Systems-Focused Equity Leadership Learning: Shifting Practice Through Practice

Abstract

This article shares our experience using a job-embedded active learning approach to support candidates’ growth as systems-focused equity leaders in the University of Washington’s Leadership for Learning program. We describe how socio-cultural learning theory helped us shift from field-based application projects to job-embedded learning. Our approach involved clarifying systems-focused leadership practices as primary learning targets, centering candidates’ workplaces as the main learning setting, and providing high-quality support consistent with apprenticeships and communities of practice. We conclude with opportunities, challenges, and ways forward for educational leadership programs seeking to design such approaches and develop systems-focused equity leaders.

(Inter)Active Learning Tools and Pedagogical Strategies in Educational Leadership Preparation

“…If used instructionally as scaffolds to fieldbased practicum experiences or internships, in which students are in actual educational settings with real people and real consequences, such virtual experiences may promote positive effects on students' self-efficacy and increased utility and quality of their preparation. This can ready learners for subsequent active learning experiences (i.e., Cosner et al, 2018;Honig & Honsa, 2020) and internships set in actual school contexts known to be so critical for their success (Crow & Whiteman, 2016;Orr & Orphanos, 2011).…”

Reflections on Active Learning in Leadership Development

“…S. Brown et al, 1989; Short & Rinehart, 1993). The more these experiences are structured as “approximate apprenticeships” (Honig & Honsa, 2020) for targeted practices, the greater the potential for fostering identity formation.…”

“…The three-course sequenced active learning in the article by Salisbury and Irby (2020) incorporates peer and instructor feedback as part of the knowledge and skill development cycles. Finally, the inquiry project in the article by Honig and Honsa (2020) builds in opportunities for reflection through class-based community of practice structure and monthly written faculty feedback and conferencing. In this third approach, interactive dialogue between the faculty and each student is evidence-based, requiring discussion centered on the target practices and the candidate produces.…”

“…Active learning can be used to provoke and shift mental models, particularly to transforming candidates from teachers to leaders or to become more expert leaders as in the instructional leader active learning experience. Honig and Honsa (2020) use this experience to support “candidates in shifting their leadership practice in real time in authentic practice settings” (pp) to learn and apply systems-focused equity leadership.…”

“…Similarly, helping candidates create an ongoing dialogue or story promotes learning, by generating a theory or hypothesis about the nature of situations and the work they are producing, thereby promoting sensemaking and learning (J. S. Brown et al, 1989;Short & Rinehart, 1993). The more these experiences are structured as "approximate apprenticeships" (Honig & Honsa, 2020) for targeted practices, the greater the potential for fostering identity formation.…”