Developing Educational Leadership

Abstract

Developing effective leadership within an academic setting is becoming increasingly important in the UK with the changes in the higher education sector. This is particularly pertinent in relation to the leadership of learning and teaching activities, where, for the first time, there will be more systematic external review and benchmarking of academic practice through the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). However, ensuring that we are giving our current and future leaders' appropriate development, both in terms of relevance and timeliness, is more challenging. Stefani [1] identifies this as being an under researched area and, anecdotally, the two principal investigators know that many programme leaders and those in head of department roles often have received little or no development for their role. However, leading education is central to the development of high quality programmes and student success and satisfaction. McInnis, Ramsden and Maconachie [2] outline the need for robust leadership if colleagues are to be inspired and influenced.In order to prepare our staff more effectively for the requirements of educational leadership, at City, University of London, we are undertaking research to explore what knowledge, skills, support and preparation staff need for these roles. This project involves a range of data collection from both existing leaders and those either new or aspiring to these roles. This paper discusses our initial data gathered from a survey via an online questionnaire of open questions with 17 education leaders. The paper will outline their views of the knowledge and skills needed to undertake such a role, the support and preparation they had for their role and what support and preparation they believe new leaders need. The paper will then conclude with some recommendations arising from this data and outline the next stages of the research.