The coordination role in research education: emerging understandings and dilemmas for leadership

Changes in expectations of research education worldwide have seen the rise of new demands beyond supervision and have highlighted the need for academic leadership in research education at a local level. Based on an interview study of those who have taken up local leadership roles in four Australian universities, this paper maps and analyses different dimensions of the emerging leadership role of research education coordination. It argues that while there is increasing clarity of what is required, there are considerable tensions in the nature of the coordination role and how coordination is to be executed. In particular, what leadership roles are appropriate and how can they be positioned effectively within universities? The paper draws on the Integrated Competing Values Framework to focus on the activities of coordination and on ideas of distributed leadership to discuss the leadership that characterises coordination. It is argued that without acknowledgement of the influences that coordinators need to exert and the positioning and support needed to achieve this, the contemporary agenda for research education will not be realised.     

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and practice: Balancing expectations of the ‘old’ academy with the future model of universities as ‘problem solvers’

Academics are increasingly required to balance the expectations of the ‘old’ academy with a future model of universities as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary ‘problem solvers’. This paper highlights changing expectations of academics in producing alternative research outcomes in collaborative, practice‐based research. Through a series of workshops with 20 researchers, preferred research outcomes and tensions in achieving these outcomes were identified. The tensions identified are presented as three dichotomies comprising the tension between: (a) ‘I versus We’ ‐ individual versus team expectations & outcomes. (b) Disciplinary outcomes versus inter‐/transdisciplinary outcomes. (c) Learning versus research objectives for the students and academics involved. These tensions reflect the authors' experiences of working in three international sustainability projects, drawing on lessons learned from these projects, with recommendations for universities seeking to implement interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary doctoral and postdoctoral programmes. Recommendations include the need for formal and informal leadership models, strong communication skills, empathy and willingness to learn from each other. A need for more systemic changes within university administration to better reward and value the breadth and depth of collaborative work, while facilitating open learning cultures and practice‐oriented learning opportunities and curricula across faculties was also identified.     

Tensions in Higher Education Leadership: Towards a Multi‐Level Model of Leadership Practice

UK higher education is undergoing a period of significant change that generates a series of tensions and difficulties for universities and university leaders. This paper explores these tensions through analysis of findings from a study comprising 152 semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews in 12 UK universities. Building on from theories of ‘distributed leadership’ in schools, five main constituent elements of leadership practice in higher education are identified (personal, social, structural, contextual and developmental) and explored to show how they shape perceptions and experiences of leadership. The paper concludes with a refined model that teases apart the multilayered nature of higher education leadership at individual, group and organisational levels. In particular, it is argued that ‘social capital’ and ‘social identity’ act as important bridges between individual agency and organisational structure and that although widely distributed, higher education leadership may be best regarded as ‘hybrid’.     

Tensions and the Teacher’s Role in Student Teacher Identity Development in Primary and Subject Teacher Curricula

This paper describes a 2-year follow-up study on teacher identity development in different types of teacher education programmes. Teacher identity development was analysed with a focus on student teachers’ views of teacher’s roles and tensions experienced during their studies. Student teachers (n?=?20) were interviewed at the beginning and end of the master-level studies. Three types of tensions were identified: (1) conception of self versus professional role, (2) role expectations versus university training, (3) and multiple professional role expectations. The follow-up study showed that tensions tended to accumulate to some extent. However, successful consolidation of tensions appeared to depend on how the student teachers were able to recognise resources at their disposal, with implications for organisation of reflection support in teacher education.     

Teacher tensions: expectations in a professional development institute

The purpose of this study was to better understand teacher tensions in professional development. The population under study was practicing mathematics teachers engaged in a week-long professional development institute. Data sources included observations, interviews, and teacher products (such as registration forms, surveys, journals, and notebooks). The data were analyzed to determine what tensions were evident in the institute and how those tensions arose. In this paper, we examine participants’ tensions in a professional development situation when their expectations did not match reality. We have done so by presenting a theoretical model of professional development based on an instructional rhombus that illuminates the actual and applicatory aspects of teachers’ professional development experiences. The main tensions expressed by the teachers were related to the content and pedagogy of the institute. This study points toward the importance of teachers’ expectations in professional development.     

