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Practise what we preach, says leadership study Leaders are learning like students, according to a recent study of higher education leaders from around the country. The Learning Leaders in Times of Change survey, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, is a joint project of the University of Western Sydney and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The project surveyed more than 500 Australian higher education leaders from 20 institutions about the contexts and challenges they face and the key capabilities that underpin their work. Results of the survey were released on 30 June. A key recommendation of the project is that universities should ‘practice what we preach’ by constructing leadership learning programs that model the approaches to learning that are now being advocated for use with higher education students. Professional development for leaders should use case-based and problem-based learning situated in the context of each particular role, and should foster targeted support networks for people working in the same role. Leaders must become particularly skilled at not only identifying what changes must be made to keep up with the continuous movement in their operating context, but also at making sure these agreed changes are put into practice successfully and sustained. Commenting on the study’s findings, Professor Geoff Scott, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Western Sydney and leader of the research said, ‘Good ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas.’ University leaders said they face mounting external pressure for radical change in the higher education sector. To implement change, leaders must learn to do new things. And how best do higher education leaders learn? According to the survey, leaders learn in the same ways as their students. University leaders want to be taught in the same way they teach their students. The study found that exactly the same flexible, responsive, active, problem-based, just-in-time, just-for-me learning methods found to engage university students in productive learning in studies is what leaders report they want. Dr Hamish Coates, Principal Research Fellow at ACER, said the project has played a valuable role in developing ACER’s collaborative relationships with Australian universities. “In collaboration with UWS, and with colleagues at all Australian universities, we’ve leveraged robust research methodologies and key insights from school research to shed light on this critical area of higher education,” he said. “The study is one of the largest of its kind so far, and we look forward to further developments, both in Australia and abroad.” The full report, Learning Leaders in Times of Change: Academic Leadership Capabilities for Australian Higher Education, by ACER researchers Dr Hamish Coates & Michelle Anderson and UWS academic Professor Geoff Scott, is available from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council website The Learning Leaders in Times of Change project has developed a range of products to support an academic leadership capability framework for Australian higher education. In 2008 and 2009, UWS and ACER will convert key findings into an online Leadership Enhancement And Development Resource (LEADR) and pilot the software and approaches at a large number of institutions. Visit www.altc.edu.au for more information. « Back to eNews
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Leaders are learning like students, according to a recent study of higher education leaders from around the country. The Learning Leaders in Times of Change survey, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, is a joint project of the University of Western Sydney and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

The project surveyed more than 500 Australian higher education leaders from 20 institutions about the contexts and challenges they face and the key capabilities that underpin their work. Results of the survey were released on 30 June.

A key recommendation of the project is that universities should ‘practice what we preach’ by constructing leadership learning programs that model the approaches to learning that are now being advocated for use with higher education students. Professional development for leaders should use case-based and problem-based learning situated in the context of each particular role, and should foster targeted support networks for people working in the same role.

Leaders must become particularly skilled at not only identifying what changes must be made to keep up with the continuous movement in their operating context, but also at making sure these agreed changes are put into practice successfully and sustained.

Commenting on the study’s findings, Professor Geoff Scott, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Western Sydney and leader of the research said, ‘Good ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas.’

University leaders said they face mounting external pressure for radical change in the higher education sector. To implement change, leaders must learn to do new things. And how best do higher education leaders learn? According to the survey, leaders learn in the same ways as their students.

University leaders want to be taught in the same way they teach their students. The study found that exactly the same flexible, responsive, active, problem-based, just-in-time, just-for-me learning methods found to engage university students in productive learning in studies is what leaders report they want.

Dr Hamish Coates, Principal Research Fellow at ACER, said the project has played a valuable role in developing ACER’s collaborative relationships with Australian universities.

“In collaboration with UWS, and with colleagues at all Australian universities, we’ve leveraged robust research methodologies and key insights from school research to shed light on this critical area of higher education,” he said.

“The study is one of the largest of its kind so far, and we look forward to further developments, both in Australia and abroad.”

The full report, Learning Leaders in Times of Change: Academic Leadership Capabilities for Australian Higher Education, by ACER researchers Dr Hamish Coates & Michelle Anderson and UWS academic Professor Geoff Scott, is available from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council website

The Learning Leaders in Times of Change project has developed a range of products to support an academic leadership capability framework for Australian higher education. In 2008 and 2009, UWS and ACER will convert key findings into an online Leadership Enhancement And Development Resource (LEADR) and pilot the software and approaches at a large number of institutions. Visit www.altc.edu.au for more information.

Practise what we preach, says leadership study