Pathways and Experiences of Becoming and Being a Leadership Educator

• In Event: Leadership Educator Identities: Exploring the Complexity of Becoming and Being a Leadership Educator

Short Description

This mixed-methods study explored the experiences of becoming and being a leadership educator. Quantitative data from 1,117 leadership educators and 13 qualitative interviews will be shared. Participants reported varied educational and professional experiences, serendipitously finding their way to leadership education, and a need to positively impact the lives of others.

Detailed Abstract

This mixed-methods study explored the experiences of becoming and being a leadership educator.  The first phase included a 2013 international study of leadership educators’ instructional and assessment strategy use, and the second, a phenomenological inquiry phenomenological inquiry that explored the experiences of becoming and being a leadership educator.

Phase I: The global study of leadership educators’ instructional and assessment strategy use, consists of a web-based questionnaire through an international study that targeted thousands of leadership studies instructors through three primary sources from March 31, 2013, through May 3, 2013.  The first source was the organizational memberships or databases of the following professional associations/organizations or their respective member interest groups: (a) the ILA; (b) the ALE; (c) NASPA SLPKC; and (d) the NCLP. The second source was the attendee list of the 2012 Leadership Educators Institute (LEI).  The third source was a random sample of instructors drawn from the ILA Directory of Leadership Programs. Return rates for the ILA member directory (12.57%), ILA Directory of Leadership programs (11.25%), and LEI (25.08%) were promising.  Findings suggest a broad range of leadership educators, spanning curricular and co-curricular contexts, with a wide array of educational backgrounds and experiences, and some striking demographic trends. Accordingly, particpants were mostly: white —(82.8%); male (50.2%); taught at a U.S.-based institution (85%), Canada (4.6%), or the U.K. (2.7%). Additionally, 72.5% had doctorates; 33.9% had 5+ years teaching experience;— and only 12.8% had terminal degrees in leadership.

Phase II: The phenomenological inquiry, as part of uncovering meaning, explored the experiences of becoming and being a leadership educator.  During the winter and early spring of 2015, the researcher interviewed 13 experienced leadership educators--five females and eight males--from four states and 11 universities, recommended by a preeminent group of 25 leadership educators through the snowball sampling method.  Participants ranged in professional positions from adjunct faculty and professional staff or administration to tenured and tenure-track faculty as well as department head.  Many had held positions in student affairs prior to their current positions. Participants reported varied educational and professional experiences, serendipitously finding their way to leadership education, and shared a tenacity for developing people and organizations, creating a safe space in the classroom, a love for their work from teaching and learning to their research and students, and a need to impact other people’s lives for the greater good.  

Through a combination of interview questions and a written questionnaire, data was collected about participants’ educational and professional experiences, why they decided to become a leadership educator, how they described their work, and what keeps them in their leadership educator roles.  Participants reported:
1. Sharing one of the following pathways: (a) prior experience in higher education, mostly in student affairs, and most often in residence life; or (b) experience in a for-profit organization or consulting firm.  
2. Serendipitously finding their way to leadership education, often as “autobiographical work” resulting from early impressions or experiences leading others, working with bad leaders, and a curiosity about the process of leadership development and terminology.  
3. A commitment to developing people and organizations, i.e., a need to impact other people’s lives for the greater good.  
4. Creating a safe space in the classroom -- safe space for conversations about turbulent issues), consciously or unconsciously advancing social justice based on targeted identities. -- Educator as advocate
5. Articulated a love for their work from teaching and learning to their research and students.
6. Modeling leadership through the way the teach and facilitate learning in the classroom, i.e., they see teaching as a type of leading.  This is because they either had great role models who they seek to emulate as part of the leadership/teaching process and/or they are modeling the leadership they want students to exhibit.  

When asked about the educational and professional preparation they had received or experienced to teach leadership, participants:
• Had very little training specific to leadership studies.  In fact, only one of the participants had taken a leadership course at the same level they were currently teaching, i.e., was a student in an undergraduate leadership course and now teaches these courses.  
• More commonly had a background--either educationally or professionally--in development theory and/or practice including human (e.g., counseling), human resource, psychological, social, leadership, and student development, as well as public or student affairs.  
• Landed some opportunity to teach early in their careers, most frequently in graduate school or in entry-level student affairs positions.  However, few had any formal teaching preparation or educational coursework preparing them to do this work
• Had strong mentor leaders and/or faculty that influenced their practice.

Participants described their work doing leadership education as:
• Agitating thinking, making a difference, and helping other people to rethink, develop, engage, dive deep, and experience learning about leadership.
• Helping students examine, discover, and understand themselves, i.e., talents, strengths, and purpose

Finally, when asked what keeps them in their leadership educator roles, participants reported:

• On whole, mostly selfless reasons outside of strongly held beliefs or values.  It was others, not them, who they wanted to impact.  Specifically it was the impact they wanted to continue to make on their students, the world,  their communities--they hoped to change the trajectory of others for the better.  
• Knowing this is where they belong.

This presentation will showcase the above findings, explore the preparation currently available for professional leadership educators, and offer perspectives for leadership educator professional development.

Participant

• Daniel Jenkins, University of Southern Maine