Issues and challenges in higher education leadership: Engaging for change

It is proposed from this study that engaging productively with others to achieve change has never been more critical in educational environments, such as universities. Via semi-structured interviews with a cohort of senior leaders from one Australian university, this paper explores their perceptions of the key issues and challenges facing them in their work. The study found that the most significant challenges centred around the need for strategic leadership, flexibility, creativity and change-capability; responding to competing tensions and remaining relevant; maintaining academic quality; and managing fiscal and people resources. Sound interpersonal engagement, particularly in terms of change leadership capability, was found to be critical to meeting the key challenges identified by most participants. In light of the findings from the sample studied some tentative implications for leadership and leadership development in university environments are proposed, along with suggestions for further empirical exploration.     

Common Challenges and Experiences of School Districts That Are Implementing One-to-One Computing Initiatives

This article explores the implementation of various K–12 one-to-one computing initiatives to determine if patterns exist. These initiatives are funded in times of limited resources and constitute a serious investment in technology for the schools and districts adopting them. The goals of this study were to understand how and why one-to-one computing initiatives are being implemented, how these initiatives are funded and supported, and expectations or assumptions of stakeholders that are driving adoption of this type of technology. The results suggest that these school districts, and those like them, will face many challenges—some financial, some technical, and some procedural—as they work to integrate technology into instruction and assessment. Common themes or challenges identified from this work, and linked with previous research, include leadership and vision, funding, teacher professional development, and project evaluation.     

Australian social work academics’ perceptions of their teaching roles within higher education

The marketisation of higher education (HE) has created a number of tensions and ideological dilemmas that may influence how academics see their roles and teaching practices. This paper explores how academics in the discipline of social work (who were also in leadership roles) perceive their roles and identities and manage the tensions and dilemmas that arise for them as teachers in the current HE environment. Unless the tensions and dilemmas are articulated, it is not possible to understand and manage their impact on academics. This may lead to the loss of quality learning experiences for students and lower workplace satisfaction. This paper addresses the research question: were there ideological dilemmas experienced by social work academics in the current environment and if so, what subject positions did they adopt in response to these? A discursive psychology approach was used to answer this question. Data showed a range of ideological dilemmas represented by each of the different subject positions adopted. The paper concludes with questions for readers to consider, generating ideas for transferring understanding of these ideological dilemmas into positive action within the workplace.     

Drawing a veil over managerialism: leadership and the discursive disguise of the New Public Management

Through a focus upon the simultaneous rise of leadership and the New Public Management (NPM) within the context of education in England this article offers an analytical account of these developments and their entry into the field of education. This analysis is located within contradictions and tensions arising out of the agential promises inherent in the construction of leadership and the simultaneous managerialist and directive intent of the NPM. The way in which discourses of leadership and, more latterly, distributed leadership act to draw a veil over these tensions and contradictions is demonstrated within the context of research in two schools. The article concludes by examining how discourses of leadership have enabled schools and teachers to adapt to educational modernisation in ways that have undermined teacher professionalism.     

Complexity leadership in learning analytics: Drivers,challenges and opportunities

Learning analytics (LA) has demonstrated great potential in improving teaching quality, learning experience and administrative efficiency. However, the adoption of LA in higher education is often beset by challenges in areas such as resources, stakeholder buy-in, ethics and privacy. Addressing these challenges in a complex system requires agile leadership that is responsive to pressures in the environment and capable of managing conflicts. This paper examines LA adoption processes among 21 UK higher education institutions using complexity leadership theory as a framework. The data were collected from 23 interviews with institutional leaders and subsequently analysed using a thematic coding scheme. The results showed a number of prominent challenges associated with LA deployment, which lie in the inherent tensions between innovation and operation. These challenges require a new form of leadership to create and nurture an adaptive space in which innovations are supported and ultimately transformed into the mainstream operation of an institution. This paper argues that a complexity leadership model enables higher education to shift towards more fluid and dynamic approaches for LA adoption, thus ensuring its scalability and sustainability.     

