The Places and Spaces Student Affairs Practitioners Should Learn and Practice Leadership Educator Competencies

Abstract

Although leadership education typically is not explicitly incorporated into student affairs preparatory programs, student affairs practitioners are expected to facilitate the leadership development of their students. Thus, through two simultaneous Delphi panels, Group A: Student Affairs Practitioners (n=17) and Group B: Student Affairs Preparatory Program Faculty (n=20), this study explored the places or experiences where student affairs practitioners should learn and practice the professional competencies needed to be a student affairs leadership educator. Both expert panels agreed the graduate assistantship was the most important place to learn and practice how to be a leadership educator. Yet these findings demonstrate a gap between research and practice within student affairs preparatory programs. Four recommendations are provided to strengthen the professional preparation of student affairs practitioners as leadership educators.

Moving away from willful ignorance: A critical whiteness examination of leadership educator socialization

“…As the field of leadership education strives to become both a more standardized and more socially just field (Inter‐Association Leadership Education Collaborative, 2016; Dunn, Briers et al., 2021; Dunn, Moore et al., 2021), it is imperative to consider how leadership educators are socialized. Due to the current state of leadership education as an overwhelmingly White field (Dugan, 2017; Irwin, 2021; Jenkins & Owens, 2016), it is necessary that any consideration of leadership educator socialization centers race and the impact of racism and White supremacy.…”

“…A key component of socialization is also the shared set of knowledge and skills expected of leadership educators (Priest & Jenkins, 2019). Leadership education is not taught in many graduate preparatory programs (Dunn, Briers et al., 2021; Dunn, Moore et al., 2021; Jenkins & Owen, 2016), and, as such, leadership educators may find themselves learning the field through on‐the‐job training (Rocco & Pelletier, 2019). The necessity of on‐the‐job application of leadership education is even affirmed in Teig's (2018) study of a HESA leadership master's class, where students identified that their LEI was really affirmed, not in the classroom but in their assistantships.…”

“…However, when Dunn, Briers et al. (2021) and Dunn, Moore et al. (2021) studied what current leadership educators believe are required knowledge, skills, and abilities, the educators identified qualities that match every CAS key learning outcome except for knowledge around social identities.…”

“…To standardize leadership education, it is important to evaluate how leadership educators come to understand themselves as individuals in the field. Any standards must also center equity and justice in leadership education (Inter‐Association Leadership Education Collaborative, 2016; Dunn, Briers et al., 2021; Dunn, Moore et al., 2021). While universities grow increasingly racially diverse (de Brey et al., 2018), leadership education remains an overwhelmingly White field (Jenkins & Owens, 2016) reliant on theories and models from primarily White scholars (Dugan, 2017; Irwin, 2021).…”

Changing the approach: promoting student affairs competencies in EOP professional development

“…Young (2019) argues these field experiences are critical components for socialization into the field that typically occur in graduate preparation programs. Others make similar arguments, suggesting that currently the emphasis for training professionals remains as part of graduate education (Dunn et al, 2021;Lunceford, 2014;Pittman & Foubert, 2016). However, for many EOP professionals graduate work typically comes after being in the field rather than as a prerequisite for field entry.…”