The messy reality of distributed leadership in a small teaching-focused university: findings from a process evaluation of a new curriculum framework in its pilot year

In response to sector-wide pressures and the needs of a small, teaching-focused, resource-constrained institution, Plymouth Marjon University piloted a new Curriculum Framework in 2024–25. Eight projects were established to design, test, and evaluate key elements of the Framework, each led by an academic and supported by students, partners, and professional services staff. These pilots informed full implementation in 2025–26. A distributed leadership model was adopted to align with institutional values and address known resistance to curriculum reform alongside increasing workload and uncertainty. Drawing on qualitative data from a broader TASO process evaluation, this study examines the experiences of eight academic project leads. Using Bolden et al.’s ([2009]. “Distributed Leadership in Higher Education.” Educational Management Administration & Leadership 37 (2): 257–277.) critique of distributed leadership, findings highlight tensions between collaborative aspirations and the structural, temporal, and cultural constraints of university contexts. While the model initially supported engagement, ownership, and innovation, these were constrained by uneven authority, limited capacity, and workload pressures. The study shows how distributed leadership evolved into hybrid forms, combining emergent and devolved approaches. This hybridisation reflects the complex, negotiated realities of leading change in higher education, with implications for practice that favour more realistic and humane approaches to reform, which acknowledge both individual agency and systemic constraint.