Problem solvers or provocateurs? How elementary school principals respond to tensions in schoolbased development

As elementary school principals increase efforts to stimulate school‐based development, they face complex and often conflicting choices about ways to make decisions, strategies to support teacher development, and approaches that foster a constructive working environment. This paper examines how forty‐six elementary principals respond to tensions in an inservice program designed to facilitate their leadership development through participation in school improvement projects. Most view tensions as problems to solve [as comptrollers, accommodators, or processors]; a few live as provocateurs and construe tensions as dilemmas to manage. The effectiveness of school‐based development depends on the capacity of principals, in concert with their teachers, to understand and consistently cope with tensions that emerge as they try to improve their individual and collectives practices.     

"985工程"平台中学科互涉的阻力与对策——基于学科文化的分析视角

学科互涉是打破传统单一而封闭的学科界限,走出固有的学科结构状态,对不同学科话语进行综合置换与重新解读的过程。平台中,学科之间全面交流与碰撞,导致学科间持有一种能动的张力。基于学科文化的视角,张力主要存在于知识理论、方法论和思维方式等方面。形成跨学科的平台文化,是消解平台中学科互涉导致学科文化张力的关键。建立项目学术团队,训练学科人的综合思维,规范基本术语和概念,共享科研成果和培养通才型首席主任等是整合学科文化、建构平台文化的重要步骤和手段。     

Teacher professionalization in the age of social networking sites

As teacher education students become professionals, they face a number of tensions related to identity, social participation, and work-life balance, which may be further complicated by social networking sites (SNS). This qualitative study sought to articulate tensions that arose between professionalization influences and teacher education student participants' SNS participation. Findings suggest that some expectations of professionalization in SNS cut deeply into participants' self-concept and that tensions arose surrounding unclear expectations of professionalization and fears related to political and religious expression. The study's implications are: teachers need to (a) consider how participation in SNS may impact their identity, (b) understand how moral turpitude is defined in their communities and how their behavior aligns with these standards, and (c) carefully explore how they can maintain meaningful social connections in online spaces as they pass through new phases of life and seek to become professionals.     

Modernizing leadership through private participation: a marriage of inconvenience with public ethos?

What distinctive leadership changes does the private sector bring to the running of public sector educational services? This paper contributes to an understanding of the issues raised by this question by studying the senior management of a private company running services for an English local education authority. The paper explores evidence of modernizing leadership, as well as the extent to which a traditional public ethos is sustained or re‐interpreted within modernization. Analysis is based principally on interviews with senior management, but is also informed by the larger data set collected as part of the case study of this public‐private partnership. The paper suggests that modernizing leadership, as understood in terms of the dominant policy discourse, is not found in its pure form, but is modified by a continuing orientation to an older public ethos. A model is proposed—an adaptive public service model of leadership—which reflects the style of leadership forged by senior management. Issues, dangers, paradoxes, and contradictions inherent in the model and the practice it represents are highlighted. The model is not put forward as an ideal to follow, but as a means of highlighting the issues that arise where modernization and older ideals of public service encounter each other.     

Examining the potential of critical and Kaupapa Māori approaches to leading education reform in New Zealand’s English-medium secondary schools

This paper discusses expectations, policies and practices that currently underpin education within the New Zealand context. It acknowledges the ongoing failure of this policy framework to positively influence reform for Indigenous Māori students in regular, state-funded schools and highlights the need for extensive change in the positioning and expectations of educators if Māori learners are to realize their true potential. The paper then considers leadership models to reimagine and lead a transformative educational reform that aims to include the aspirations and contributions of all members of the school’s communities, especially those who have historically been marginalized. Finally it considers the implications of this model for international application.     

Educational leadership: Producing docile bodies? A Foucauldian perspective on Higher Education

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a long‐standing critical tradition in the educational leadership literature through an analytical examination of the idiosyncrasies of leadership in Higher Education institutions (based on the UK example). It applies a postmodern way of thinking to the educational leadership phenomenon to problematise and challenge the traditional views on the trajectories of power in Higher Education institutions, utilising Foucault’s key theoretical units of discipline, governmentality and biopolitics as a toolbox for dissecting the implications of neoliberal ideology on the leadership praxes. Significantly, the paper demonstrates how the engagement with Foucault’s three modes of objectification—dividing practices, scientific classification and self‐subjection—can expose the ways, in which the roles of educational leaders become re‐configured into economic‐rational individuals or subjects, who are compliant with the imposed requisites of the government’s neoliberal agendas. The paper concludes that Foucault’s theoretical perspectives could be used as a methodological template for a deeper critical analysis of leadership practices, equipping academics with additional tools for critiquing the existing boundaries of neoliberalism and intervening in the transformation of the social order by undertaking an investigation into the practices of governmentality, as suggested by Foucault.     

