Chapter 12 – General Readings
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sometimes multiple modes of delivery (face-to-face, online, distance, offshore).
Frequently, they are also involved in teaching. Their direct and indirect impact on the
learning outcomes of large numbers of students makes the role a critical one in all
discipline areas.
This paper discusses
- The form academic leadership needs to take in this environment.
- Implications for the content and arrangement of the development of academic
leaders who have a positive impact on student learning.
A strength of the current paper is that it will bring information and knowledge from the
leadership literature that to date has not widely been used in research on academic
leadership. As argued by Carrick Institute for Learning Teaching in Higher Education
(2006), it is time to move beyond the (educational) literature to an understanding and
definitions of “effective leadership for learning and teaching in higher education” (p. 6),
based on empirical evidence.
Nature and Importance of Academic Leadership
All universities have designated academic staff who provide leadership in programs that
need to respond to the pressures arising from the professional and social contexts in
which they operate. Some of these pressures result from the higher education
environment, others from the broader context within which it operates, both of which
impact on the teaching and learning environment. Given the pace and scope of change
in higher education institutions, academics in leadership roles must be flexible,
adaptable and innovative in their practice.
At present, academic leadership is poorly understood. It is characterised by
sometimes contradictory and often underdeveloped definitions (Carrick Institute for
Learning Teaching in Higher Education, 2006). While much research has been
undertaken on leadership (Sternberg, 2005) little has been undertaken on academic
leadership and that which has occurred has been focused on heads of schools who have
authority and formal power as well as a leadership role (Askling & Stensaker, 2002;
Knight & Trowler, 2000; Ramsden, 1998; Yielder & Codling, 2004). This is very different
from the role of academic coordinators who usually have little, if any, formal power and
authority but a clear mandate to provide leadership and direction in the university and
delivery of academic programs (Yielder & Codling, 2004).
The important contribution that academic leadership makes to the development and
maintenance of quality teaching (Ramsden, 1998) makes it critical that academic leaders
develop the knowledge and skills to design, develop, implement and evaluate high-
quality teaching and teachers (Marshall, Adams, Cameron, & Sullivan, 2000). There has
however been limited work focused on enhancing teaching and learning through
improving academic leadership (Marshall, 2006). Middlehurst (1999) and Ramsden
(1998) highlighted the need for research:
- Investigating the impact of academic leadership on teaching staff and students.
- Identifying the form that academic leadership needs to take given that the
academic coordinators do not have formal power. - Leading to a theory development that explains academic leadership (Marshall,
2006).