Student Leadership Opportunities Research Articles

Developing the next generation of leaders: a global study of student leadership

Schools play a crucial role in developing the next generation of leaders. However, most leadership research in schools focuses on adults rather than students. In this article, we apply a reimagined human capital framework to investigate student perspectives on leadership at a global association of elite schools. Based on survey data from 6,760 students in 34 countries and interview data from 93 students in 11 countries, the findings demonstrate student perspectives on leadership, how leadership is developed, and how student leaders can drive social change. First, we discuss how schools can support leadership development by understanding how students conceptualise leadership, promoting an ethos that leadership can be learnt, and providing opportunities for ‘hands-on’ leadership experience. Second, we highlight student views on the social returns of student leadership. Finally, we draw attention to the importance of inclusivity in leadership opportunities. Overall, we underscore the importance of schools expanding student leadership opportunities.

Creativity and Connection: The Impact of inspirED with Secondary School Students.

The World Economic Forum predicts that the skills most highly valued by employers in 2025 will be problem-solving, self-management, working with people, and technology use and development. Educators are seeking ways in which to incorporate these skills into their daily instruction. Here, we offer one possible approach to bolster skills in each of these domains: the inspirED program. inspirED was designed for U.S. middle and high schools to support teams of students in completing projects or campaigns that they believe will make their school a better place for all. This study enrolled teams of students from 22 middle and high schools, and provided them with online training, coaching in the inspirED process, and resources to complete their project. Upon finishing their projects, students on the inspirED teams reported higher sense of purpose and self-awareness around the importance of emotions. The larger student bodies at schools in which inspirED projects took place also reported improvements in school climate including students' perceptions of teaching quality, sense of school pride, student relationships, and emotional safety. Implications and future directions for school-based social-emotional learning and student leadership opportunities are discussed.

Leadership Opportunities for Students with Disabilities in Co-Curriculum Activities: Insights and Implications

ABSTRACT The leadership opportunities for students with disabilities are dependent on school leaders and teachers as they are advocates and provide natural support in fostering their leadership development. However, the leadership opportunities for students with disabilities remain relatively overlooked. Students with disabilities have a right to participate and lead in the co-curriculum activities just as their able peers do. Therefore, this study aims to explore the leadership opportunities for students with disabilities to lead in co-curriculum activities. A qualitative phenomenological case study approach was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the school’s senior assistant and four special education teachers in a public secondary school located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using ATLAS.ti 8. Findings indicate students are given opportunities to lead in co-curriculum activities in various capacities. In addition, suggestions to further improve the leadership opportunities for students with disabilities were discussed. Hence, this study contributes to the scarce body of literature on leadership opportunities for students with disabilities by providing empirical evidence leading to new knowledge and a better understanding on the types of leadership development and opportunities for students with disabilities generally in the Southeast Asian region.

The current leadership development opportunities provided for student paramedics by Higher Education Institutions: a literature review.

Introduction:The development of safe, competent and capable paramedics is one of the key concerns of education providers or Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). To achieve this, paramedic programmes need to focus on teaching leadership to students. The aim of this literature review was to identify the current leadership development opportunities for paramedic students during their undergraduate training across the United Kingdom, in order to identify current gaps and make suggestions on how HEIs could increase leadership opportunities for student paramedics.Methods:During August 2018, the Scopus, Medline, CINAHL and Academic Search Premier databases were searched (the last three accessed via EBSCOhost). Grey literature was also manually reviewed. Both authors screened the title and abstract and agreed on final papers eligible for full-text review. CASP and COREQ checklists were used to assist in critically appraising the quality of the research and to help decide on the papers chosen for inclusion.Results:The search yielded 511 results (455 after duplicates were removed). The grey literature search also yielded one additional document that incorporated a framework based on primary research integrated within the paper itself. After title and abstract review, seven papers were included for full text critical review. Two papers were then excluded, resulting in a total of five papers being included in the review.Conclusion:Current evidence, although limited, demonstrates the benefit of educational programmes in developing educational and non-educational leadership opportunities for paramedic students. Moreover, there is value to individuals being provided or seeking extra-curricular activities, and students should be encouraged to engage in societies, the College of Paramedics, events and conferences, and to work or volunteer in healthcare or emergency service-related sectors to further enhance their leadership potential and skills.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dean's Perspective on Academic Communities at UC San Diego, School of Medicine.