Raising leadership criticality in MBAs

In a world of supercapitalism, the tensions between business and public interests are expected to rise, thereby calling corporations to assume new roles in society. In response to this trend, corporations will be in demand of an innovative kind of leadership exercised at all levels by a new breed of ethical, reflective and creative decision-makers. Among the qualifications involved in developing the leadership skills of these decision-makers, the MBA stands out as a world’s leading one. However, empirical research conducted in English and French business schools indicates that MBA curricula are not typically designed to provide participants with a broader understanding of leadership that could fully engage them in their learning experiences. To improve this situation, MBA lecturers and curriculum developers need to broaden their educational agenda by means of a reconceptualisation of leadership studies. Drawn from the empirical findings mentioned above and the work of Barnett on criticality, this paper proposes a pedagogical framework for leadership studies that involves three levels of leadership criticality combined with the three domains of critical beings. The objective is to provide a basis for the development of appropriate learning activities that will encourage MBA participants to strive towards developing themselves as critical beings namely, to think and act in such a way that the societal imprint of corporations will be more ‘attuned’ with the ideals of democracy, social justice, and sustainable development.     

Rethinking Assessment Design: Evidence-Informed Strategies to Boost Educational Impact in the Anatomical Sciences

University assessment is in the midst of transformation. Assessments are no longer designed solely to determine that students can remember and regurgitate lecture content, nor in order to rank students to aid with some future selection process. Instead, assessments are expected to drive, support, and enhance learning and to contribute to student self-assessment and development of skills and attributes for a lifetime of learning. While traditional purposes of certifying achievement and determining readiness to progress remain important, these new expectations for assessment can create tensions in assessment design, selection, and deployment. With the recognition of these tensions, three contemporary approaches to assessment in medical education are described. These approaches include careful consideration of the educational impact of assessment—before, during (test or recall enhanced learning) and after assessments; development of student (and staff) assessment literacy; and planning of cohesive systems of assessment (with a range of assessment tools) designed to assess the various competencies demanded of future graduates. These approaches purposefully straddle the cross purposes of assessment in modern health professions education. The implications of these models are explored within the context of medical education and then linked with contemporary work in the anatomical sciences in order to highlight current synergies and potential future innovations when using evidence-informed strategies to boost the educational impact of assessments.     

张之洞领导活动中的发展之维——基于领导学行为理论的思考

张之洞是晚清重臣,中国近代化之巨擘。从现代领导学行为理论的角度来分析张之洞的领导活动,可以发现,在这位洋务派领袖的领导活动中存在大量发展性的要素,这在很大程度上加强了张之洞领导活动的有效性,促进了其领导活动的成功。发展是时代的主题。通过对张之洞这样一个特定领导者及其领导团体的分析,可以让我们更清晰地看到,领导活动的变革性和创造性集中地表现为领导发展之维,不仅是历史过渡时期需要领导者具备发展性的战略思维,事实上人类社会的进步无时无刻不在呼唤发展的领导。     

The wicked problem of embedding academic literacies: exploring rhizomatic ways of working through an adaptive leadership approach

Embedding academic literacies in higher education courses has been a major focus of the work of learning advisers. A number of studies present the results of embedding in specific courses without discussing the processes of negotiation or the different people involved. This paper is about embedding academic literacies in the Business faculty as part of an English language proficiency model at an Australian university. After initial slow progress, a team of learning advisers began to evaluate the process by reflecting on practice. This reflection focused on the space between the top-down process as planned and what actually happened in the complex academic environment. There were tensions between the proposed plan and the expectations and understandings of the disciplinary academics. These were used as a starting point to explore the issues in more detail. This paper argues that the task of embedding academic literacies bears all the hallmarks of a ‘wicked problem’ which eludes a linear formulation and is open to multiple framings. The botanical metaphor of the rhizome from the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari and an adaptive leadership approach offer ways of responding to this problem. This paper reinterprets the team’s experiences using these theories and suggests alternative work practices. By moving away from the concept of a model, more opportunities to bring about attitudinal and curriculum change can be created to make academic literacies explicit for students.