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Principal supervisors operate within the middle tier of schooling systems – connecting the policy-making centre with frontline leaders in schools. Existing research indicates that principal supervisors have been considered a promising enabler for supporting and developing principals and implementing policy (Goldring et al., 2020).
My recent PhD research set out to understand how principal supervisors influence principal practice in the context of wider educational governance changes in the public system in Queensland, specifically a quasi-market-based autonomy policy. In Queensland, the region (middle tier) is a distinct geographically focused administrative tier embedded within the state-level education infrastructure – the Department, rendering it somewhat invisible. The study utilised a theory-led (hierarchies, markets and networks) case study approach to inquiry with mixed methods (predominately qualitative) to present a cross-case analysis of three case studies of principal supervisors from three regions in Queensland.
In this seminar, I will focus on how professional knowledge is developed and how this might relate to sources of expertise, sharing an embedded learning framework within a governance analysis (hierarchy, markets and networks). I will also briefly explore three overarching empirical findings from the study that add additional nuance to our understanding of how the middle tier operates in a vertically integrated hierarchical context beyond the more widely studied tri-level district model. The seminar discussion will explore the implications for principals, leaders within the middle tier and policymakers across the schooling contexts.
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