Distributed leadership Building capacity for interdisciplinary climate change teaching at four universities

被引:32
作者
Davison, Aidan [1 ]
Brown, Paul [2 ]
Pharo, Emma [1 ]
Warr, Kristin [3 ]
McGregor, Helen [4 ]
Terkes, Sarah [2 ]
Boyd, Davina [5 ]
Abuodha, Pamela [4 ]
机构
[1] Univ Tasmania, Sch Geog & Environm Studies, Hobart, Tas, Australia
[2] Univ New S Wales, Inst Environm Studies, Sydney, NSW, Australia
[3] Univ Tasmania, Tasmanian Inst Learning & Teaching, Hobart, Tas, Australia
[4] Univ Wollongong, Sch Earth & Environm Sci, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
[5] Murdoch Univ, Sch Management & Governance, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
关键词
Communities of practice; Distributed leadership; Australian sustainability education; Climate change teaching; Curriculum greening; Leadership in universities; MANAGEMENT;
D O I
10.1108/IJSHE-10-2012-0091
中图分类号
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要
Purpose - Interdisciplinary approaches to climate change teaching are well justified and arise from the complexity of climate change challenges and the integrated problem-solving responses they demand. These approaches require academic teachers to collaborate across disciplines. Yet, the fragmentation typical of universities impedes collaborative teaching practice. This paper aims to report on the outcomes of a distributed leadership project in four Australian universities aimed at enhancing interdisciplinary climate change teaching. Design/methodology/approach - Communities of teaching practice were established at four Australian universities with participants drawn from a wide range of disciplines. The establishment and operation of these communities relied on a distributed leadership methodology which facilitates acts of initiative, innovation, vision and courage through group interaction rather than through designated hierarchical roles. Findings - Each community of practice found the distributed leadership approach overcame barriers to interdisciplinary climate change teaching. Cultivating distributed leadership enabled community members to engage in peer-led professional learning, collaborative curriculum and pedagogical development, and to facilitate wider institutional change. The detailed outcomes achieved by each community were tailored to their specific institutional context. They included the transformation of climate change curriculum, professional development in interdisciplinary pedagogy, innovation in student-led learning activities, and participation in institutional decision-making related to curriculum reform. Originality/value - Collaborative, non-traditional leadership practices have attracted little attention in research about sustainability education in university curricula. This paper demonstrates that the distributed leadership model for sustainability education reported here is effective in building capacity for interdisciplinary climate change teaching within disciplines. The model is flexible enough for a variety of institutional settings.
引用
收藏
页码:98 / 110
页数:13
相关论文
共 23 条
[1]  
[Anonymous], 2002, 2 INT HDB ED LEADERS, DOI DOI 10.1111/J.1468-2370.2011.00306
[2]   Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions [J].
Avolio, Bruce J. ;
Walumbwa, Fred O. ;
Weber, Todd J. .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2009, 60 :421-449
[3]  
Bennett N., 2003, DISTRIBUTED LEADERSH
[4]   Distributed Leadership in Higher Education Rhetoric and Reality [J].
Bolden, Richard ;
Petrov, Georgy ;
Gosling, Jonathan .
EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATION & LEADERSHIP, 2009, 37 (02) :257-277
[5]   Tensions in Higher Education Leadership: Towards a Multi-Level Model of Leadership Practice [J].
Bolden, Richard ;
Petrov, Georgy ;
Gosling, Jonathan .
HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, 2008, 62 (04) :358-376
[6]   Learning settings to face climate change [J].
Burandt, Simon ;
Barth, Matthias .
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, 2010, 18 (07) :659-665
[7]   Progress and challenges to the recognition and reward of the Scholarship of Teaching in higher education [J].
Chalmers, Denise .
HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, 2011, 30 (01) :25-38
[8]  
Cox M.D., 2001, IMPROVE ACAD, V19, P63
[9]  
Davison A., 2012, DEMONSTRATING DISTRI
[10]   Management as ideology: the case of 'new managerialism' in higher education [J].
Deem, R ;
Brehony, KJ .
OXFORD REVIEW OF EDUCATION, 2005, 31 (02) :217-235