Introduction and background:In 2010, the UC San Diego School of Medicine launched a new curriculum, the integrated scientific curriculum. As part of this curricular redesign, the school instituted academic communities. This perspective article outlines our experience with the first 8 years of these academic communities.Single-institution experience:We initiated academic communities with the hope that this structure would cultivate enhanced student-student and student-faculty engagement, improve faculty-student mentoring, and create additional service-learning and student leadership opportunities. The communities would also provide an environment for small group learning throughout the 4-year curriculum. After 8 years of experience, a comparison of student survey data pre- and post establishment of academic communities demonstrated enhanced connectedness between students and faculty and higher scores for faculty mentoring and for career planning. Our own lived experience with the communities revealed several unanticipated outcomes. The community directors became a source of support and advice for one another. Some faculty and administrators whose previous roles were affected by start of the academic communities needed to adjust expectations.Conclusions:The establishment of academic communities was associated with improvement in student-faculty engagement, student assessment of faculty mentoring, and career planning.

Student leadership in the middle years: A matter of concern

Traditionally, student leadership has been seen as the prerogative of senior students. Very little research has been conducted on how schools nurture and develop leadership skills in students in the middle years of schooling. This article provides an overview of student leadership in six secondary schools with a particular focus on student leadership opportunities in the middle years. These schools were drawn from the Government, Catholic and Independent sectors in Western Australia. Specifically, the opinions and experiences of either principals or their delegates were sought in order to develop a sense of the importance placed on student leadership in the middle years and the types of leadership opportunities available to students. Initially, the literature is reviewed on student leadership per se and student leadership in the middle years. This review is followed by an outline of the purpose, research question and significance of the research. The research methodology is then explained, providing a summary of participants, the school contexts and methods of data collection and analysis. The subsequent section on results and discussion highlights three themes: the role of teacher leaders, student leadership structures in middle years and the holistic development of middle year students. The article concludes by providing a number of recommendations, in particular, the need to gain a ‘student voice’ in any understanding of student leadership at the middle school.

Influences on self-worth: Students’ and teachers’ perspectives

This article reports on aspects of an interpretative qualitative single case study that investigated teachers’ and students’ understanding of how self-worth is influenced in the teaching and learning environment. Findings indicate that important determinants in the development of self-worth include personal teacher qualities such as humour, justice (fairness) and trust; teaching strategies associated with meeting individual needs; establishing safe environments and providing leadership opportunities for students; and positive teacher/student relationships. The article concludes by highlighting how the influences on the development of self-worth can be enhanced through the coalescing of reciprocal relationships and critical reflection.

NSSLHA Offers New Student Leadership Opportunities

NSSLHA Offers New Student Leadership Opportunities

Defining the E-Portfolio: What It Is and Why It Matters

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJill D. JensonJill D. Jenson (jjenson@d.umn.edu) is an associate professor in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). She currently works as faculty liaison for writing and learning, implementing campus-wide writing initiatives in accordance with the university's strategic plan.Paul TreuerPaul Treuer (ptreuer@d.umn.edu) is an associate professor at UMD and interim director for its Supportive Services Program, which provides developmental, collaborative-learning, and leadership opportunities for students through courses, workshops, tutoring, and academic advising.

