Reconfiguring educational leadership in times of institutional flux

Educational leadership in higher education is often theorized through models that presume institutional stability, yet contemporary universities increasingly operate amid uncertainty, disruption, and ongoing change. This paper examines how educational leadership is enacted under conditions of institutional flux through an interpretive qualitative case study of two leadership initiatives, a University Teaching Leadership Fellows program and a Teaching and Learning Network, at a research-intensive Canadian university. Drawing on survey data, annual reports, and reflective analysis by the program facilitator, the study is informed by theories of distributed leadership and sensemaking. Four interrelated themes emerge: leadership becomes increasingly relational; leadership capacity is enabled but constrained by institutional scaffolding; leadership initiatives are fragile and difficult to sustain; and leadership shifts from directing activity toward ongoing sensemaking and meaning-making. Periods of pause and program discontinuation prove analytically generative, revealing otherwise invisible institutional conditions and dependencies shaping leadership practice. The paper argues that institutional flux does not diminish leadership but reconfigures it, making leadership more contingent, relational, and interpretive. These findings challenge assumptions that leadership development can be sustained through programmatic interventions alone and highlight the importance of attending to institutional conditions if leadership of teaching and learning is to be meaningfully supported over time.