The roles of middle leaders in reinforcing academic optimism

Abstract

The exceeding importance of academic optimism and the promising potential of middle leadership demand research attention in contribution to student success and school improvement. This paper presents a critical analysis of the roles and contributions of middle leaders through the lens of the academic optimism model. This study used mixed methods with a nonexperimental, exploratory-sequential approach (case-selection variant), identifying best-case participants and featuring qualitative findings through semi-structured interviews with six public-school department heads. These participants represent two high, two average, and two low-optimistic departments. Findings revealed that middle leaders perform four key roles in reinforcing academic optimism: professional mentors, team builders, learning facilitators, and performance navigators.