Developing Educational Leadership

Professor Susannah Quinsee and Professor Pam Parker

Developing Educational Leadership

Why we are interested in this subject

What we have discovered so far

Where our research is going now….

Why we are interested in this subject

Academic leadership development is needed

The Higher Education Leadership and Management survey in 2014 found that over 80% of respondents felt that more could be done to actually develop leaders in higher education.

Academic leadership is different

Leadership in higher education is a strange field (Bryman and Lilley 2009)

Competing demands …. Unclear models …. Mixed rewards

Academic leadership is like ….

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/189432728049216786/

What we wanted to know

What skills and knowledge are needed for educational leadership roles?

What preparation has been provided for those in existing roles?

What might be appropriate preparation to provide for future educational leaders?

What we did and who we asked

Lincoln and Guba’s naturalistic inquiry was the methodology

Ethical approval was granted for the overall study

Online survey using SurveyMonkey®, qualitative data so three demographic questions and three open questions as outlined above

Inductive thematic analysis

Purposeful sample

Participants were education leaders and they represented a range of geographical areas and types of higher education institution.

56 participants were invited to participate and 17 (30%) responded.

What we discovered

Demographic data showed that:

13 Females 4 Males

Years of experience

14 45

26 mean

1 deputy vice chancellor type role

2 independent education consultants

14 Heads/Directors of education development units

What knowledge and skills do you think those leading education in Higher Education need to have? 13 categories

• Change management • Knowledge of quality assurance

& enhancement • Personal characteristics• Lifelong learning • Project management• Collaborative practice and

networking skills

Lead research, have a record of

research & scholarship(5 – 30%)

knowledge of finance, funding of higher

education & income generation(4 – 23%)

interpersonal skills

(12- 71%)

Ability to be strategic and

analytical (7 - 41%)

Knowledge of the policy and context

(7 – 41%)

Teaching and learning

credibility(8 – 47%)

Leadership and management skills

(12 – 71%)

What preparation did you have for your role as a leader in education? and What preparation do you think future leaders in higher education need?

Category No. of participants in relation to the preparation they had

No. of participants in relation to preparation future leaders need

Formal Professional Development

9 (53%) 7 (41%)

Personal experience 7 (41%) 8 (47%)

Informal professional development

6 (35%) 0

Peer support or mentoring

5 (29%) 8 (47%)

Leadership/management training

0 5 (29%)

Interpersonal skills 0 2 (8%)

No preparation 8 (47%) N/A

Where our research is going now

Using the data in our Developing Leadership and Reflective Practice Module

Semi-structured interviews with existing leaders to investigate this data further

Recruit some new leader to participate in workshops and reflection over a longer period of time

Use the data from all stages to design a programme and support

References

Bryman A and Lilley S (2009) ‘Leadership researchers on leadership in higher education’. Leadership, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 331 – 346

Lincoln S and Guba E G (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry, London: Sage Publications

Peters K and Ryan M (2015) Leading Higher Education, London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education

City, University of LondonNorthampton SquareLondonEC1V 0HBUnited Kingdom

T: +44 (0)20 7040 5060E: department@city.ac.ukwww.city.ac.uk/department