Leadership of Teaching and Learning

This chapter introduces the research investigating how forms of teaching leadership are related to variation in the way teachers approach their teaching. The results show that there are direct empirical links between teachers’ experiences of leadership an

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Leadership of Teaching and Learning

Abstract  This chapter introduces the research investigating how forms of teaching leadership are related to variation in the way teachers approach their teaching. The results show that there are direct empirical links between teachers’ experiences of leadership and the academic context, their approaches to teaching and their students’ experiences of teaching and learning, all in the context of the teaching-learning model described in the first chapter. The nature of leadership of teaching and learning that is aimed at supporting higher quality teaching and students’ engagement with their subject matter in a deeper way is discussed. The chapter concludes with an articulation of principles of practice for both teachers and formal leaders of teaching. Keywords  Teaching leadership • Subject coordinators • Experience of leadership • Leadership and student learning As shown in the shaded areas of the teaching-learning model (Fig. 5.1) the focus of this chapter is on the relations between teaching leadership (in the academic context) the teachers’ understanding of leadership, their perceptions of those presage elements, their approaches to teaching and associations with student learning.

© The Author(s) 2020 K. Trigwell, M. Prosser, Exploring University Teaching and Learning, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50830-2_5

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K. TRIGWELL AND M. PROSSER

Presage Students’ conceptions/ understandings

Process

Product

Students’ emotions and perceptions of learning context

Students’ approach to learning

Teachers’ emotions and perceptions of academic context

Teachers’ approach to teaching

Students’ learning outcome

Academic context (e.g. leadership)

Teachers’ conceptions/ understandings

Fig. 5.1  The teaching-learning model showing the focus of this chapter (shaded areas). (Source: Adapted from Trigwell, Prosser, & Waterhouse, 1999, p. 60)

The key questions we address are: • What is the variation in the experience of the leadership of teaching and learning? • What is the nature of the relationship between the experience of university teaching, the leadership of teaching and student learning? • What issues for teachers and the leaders of teaching emerge from an examination of the relations between the experience of teaching and the experience of leadership?

Leadership of Teaching The success of any organization, including an academic institution, to a large extent rests on effective leadership (Meek, Goedegebuure, Santiago, & Carvalho, 2010). While most research into leadership in universities has focused on departmental heads and senior managers, there is a growing body of research into mid-level leadership and how it is perceived (Holt, Cohen, Campbell-Evans, Chang, Macdonald, & McDonald, 2013; Mårtensson & Roxå, 2016; Milburn, 2010; Öqvist & Malmström, 2018; Roberts, Butcher, & Brooker, 2010; Vilkinas & Ladyshewsky, 2012; Vuori, 2011). It is the mid-level leadership of teaching by Subject

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Coordinators (also known as Program