion globally. Gurr said that recent insights from academics like Grootenboer, Edwards-Groves, De Nobile and Lipscombe, as well as Kate Copping’s 2022 work on mathematics leadership, are helping schools reframe their leadership structures.
“The leadership domains haven’t really changed,” Gurr said. “But what’s become clear, especially since COVID, is that we should also be talking about wellbeing. That has to be part of the picture now.”
Building for the future
What would better support for middle leaders look like? According to Gurr, it begins with well-defined roles and enough time to do the leadership work properly.
“You need a clearly defined role. Then, you need to have the time to actually do the leadership work. Add to that support from senior leaders, access to professional learning, and a leadership development program that recognises what middle leadership really involves.”
Encouragingly, several education systems and associations are starting to make this shift. Gurr pointed to programs being developed through ACEL, the Catholic education system, and the Victorian Academy for Teaching and Leadership.
“In the next five to ten years, the middle leadership role will become even more important,” he said. “But it’s also a school size thing. In small schools - under 100 students - everyone has to do everything. In larger schools, we’re starting to see more role definition.”
Grootenboer, Edwards-Grove and colleagues, categorise middle leadership practice into three key pairings: leading teaching; managing and facilitating collaboration; and effective communication. These have informed the AITSL’s Middle Leader standards.
“Middle leadership has to be about improving learning. And that takes skill, clarity, and real support - not just managing timetables and admin,” he said.
Turning insight into influence
Gurr ended his keynote with a direct challenge to delegates: go back to your schools and advocate for change.
“I would hope that after a conference like this you’d all go back to your schools and cause a bit of trouble - and say to your principals, you should be doing things differently. Otherwise, there’s no value to it.”
He acknowledged that influencing school systems can be draining. “Sometimes you don’t win. It comes down to how resilient you are to keep soldiering through.”
Still, he urged leaders not to give up.
“Senior leaders say, ‘I don’t want problems, I want solutions.’ So go in with that vision of what’s possible. Think about what you’d like to do.”
