Departmental leadership of teaching

1

• Departmental leadership of teaching
• in research-intensive environments
• Graham Gibbs

2
Background context

• Growing phenomenon of institutional strategies to
  develop teaching
• Less progress in UK in implementing learning and
  teaching strategies in research-intensive
  universities
• Moved to Oxford (2004)
• National Teaching Fellowship project (2004-7)
  network of research-intensive universities to
  discuss teaching
• Oxford, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Cornell, Lund,
  Helsinki, Oslo, Utrecht, Leuven, Sydney,
  Edinburgh, Copenhagen, NUS, Queens
• Case study visits identified some centrally
  driven strategic teaching development (Utrecht,
  Sydney, Leuven), but mostly not strategic or
  centralised
• Institution-wide initiatives usually derived from
  depts. (Stanford)
• Even where institutional initiatives, depts. vary
  in implementation (Sydney)
• In UK NSS scores similar for institutions but
  varied for subjects within institutions

3
Background research study

• Departmental leadership of teaching in
  research-intensive environments
• Leadership Foundation/Higher Education Academy
• Two departments per university identified through
  outstanding teaching PIs
• Case study visits documentation, interviews with
  head, academics, students, to identify role of
  leadership in teaching excellence
• Discussion with network in Utrecht, June 2006

4
Background theory

• McNay (1995) University cultures
• Collegium-Bureaucracy-Corporation-Enterprise
• Ramsden (1998)
• emphasis on transformational leadership
• Prosser and Trigwell (1997)
• experience of department contexts associated with
  student focussed approaches to teaching
• Bryman (2006)
• leadership for research productivity sometimes
  opposite of leadership for teaching excellence
• sceptical about transformational leadership in
  research-intensive cultures
• McBeath et al (2004)
• distributed leadership (related to organisational
  culture)

5
Background theory

• McNay (1995) University cultures
• Collegium-Bureaucracy-Corporation-Enterprise
• Ramsden (1998)
• emphasis on transformational leadership
• Prosser and Trigwell (1997)
• experience of department contexts associated with
  student focussed approaches to teaching
• Bryman (2006)
• leadership for research productivity sometimes
  opposite of leadership for teaching excellence
• sceptical about transformational leadership in
  research-intensive cultures
• McBeath et al (2004)
• distributed leadership (related to organisational
  culture)

6
Background theory

• McNay (1995) University cultures
• Collegium-Bureaucracy-Corporation-Enterprise
• Ramsden (1998)
• conceptions of leadership of teaching
• Prosser and Trigwell (1997)
• experience of department contexts associated with
  student focussed approaches to teaching
• Bryman (2006)
• leadership for research productivity sometimes
  opposite of leadership for teaching excellence
• sceptical about transformational leadership in
  research-intensive cultures
• McBeath et al (2004)
• distributed leadership (related to organisational
  culture)

7
Conceptions of leadership of teaching

• A A focus on the bureaucratic structure and
  organisation of the department, imposed by the
  head
• B A focus on the role, responsibility and
  practice of the head, who imposes a model of
  good practice in teaching upon the teachers in
  the department
• C A focus of the nature and content of subjects
  and disciplines, which is discussed with the
  teachers in the department
• D A focus on the roles, responsibilities and
  practices of the teachers in the department,
  which are discussed and/or negotiated with the
  teachers
• E A focus on teaching that emphasises students
  experience of studying, which is discussed
  and/or negotiated with teachers
• F A focus on teaching emphasising the students
  experience of studying in a continually changing
  and developing curriculum. How to change and
  improve is the subject of systematic discussion
  and consultation and the head systematically
  establishes means to enable teachers to develop

8
Conceptions of leadership of teaching

• conceptions of leadership are closely related to
  the extent to which teachers take a
  student-focussed approach to teaching
• which is closely related to the extent to which
  students take a deep approach to learning
• which is closely related to the quality of
  learning outcomes.
• (Ramsden, Trigwell, Prosser, Martin)
• meta-analyses of all educational interventions of
  all types have confirmed that it is a focus on
  changing how students learn which has the
  greatest impact, not a focus on changing
  teachers, and certainly not a focus on structural
  or organisational matters
  (Hattie)
• academics describe having more, and more
  significant, discussions about teaching in
  departments where there is perceived to be
  leadership support for such discussions
• (Roxa Martensson)

9
Background theory

• McNay (1995) University cultures
• Collegium-Bureaucracy-Corporation-Enterprise
• Ramsden (1998)
• emphasis on transformational leadership
• Prosser and Trigwell (1997)
• experience of department contexts associated with
  student focussed approaches to teaching
• Bryman (2006)
• leadership for research productivity sometimes
  opposite of leadership for teaching excellence
• sceptical about transformational leadership in
  research-intensive cultures
• McBeath et al (2004)
• distributed leadership (related to organisational
  culture)

10
Background theory

• McNay (1995) University cultures
• Collegium-Bureaucracy-Corporation-Enterprise
• Ramsden (1998)
• emphasis on transformational leadership
• Prosser and Trigwell (1997)
• experience of department contexts associated with
  student focussed approaches to teaching
• Bryman (2006)
• leadership for research productivity sometimes
  opposite of leadership for teaching excellence
• sceptical about transformational leadership in
  research-intensive cultures
• McBeath et al (2004)
• distributed leadership (related to organisational
  culture)

11
Forms of dispersed leadership

• Formal distribution via hierarchical structures
  devolving responsibilities to staff to specific
  roles, identifiable in an organisational diagram
• Pragmatic distribution via ad hoc devolution of
  tasks to meet demands as they emerge
• Strategic distribution via planned appointment
  of individuals to contribute to specific
  initiatives
• Incremental distribution involving giving
  progressively more responsibility to identified
  individuals as they demonstrate their growing
  competence
• Opportunistic distribution where individuals
  willingly take the initiative to extend their
  roles
• Cultural distribution where leadership is
  assumed rather than given and shared in a
  flexible way enabled by the local culture.

