LIDERAZGOS MEDIOS E INSTITUCIONAL PEDAGÓGICO EN EDUCACIÓN SECUNDARIA: UN ESTUDIO DE CASOS

INTRODUCTION. Middle and distributed leadership serve as references in exploring strategies and practices of influence within teaching modalities that, by their nature and curricular specificity, are organized by departments. Such division of teaching work has frequently been the mode of organization in Secondary Education, being constituted through heads of subject departments and key interactive roles for improvement and change. METHOD. Through a unique case study based on interviews, observation, surveys and network analysis, dimensions of institutional and departmental leadership in mathematics and language subjects as well as associated factors are systematically and deeply examined, in the context of the institutionalization of disciplinary departments in a highly vulnerable Chilean municipal High School, which over a decade has progressively improved student learning. RESULTS. The results obtained show dimensions of instructional leadership, an intermediate structure of interdepartmental coordination, manifestations of collaborative culture that favor the distribution of leadership, institutional pedagogical guidelines for professional learning communities, roles of department heads as linkers and middle leaders. DISCUSSION. The findings are consistent with dimensions of school leadership and factors associated with improved school effectiveness. However, concerning decisions about the distribution of leadership, unlike the centrality promoted by the school management, is conceived as both roles and functions in a strategic and synergistic way within the organizational structure. This progressively favors the leadership of department heads as middle leaders when interacting with their peers, evidencing a more distributed leadership than focused on their departmental functions.