Leading Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

Leading Learning and Teaching in Higher Education brings together contemporary ideas on leadership, engagement and student learning into a practical solutions-based resource designed for those undertaking the challenge of leading a university-level teaching module, programme or suite of programmes, particularly through periods of transformation or change. It encourages both first time academic leaders and those who have held teaching leadership roles for some time to review and formalise their development in a systematic, simple way and acts as a framework for navigating the opportunities and challenges involved in inspiring shared purpose, strong commitment and innovation in higher education teaching.

With a clear focus on the energy of leadership rather than the practice of management, and with a strong emphasis on collaborative engagement running throughout, this books offers:

• Insightful guidance which is not bound to subject-specific requirements, making it relevant across the spectrum of course offerings at any one institution
• An enabling, people-focussed foundation for leadership
• Tools and frameworks which can be readily applied or adapted for the reader
• A focus on core elements of teaching leadership, such as design, delivery, assessment and building a programme team
• A flexible and pragmatic approach to leadership which avoids a definitive approach, instead encouraging a dynamic method of engaging leadership
• Values that assert that leadership and learning go hand-in-hand
• A wide-ranging discussion of leadership theories, ideas and values related to the university context

This book puts forward a multifaceted model of programme leadership and links this to a scaffolding of key attributes, skills and qualities that fit the environment of leading learning and teaching in the university. Particularly interested readers will be those beginning to lead teaching in a university setting as well as those who have been leading programme teams and the wider provision of teaching for some time wanting to enhance their skills and perspective.

Doug Parkin is Programme Director at the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (UK), and was previously Head of Staff and Educational Development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London), UK.