Leadership Education for First-Year Students

• In Event: Improving First-Year Student Thriving Through Leadership Education

Short Description

When teaching leadership, educators have an opportunity to integrate pedagogies that contribute to students thriving in college. This presentation will connect the factors of thriving with the values of the Social Change Model of Leadership in the context of first-year student leadership education,

Detailed Abstract

The leadership knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students learn in leadership studies courses have the potential to dramatically shape students’ trajectory in college and beyond. The development of their leadership abilities in teamwork, self direction, and community building are highly applicable to their own academic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal thriving in college. But these connections are too often casual, taken for granted, or not realized to the fullest potential. Recent research has documented five malleable factors that contribute to student thriving in college (Schreiner, McIntosh, Kalinkewicz, & Cuevas, 2013). By way of the Social Change Model (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996), We will discuss how the study of leadership can positively contribute to these five factors in college students. This raises important implications for leadership educators regarding when students first take a course in leadership studies, which students leadership educators target for recruitment, and key campus partners with whom to collaborate to maximize student success. Through applying these insights leadership educators can broaden the effects of leadership studies programs to positively change more students’ college experiences.
Theoretical Frameworks
For this presentation we examine the construct of the Thriving Model (Schreiner, McIntosh, Nelson, & Pothoven, 2009) through the lens of the most widely used leadership development model used in leadership studies programs (Owen, 2012), the Social Change Model of Leadership Development (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996). We intersect the elements of the two frameworks and highlight the common support between the two at these intersections. First we review each framework, followed by an in-depth discussion of the intersections where studying leadership within the Social Change Model supports students thriving in college. We conclude with evidence of student outcomes from two years of data collection with first-year students in leadership studies courses compared with students not participating in leadership studies coursework.
Thriving Model
Building on the prior work of Seligman (2002), Keyes and Haidt (2003), the thriving construct is an adaptation of their models of flourishing in life. Seligman and Csiksezentmihalyi (2000) advanced that the field of psychology could expand beyond clinical psychology and contribute to the positive well-being of human beings. He theorized this in a model with the key elements he identified as contributing to individuals’ flourishing in life (Seligman, 2011). Schreiner extended and focused this model of flourishing in life to the context of college students at institutions of higher education, titling it “thriving in college” (Schreiner, 2010).
Schreiner’s Thriving Model is comprised of three areas that contribute to students thriving in college: psychological, interpersonal, and academic (Schreiner et al., 2013). These areas are constructed from research in student development and research in positive psychology. Collectively they cover students’ intra-personal well-being, the social skills and experiences of students, and the educational context in which students function. Within these three areas, Schreiner delineates five factors that constitute these three areas of thriving: positive perspective, social connectedness, diverse citizenship, academic determination, and engaged learning.
Social Change Model
The Social Change Model of Leadership Development (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996) was designed specifically for college students and warrants our focus, given the significant degree to which it influences collegiate leadership programs nationally (Kezar, Carducci, & Contreras-McGavin, 2006). The model situates leadership as being inherently tied to social responsibility and manifested in creating change that benefits the common good. The Social Change Model is grounded on the importance of increasing individuals’ levels of self-knowledge and abilities to work collaboratively. This is accomplished by fostering growth across seven critical values: Consciousness of Self, Congruence, Commitment, Collaboration, Common Purpose, Controversy with Civility, and Citizenship. These values, in turn, contribute to the eighth value of change. These values interact synergistically across three dimensions: individual (Consciousness of Self, Congruence, and Commitment), group (Collaboration, Common Purpose, and Controversy with Civility), and societal (Citizenship). The Social Change Model encourages educators in higher education to apply the categories simultaneously to demonstrate to students that the development of leadership is not exclusively an individualized experience, but a process that benefits from a shared collective and collaboration with others.
Intersections of Thriving and Leadership
Connecting these two theories, the Thriving Model has common support from the values in the Social Change Model. Each of the five factors in the Thriving Model can be strengthened when leadership educators facilitate students’ learning of leadership abilities that align with values in the Social Change Model. With the Thriving Model’s demonstrated relevance to student persistence and achievement, these connections are critical to understanding how leadership education contributes to these positive academic outcomes.


References

Higher Education Research Institute. (1996). A social change model of leadership development: Guidebook version III. College Park, MD: National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.
Keyes, C. L. M., & Haidt, J. (2003). Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kezar, A. J., Carducci, R., & Contreras-McGavin, M. (2006). Rethinking the "L" word in higher education: The revolution of research on leadership: ASHE higher education report. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Owen, J. E. (2012). Using student development theories as a conceptual framework in leadership education. In K. Guthrie & L. Osteen (Eds.), Developing student leadership capacity (pp. 17-36). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Schreiner, L. A. (2010). The “Thriving Quotient”: A new vision for student success. About Campus, 15(2), 2-10.
Schreiner, L. A., McIntosh, E. J., Kalinkewicz, L., & Cuevas, A. E. P. (2013). Measuring the malleable: Expanding the assessment of student success. Paper presented at the Assocation for the Study of Higher Education, St. Louis, MO.
Schreiner, L. A., McIntosh, E. J., Nelson, D., & Pothoven, S. (2009). The thriving quotient: Advancing the assessment of student success. Paper presented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Vancouver, BC.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Free Press.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York, NY: Free Press.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14.

Participant

• Cameron C. Beatty, Salem State University