Understanding the Practice of Middle Leaders: An Examination of Middle Leaders’ Challenges in Saudi Arabian Public Schools in Riyadh City

Abstract

This research aims to understand and capture the lived professional experience and reality of the challenges encountered by middle leaders employed by schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Set against the policy context of a centralised educational system, the research is guided by the following question: What types of challenges are encountered by middle leaders in KSA schools? Furthermore, what strategies do they use to overcome these challenges, and to what extent do these challenges impact whether they stay in a middle leader position? Interviews were conducted with middle leaders of public schools in Riyadh to answer these questions.

The snowball sampling technique was used to recruit eight participants. A thematic analysis identifies the main themes of the interviewees’ responses: challenges, strategies used to overcome these challenges, and professional development needs. The results indicate that middle leaders encounter challenges with school members, including lack of decision making, as well as heavy workloads, school size and facility-related problems, tension between middle leaders and teachers, academic weaknesses among students that require significant time and effort to address, and difficulty communicating with parents. Strategies used by middle leaders to overcome these challenges include organising their administrative roles via effective time management, utilising their limited authority to act as a liaison between the school’s staff members, teachers, and parents, strengthening teamwork with teachers, and trusting the teachers' ability to effectively contribute to solving student-related problems.

Middle leaders report that the challenges do not affect their desire to remain in their position. However, based on the findings, it seems that giving more authority to middle leaders and employing assistants to help perform administrative tasks, such as monitoring students’ and teachers’ attendance, would be beneficial. The role of middle leaders is complex, and this complexity is compounded by a lack of authority.