Learning-Centred Leadership in Higher Education Sustainable Approaches to the Challenges and Responsibilities

While a range of external and internal factors push contemporary higher education leaders towards a reactive and transactional style, the author argues that placing learning at the centre of the decision-making process ultimately grounds higher education leadership in values.

“Ralf St Clair’s thoughtful Learning-Centred Leadership in Higher Education has created something new in the long conversation about leadership. The great potential of today¹s institutions is that agency is widely distributed across the academic and professional staff. The key to leadership is not star power but the institution learning to think together.”
—Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education at the University of Oxford, UK and Editor in Chief of Higher Education

"In this highly accessible, well-written volume, St. Clair positions learning at the core of university leadership, and thoughtfully explores the implications of adopting a learning-centred approach to academic leadership through a discussion of key themes and illustrative case studies. The book will force you to rethink many of your assumptions, and to consider leadership in new, imaginative ways."
—Glen Jones, Dean of Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada

This book explores the implications of centring learning in university leadership. While a range of external and internal factors push contemporary higher education leaders towards a reactive and transactional style, the author argues that placing learning at the centre of the decision-making process orients this leadership in values. Illustrated by numerous case studies and informed by Peter Senge’s theory of learning, the author examines this central thesis across a variety of areas and functions of higher education that are vital to the development and success of this shared endeavour. This book will be of interest and value to both new and established university leaders, as well as scholars of leadership in higher education more generally.

Ralf St Clair is Professor and Dean of Education at the University of Victoria, Canada. He has been an active researcher for several decades, and held leadership positions in universities inthe United States, United Kingdom and Canada. He was on the board of the British Educational Research Association for several years, and was editor of Research Intelligence from 2006 to 2010.

This book explores the implications of focusing learning in university leadership. While a range of external and internal factors push contemporary higher education leaders towards a reactive and transactional style, the author argues that placing learning at the centre of the decision-making process ultimately grounds higher education leadership in values. Illustrated by numerous case studies and informed by Peter Senge’s theory of learning, the author examines this central thesis across a variety of areas and functions of higher education that are vital to the development and success of this shared endeavour. This book will be of interest and value to both new and established university leaders, as well as scholars of leadership in higher education more generally.