Leadership In Learning And Teaching In Higher Education: Perspectives Of Academics In Non-Formal Leadership Roles

Developing leaders and leadership are key factors to improve learning and teaching in highereducation. Despite the abundance of literature concerning developing formal leadership, fewerstudies have been conducted with academics in non-formal leadership roles that focus on howthey develop their leadership in learning and teaching. Publication and funding metrics areevidence of leadership and success in research. Metrics in learning and teaching exist, but areless well accepted and valued. We undertook a qualitative descriptive study to examine howacademics in non-formal leadership roles at an Australian university understood leadership anddescribed their leadership in teaching. Following ethical approval, eight participants wereinterviewed using a semi-structured format. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: leadership isthe ability to influence direction; all about the culture; becoming visible and speaking up; andlearning leadership together. Participants said leading teaching teams effectively and influencingquality learning experiences for students and colleagues is ‘evidence’ of leadership in learningand teaching. Some said a few research colleagues and formal leaders did not accept such‘evidence’ and continued to favour leadership of research teams. This paper contributes newstrategies as possible ways forward to facilitate cultural change in higher education institutionsthat include: a need for formal leaders and academics to reach agreement about evidence ofeffective leadership in learning and teaching; academics sharing innovations to effectively leadteaching teams and to promote quality teaching experiences for students; and mentoringcolleagues in learning and teaching.