This paper picks up and elaborates on the conception of policy
translators in schools – key actors in the enactment of policy. The
qualitative data presented here highlight how it is often middle
leaders doing high-profile policy work in schools, turning ideas into
actions and bringing policy to life. As translators, they organise,
manage, lead, plan, produce, inspire, persuade, and appease, and in
doing so they translate policy into practice and make it a collective
effort. At the same time, they are often overloaded and inundated.
In focusing on middle leaders as policy translators, this research
makes several important contributions to scholarship: empirical
data is provided to support and expand on policy enactment
theory, the limited research base on middle leadership is developed,
and understandings of how school self-evaluation plays out
in schools are strengthened. Thus, it is envisaged that this paper will
not only be of interest and of use to researchers and policymakers
concerned with policy, evaluation, and leadership but to practising
teachers and school leaders attempting to make sense of their own
experiences at the coalface.
Metadata
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Policy enactment; policy actors; translators; middle leaders; school self evaluation