Purpose: Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach that emphasizes improving teaching and learning. This study explores how school middle leaders -- teachers holding leadership positions in schools, who are responsible for a particular area or discipline of the school's curriculum -- fulfill their instructional leadership role. Design/methodology/approach: The participants in this qualitative study were 24 middle leaders (subject coordinators) in elementary schools in Israel. Data collection was based on semi-structured interviews, and data analysis included three stages: sorting, coding and categorizing. Findings: The current study points to three main characteristics of instructional leadership in school middle leaders: leading by expertise; leading by collaboration; and leading by example. Originality/value: At present, there is only scant literature on instructional leadership in school middle leaders. This study suggests that principals and middle leaders, who work closely with each other to provide instructional leadership in their schools, do so in different ways.