SERVICE LEARNING AND TEAM WORK – ELEMENTS OF LEADERSHIP

In a senior undergraduate course, collaboration between the Environmental Systems Engineering (EVSE) program and Facilities Management (FM) was initiated to provide support to the campus and valuable learning and leadership opportunities for students. A list of potential projects related to the curriculum was developed in consultation with FM employees, the President’s Advisory Committee onSustainability (PACS), and EVSE. The intent of the team projects is to support the strategic plan goals set out bythe University of Regina and Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science by providing high quality, timely educational opportunities with practical, immediate, and sustainable recommendations. The projects and approach to project management include significant elements of leadership, organization and management, communications, and engineering application. Students were provided with project ideas encompassing weighty challenges aligning the interests and expectations of FM and EVSE to result in both short-term and long-term impacts and benefits. In an era of cost-cutting and budget constraints in higher education, the projects allow students the opportunity to provide meaningful recommendations that stretch their engineering and leadership skills while supporting vital evaluation, efficiency and design improvements, and environmental systems analysis incorporating best practices of economics, public attitudes, environmental and public health, team work and management, and communications. Student feedback indicates a high level of satisfaction with the concept of service learning on campus and improved team work and leadership skills development over the course of the semester.

Does University Campus Experience Develop Motivation to Lead or Readiness to Lead Among Undergraduate Students? A Malaysian Perspective

Do students’ experiences on university campuses cultivate motivation to lead or a sense of readiness to lead that does not necessarily translate to active leadership? To address this question, a study was conducted with 369 undergraduates from Malaysia. Campus experience was more predictive of leadership readiness than motivation. Student leadership opportunities, global leadership perspective development, leadership modeling, quality of staff support, and quality of leadership training programs contributed significantly more to leadership readiness than to motivation to lead.

Creating Educational Equity for Indigenous Students through Significant Organisational Change

Kormilda College is a day and Boarding school located in Darwin, the capital city of Australia's Northern Territory. A significant percentage of the students come from over forty Indigenous remote communities across Australia's Top End. In an effort to increase Indigenous educational engagement through student leadership opportunities, a review of the pastoral care model was undertaken from a social justice perspective. Through quantitative and qualitative research analysis, incorporating a model of Change Theory, significant organisational change was implemented at the commencement of the 2012 school year. This paper will explore student experiences through a case study approach.

Health Promoting Secondary Schools: Community-Based Research Examining Voice, Choice and the School Setting

Background: Health Promoting Secondary Schools (HPSS) was a ‘whole school’ program across five intervention and five control high schools in British Columbia, Canada designed to improve the Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) and healthy eating behaviors of grade 10 students. HPSS was implemented over one school year (2011-2012) and included classroom activities, changes to school policies, input from teachers and students, student leadership opportunities, and was tailored for each school. Teachers were provided with choicebased Physical Education (PE) and health curricula, as well as monetary grants to purchase equipment and supplies. This manuscript presents an overview of the development and evaluation of HPSS. Methods: This initiative employed mixed methods for data collection and analyses, including standardized questionnaires, focus groups, accelerometers, and fitness testing over three phases of data collection (T1, T2, T3); five key survey variables are discussed here to provide initial results on the effect of the HPSS model. The SHAPES Questionnaire and 20-meter shuttle run were used to assess these outcome measures. Results: A repeated measures ANOVA showed a decline in total MVPA (F=89.29, p<0.01) and weekday MVPA (F=136.33, p<0.01) across groups pre to post-test; an interaction effect for fitness (F=5.66, p<0.05); a significant decline in Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSB) over time for both conditions (F=10.89, p<0.05); a non-significant trend towards decreased screen time for the intervention group; and a significant interaction for fitness (F=5.61, p<0.05).Time 1 to Time 3 was significant for fruit and vegetable intake (F=5.94, p<0.05) and approached a significant interaction in favor of the control group (F=2.95, p=0.06), and an interaction for weekday PA (F=3.38, p<0.05). Conclusions: Although many of the variables in this initial analysis did not yield a statistically significant treatment effect, looking to effect sizes, trends, qualitative data and contextual factors may be helpful at this time in order to refine the program and adhere to the goal of creating an initiative that can be improved and modified to be utilized in other. It is also promising to see that the intervention group fared better in terms of fitness and weekday MVPA decline than the control group despite the obstacles faced during the intervention year.

