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In March 2021 15 partners from a broad range of stakeholders across the Irish higher education sector agreed to work in partnership to answer one important and urgent question: In the context of Covid-19 what have we learnt and what does it mean for the future of teaching and learning in Irish higher education?
On 10 November 2021 the shared output of the partners’ collaborative work “Next Steps for Teaching and Learning: Moving Forward Together” was launched by Ireland’s Minister for Further and Higher Education Research Innovation and Science Simon Harris. In his foreword to the “Next Steps” report Harris drew attention to among other messages from the project those that highlighted “positive changes in decision-making and leadership the importance of student engagement and partnership” (p. 1).
The “Next Steps” partner contributions comprised findings from surveys interviews focus groups workshops and meetings. The findings included recognition of the substantial burden that senior leaders bore in terms of management and decision-making as well as highlighting the development or emergence of other forms of leadership management and decision-making. It was noted in the “Next Steps” report that:
As a result of the pandemic we developed new ways of informing and making decisions of creating strategic coherence and influencing strategic priorities …. distributed leadership approaches allowed students and staff to draw on their expertise and to lead out in their own areas. (“Next Steps” 2021 p. 11)
The report highlighted that good practice which both existed pre-Covid-19 and emerged as part of the response to the pandemic contributed to institutional capacity to function in the radically changed circumstances. Good practice associated directly with leadership decision-making and student partnership included:
Cross-functional teamwork by colleagues for example from different academic departments and a range of professional services was also noted in the partner findings as was the deliberate inclusion of student voices in decision-making.
These practices and approaches align with nurturing an enabling culture and with emphasising equity/equality diversity and inclusion both of which emerged as key messages across the partner findings as did the message that “Decision-making and leadership can be effectively shared across the whole institutional community” (p. 10).
The complementary ideas of leadership as individual agency and collective capacity (see Thérèse Zhang’s Expert Voices post “Leadership in teaching: a concept in the making”) and as “shared leadership” (see Oliver Vettori’s Expert Voices post “Sharing leadership and the art of tightrope walking”) are echoed in the full report. Oliver Vettori suggests that effective leadership does not happen overnight; rather it takes learning experience support and time. This belief is reflected in one of the recommendations from “Next Steps” which recorded the need to “Prioritise and resource leadership development for those currently in leadership roles as well as staff and students at all levels of the institution including a focus on Teaching & Learning leadership and change management” (2021 p. 16).
Such development could build on current provision in this space nationally and indeed at European level. The LOTUS Leadership Development Programme offers a good example of the latter. It uses a peer learning approach to leadership enabling higher education colleagues from a range of settings to connect share explore learn and plan. LOTUS emphasises starting with people building connection and community and creating an open atmosphere of collegiality and trustworthiness. These characteristics are echoed in “Next Steps” and in the intentions of its authors to “build on what we have learnt re-examine old doctrines and re-imagine higher education for the benefit of learners and society more generally” (2021 p. 3).
The “Next Steps” report captures the partners’ examination of the experience of teaching learning and working in higher education during the pandemic at a particular moment in time. Its key messages good practice and recommendations correspond with themes that were shared in conversations with European colleagues as part of the LOTUS project and may resonate with staff and students alike in a variety of jurisdictions.