Prof. Elizabeth Deane, University of Western Sydney: Developing effective student leadership...
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Effective and Valid Student Leadership
Elizabeth Deane University of Western Sydney
Supported by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching
Project dimensions
Project team: UWS; UQ; USQ; La Trobe; USyd; UniSA and the National
Union of Students + International Advisory group and participants Two year OLT funding will deliver:
Good practice frameworks, guidelines and practical resources for empowering students (and institutions!) to participate in curriculum development for L&T improvement
Context: drivers
• Student roles in Universities have been evolving – from passive vessels to active partners in all aspects of operations
• Encompasses curricular and co-curricular • Is International • Increasing focus on student “experience” and
“engagement”; • The rise of surveys – political drivers • Strong pedagogical drivers – research led
teaching; students as partners (UK HEA project)
Context: Current position
• Many mechanisms for gathering student input/student voice, little analysis of the validity and effectiveness of these strategies and how they could be improved.
• Importance of student contributions to enhance the quality of their educational experience
• Current challenges faced in developing valid, productive roles for student leaders in governance through to curriculum development (Lizzio & Wilson, 2009), include:
– Role ambiguity
– Lack of experience
– Poor student training for leadership
– Attitudes and expectations of staff
– Systemic difficulties (including unaligned policies, poor committee structures and other governance related activities)
Ambitions
Current positioning of students
Current positioning of
students
Desired positioning of
students
Getting there and
knowing it
Consumers of knowledge
and providers of feedback
Students representatives in
governance
Student leadership of guilds,
clubs and societies
⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶⟶
Co-producers and
partners in knowledge
generation and
acquisition
Co-drivers of academic
and governance agendas
Co-drivers of Government
agendas
Project approach
• International and historical analysis of student leadership roles and influence in higher education
• Conceptualising student leadership roles – from the “classroom” to the “boardroom”
• Methods: Survey, focus groups and case study investigation; governance and policy analysis
• How can diverse leadership roles be best supported?
Progress
Defining the scope of leadership
• Analysis of governance and policies for delineation of “formal” student roles
• Identification of range of informal/non-governance positioned roles, particular focus on discipline and curriculum.
• Expanded involvement of student leaders in project (via NUS and CAPA)
Progress
• Draft typology of student leadership roles
• Map of student roles on committees in Australian Universities
• Workshops with peak student associations – identification of case studies and participants
• Framework based on international research on student roles and influence
• Survey developed encompassing HE Leadership work
Typology of roles: leadership vs influence
– Presidents of student guilds/unions
– Faculty and school representatives
– Class and unit representatives
– Representatives of discipline based clubs and societies
– Student-led learning community leaders
– Individual student voice (surveys/direct conversations)
– Office holders in special interest Clubs and Societies
Conceptualising the roles of students
Student as evaluators
(the student voice)
Students as institutional
decision makers
(students in governance)
Students as experts and
partners in provision
(driving curriculum)
Students as drivers of change
(driving development and
knowledge)
adapted from Dunne and Zandstra, 2011
Investigating student leadership
Key features of survey and focus groups with student leaders (students in governance) Capabilities – personal , interpersonal, intellectual Skills and Knowledge needs Development needs (and training/PD) Enablers, challenges and impediments How do we know whether “participation” = empowerment and influence?
Leadership and influence
Where it gets fuzzy – moving to the informal student roles as leaders and influencers:
Student as evaluators
Students as experts and partners in provision
Students as drivers of change
How can these roles be better recognised, facilitated and supported?
Possible components of a framework
For both formal and informal leaders:
Clearly defined roles, performance indicators, training needs and leadership capabilities
Documented challenges at institutional, staff and student level/suggestions on how these might be addressed
case studies
Outcomes
• Resources to support greater and valid
student participation in learning, teaching and
curriculum development.
• Practical and productive models of effective
partnership between teachers and learners
• Mechanisms to support student leaders to
participate in learning, teaching and
curriculum development