Rethinking leadership in the academy: an Australian case

Abstract

As with higher education institutions in other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, Australian universities are facing significant challenges. One particular challenge is that of the declining quality of the teaching and learning experience within the academy. This paper describes an attempt to sustain the quality of a ‘flagship’ postgraduate academic programme through an action research initiative intended to distribute the programme’s leadership across its stakeholder community. One year into the intervention, while its achievements include new collaborative arrangements with the university, as well as unconventional teaching/learning partnerships and enriched stakeholder learning, its standing within the university remains uncertain.

Keywords:

• distributed leadership
• change management
• action research
• academic leadership