Using Mastery Goals in Music to Increase Student Motivation

Motivation and leadership are two important factors influencing achievement in today’s classrooms. Whereas some students are naturally self-motivated, other students struggle to find the basic motivation to reach their full potentials. Goal theory states that people naturally select goals based on mastery learning achievements or performance learning achievements. Based on research literature, this article will provide suggestions on how high school music teachers can encourage students to become more motivated through mastery learning goals as well as exploring how student leadership opportunities can promote mastery learning and increase motivation in the music classroom.

Trusting Students to Lead: Promise and Pitfalls

This story captures the tensions that existed when a small charter high school attempted to provide powerful leadership opportunities for students who had few. It details the process and outcome of offering students leadership roles in designing and implementing a student-led discipline committee. In the process, much changed at the school. The student committee conceived of discipline problems not as psychological shortcomings of students but as social problems with roots in the family, the school, and the larger society. Students structured new approaches to discipline and used new tools in discipline cases. This story tells of the struggles, resistances, and learnings involved. Over the course of the year, we found that leadership breeds leadership. Most importantly, this story provides a model for how to engage students in the discipline process and offers advice on what pitfalls to avoid along the way.

Student Leadership At The University

The focus of this article is about the utilization of student leadership at the University. Based on research, student leadership opportunities at the university have been frequently at a low percentage (Zimmerman, Burkhart, 2002). The researcher identifies practical ways to involve students in various leadership activities. Emphases are placed on the definition of leadership, characteristics of strong leadership, importance of stakeholders, early involvement, expectations of today’s leaders, and benefits of student leadership at the university. The three ways to look at leadership includes a respond to an idea that the future is unknown and there is not any one model for leadership, prepare for the future by embracing and creating the capacity for change, participate in organized learning and look at collective leadership that helps in the capacity to change. There are many characteristics of strong leadership based on the needs of the organization. A strong sense of moral purpose, a clear understanding of the dynamics of change, having academic and emotional intelligence and being able to connect with people, demonstrating a commitment to developing and sharing new ideas and knowledge and being able to be coherent in the middle of chaos are some common characteristics of strong leadership. Leadership today is not the position of one individual. Stakeholders play a key role in the aim toward effective leadership at the university. Leadership is motivated by the increase complexity of university reform efforts for organizational improvement. There is a need for more individuals to participate in the reform effort to ensure greater university success. The role of university leaders and partnerships is to identify, promote and develop student leadership skills. Stakeholders are key individuals within the university’s leadership system. These stakeholders are frequently identified as alumni, community leaders/supporters, faculty, staff, students and parents. Students’ early involvement in leadership activities provide opportunities for volunteer services, internships in experiential activities, collaborative activities as group projects, engagement in services related to civic activities, assisting faculty in conducting workshops and university assessment and working with other students to create a community of inclusive learners on various tasks. Today, students are expected to demonstrate effective time management, show ability to set goals, build positive relationships, use effective conflict resolution skills, show an interest in helping others to build their leadership skills, become involved in community action programs and promote understanding and respect across racial and ethnic groups. Over fifty-five students participated summer 2009 in leadership workshop opportunities at a large land grant university in the mid-west of the United States of America. Students stated that the workshops were beneficial, because the workshops helped students to improve ability to set goals, show more interest in developing leadership skills in others, gain a sense of personal clarity and their own values, gain improved conflict resolution/ better decision making skills, deal better with complex and uncertainties, willing to take on more risk and are able to use leadership theories and practices in an meaningful manner.

The Undergraduate Leadership Mosaic: A Challenge of Shared Purpose

Leadership educators must decide upon the theoretical paradigms and curricular approaches in which to locate their leadership programs and inform their practice. This application article features the mosaic approach adopted by Bradley University which places many and divergent pieces together to allow students to experience different conceptual frames and curricular or co-curricular elements. While this approach provides varied leadership opportunities for students to mix and match, the authors acknowledge the critical challenge which is to confirm whether they are indeed achieving a shared purpose.