12
Leadership strategies and tactics associated with
excellent teaching

• Establishing personal credibility
• 2 Identifying problems and turning them into
  opportunities
• 3 Articulating a rationale for change
• 4 Devolving leadership
• 5 Building a community of practice
• Marketing the department as a (teaching) success
• Managing innovation
• Involving students

13
Patterns in leadership of teaching

• Department size appears to have little effect
  emergent change and planned change as likely
  in small and large departments
• Discipline has a large effect change more
  emergent than planned in Humanities and
  Social Science no examples of emergent change in
  Science. Entrepreneurial organisational culture
  much more evident in professional subjects.

14
Disciplinary activity systems

• Where subject matter is hierarchically
  structured, teachers need to agree what courses
  consist of in order to ensure students
  prerequisite knowledge for later courses
• Where research is conducted collaboratively there
  is a culture of doing things together and talking
  about it.
• Where significant resources are required to
  undertake research, and it requires much
  organisation and a hierarchy of staff, everyone
  is used to funding, planning, organising and
  supervising others
• Where a subject is as much about discourse as
  subject expertise, it may not matter much what
  colleagues teach and agreement between teachers
  is less necessary
• Where research is conducted individually and
  privately, largely without resources, there is
  little experience of funding and organising (and
  the organisational structure is hierarchically
  flat) of co-operating to get things done, or of
  managing others to work to a pattern.

15
Patterns in leadership of teaching

• Department size appears to have little effect
  emergent change and planned change as likely
  in small and large departments
• Discipline has a large effect change more
  emergent than planned in Humanities and
  Social Science no examples of emergent change in
  Science. Entrepreneurial organisational culture
  much more evident in Professional subjects.
• Experiencing a significant problem or challenge
  is virtually essential for planned change. Every
  example of emergent change was associated with no
  experience of a problem. Entrepreneurial culture
  was common where there was a problem a collegial
  culture where there was no problem.
• Cultures either collegial or (collegial
  entrepreneurial). Very little bureaucracy some
  corporatism

16
University cultures

• Collegial culture
• freedom to pursue university and personal goals
  unaffected by external control. Decision-making
  is consensual, management style permissive.
  Students are seen as apprentice academics.
• Bureaucratic culture
• regulation, rules, and consistency with standards
  related to institutional quality assurance
  procedures. Evaluation is based on the audit of
  procedures. Decision making is rule-based.
  Students are seen as statistics.
• Corporate culture
• management style is commanding and charismatic.
  Decision-making is political and tactical.
  Evaluation is based on performance indicators and
  benchmarking. Student are seen as units of
  resource.
• Entrepreneurial culture
• management style involves devolved and dispersed
  leadership. Decision-making is flexible and
  emphasises professional expertise. Evaluation is
  based on achievement. Students are seen as
  partners.

17
Patterns in leadership of teaching

• Department size had little effect emergent
  change and planned change as likely in small
  and large departments
• The discipline had a large effect change more
  emergent than planned in Humanities and
  Social Science no examples of emergent change in
  Science. Entrepreneurial organisational culture
  much more evident in Professional subjects.
• Experiencing a significant problem or challenge
  is virtually essential for planned change. Every
  example of emergent change was associated with no
  experience of a problem. Entrepreneurial culture
  was common where there was a problem a collegial
  culture where there was no problem.
• Cultures either collegial or (collegial
  entrepreneurial). Very little bureaucracy or
  corporatism
• Conceptions of leadership of teaching much more
  sophisticated than reported in previous studies
  (85 focus on student experience and discussion
  compared with lt10).

18
Conceptions of leadership of teaching

• A A focus on the bureaucratic structure and
  organisation of the department, imposed by the
  head
• B A focus on the role, responsibility and
  practice of the head, who imposes a model of good
  practice in teaching upon the teachers in the
  department
• C A focus of the nature and content of subjects
  and disciplines, which is discussed with the
  teachers in the department
• D A focus on the roles, responsibilities and
  practices of the teachers in the department,
  which are discussed and/or negotiated with the
  teachers
• E A focus on teaching that emphasises students
  experience of studying, which is discussed and/or
  negotiated with teachers
• F A focus on teaching emphasising the students
  experience of studying in a continually changing
  and developing curriculum. How to change and
  improve is the subject of systematic discussion
  and consultation and the head systematically
  establishes means to enable teachers to develop

19
Leadership of teaching?

• Leadership of innovation and change in the
  department and its degree programmes, from state
  A to state B
• Leadership of individual teachers and their
  teaching on individual courses (and then support
  of emergent change where this is successful)
• Maintenance of a (functioning) collegial culture,
  with emphasis on quality rather than on change

20
Case studies

• Read one of case studies A, B, C or D
• Discuss in groups of three or four where the
  others have read different cases
• What does leadership of teaching consist of in
  these departments?
• What relevance do these cases have for leadership
  of teaching in your context?
• 45 minutes silent reading followed by small group
  discussion
• ..followed by open discussion in the whole group
  no reporting by sub-groups

21
Task

• In groups of 3 or 4, discuss the characteristics
  of your own leadership and the extent to which
  the elements of successful leadership of teaching
  are evident in your own department.
• and what changes you might be interested in
  bringing about to lead teaching differently