Supporting the middle tier to engage with school-based networks: Change strategies for influencing and cohering Christopher Chapman Æ Mark Hadfield Published online: 18 September 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract Networking and collaboration in educational settings have become increasingly important in terms of supporting innovation and policy developments in many educational systems. However, to date, the role and action of the middle tier remains an under-researched area, especially in the United Kingdom. This paper draws on findings from a study of district level (local authorities (LAs)) capacity to broker and facilitate school-based networks within a context of complex multiple agendas. The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Innovations Unit and the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) involved 19 LAs over a two-year period. The authors worked as second order action researchers supporting local authority staff develop a range of strategies to broker and facilitate school-to-school networks. This paper draws on Habermassian notions of a critical theorem to describe the construction and use of a new theoretical framework outlining the strategies adopted by the middle tier officers within the project. Keywords Networks Á Networking Á Middle tier reform Á District Á Local authority Á Educational change Introduction It has been argued for some time that local public services are caught up within a ‘cascade of change’ (Clarke and Newman 1997). Termed a cascade because global social shifts are seen as requiring responses in the policies of nation states that C. Chapman (&) University of Manchester, Manchester, UK e-mail: chris.chapman@manchester.ac.uk M. Hadfield Wolverhampton University, Wolverhampton, UK 123 J Educ Change (2010) 11:221–240 DOI 10.1007/s10833-009-9125-y