Leadership for Learning

Focus

Scope and Mission

Members of the Leadership for Learning (LfL) academic group have expertise, and share interests, in both leadership and learning, with these terms understood in their broadest senses. The focus of the group encompasses global, national and local settings for learning. This outreach is also cross-sectoral. It includes, in addition to school education, varieties of educational contexts (e.g., higher education, further education), human services in the public sector, community and informal learning, and learning in the profession generally. The breadth and depth of the group’s work is reflected in the teaching, research and publication profiles of LfL members. In all of these sectors, levels and modes of learning LfL colleagues are strongly focused on policy, practices and processes.

Commitment

To fulfil their sense of mission, LfL group members are strongly committed to improving learning and to enhancing its effectiveness. For this purpose, they are especially interested in the contribution made to learning by different types of leaders and varieties of leadership. To further this leadership-learning connection, LfL colleagues strive to build a robust, research-based body of leadership knowledge with which to inform the capabilities required by leaders, and the working knowledge required for effective professional development. These aims are evident in the group’s wide-ranging research interests, teaching and consultancies. They are also reflected in the group’s strong commitment to collaboration in its own work practices, and in its fostering of national and global networks and mutually productive partnerships with leading scholarly and professional communities.

Group Management

The LfL group is strongly committed to collegialism. It is represented in the various decision-making fora of the Faculty and ad hoc working groups. In some cases, group members chair committees. The LfL group manages its own internal business and through regular termly meetings (in Michaelmas, Lent and Easter terms). In these venues, members provide reports, discuss and determine policy, monitor the group’s research profile, and establish priorities. Some members of the group also meet as teaching teams to oversee teaching and student supervision.

Research Interests

LfL colleagues have research interests, and have directed or been involved in projects, in the following areas: