Teacher Leadership in Higher Education: A Systematic Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23261519Keywords:
higher education, leadership, teacher educationAbstract
Higher education leadership research encompasses diverse constructs, participants, and outcomes, making it difficult to distinguish programme-related change from contextual descriptions and associations. The objective of this study is to synthesize evidence from 35 publications on teacher and academic leadership development, identifying programme components, reported outcomes, and methodological limitations through a systematic review with narrative synthesis grouped the selected publications by their analytical function. The corpus comprised 23 programme or development studies, 9 non-intervention primary studies, and 3 secondary reviews. Study characteristics, populations, designs, intervention strategies, and outcomes were extracted; reported numerical estimates were retained at study level. The evidence spans 2009–2026, with 28 publications appearing in 2021–2026. Structured workshops, experiential learning, mentoring, coaching, and peer networks were common components. Changes were more frequently documented for perceived competencies, leadership behaviors, and academic career outcomes than for directly measured teaching quality or student learning. In one matched cohort, programme participation was associated with promotion (hazard ratio 1.61, 95% confidence interval 1.16–2.23) and institutional departure (hazard ratio 0.23, 95% confidence interval 0.16–0.34); these observational associations do not establish causality. This study concludes that leadership development is reported across individual, relational, and institutional domains, but heterogeneity of designs, potential overlapping cohorts, and limited pedagogical outcome measurement restrict causal and cross-disciplinary conclusions.
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