Leadership Toolkit

You don't have to be a born (or designated) 'leader' to show leadership.  Leadership can be developed, given the opportunity and appropriate context and situation.

Student leadership in the curriculum

Wherever appropriate and possible, you should provide opportunities for students to:

• raise their awareness of leadership practice and theory; and
• develop their leadership skills.

Raise students' awareness of leadership by asking them to:

• define effective and ineffective leadership;
• reflect on their own leadership or followership experiences;
• analyse the effect of context and situation on leadership;
• analyse leadership in terms of different theories;
• identify  team roles and the stages of team formation; and
• explore the role of leadership in small groups.

Develop students' leadership by getting them to:

• reflect on and analyse their own experiences in team or group projects;
• conduct team meetings effectively and efficiently;
• identify and manage conflict in teams;
• participate in role plays and case studies; and
• write reflective journals.

Assessing leadership:

If you decide to assess students' leadership, make sure that all students have the same opportunity to demonstrate their achievement.  When designing a leadership task or project, consider whether:

• it is appropriate to be assessed at all;
• it will achieve the learning objectives for the course;
• you will ask students to self-assess their own experience of leadership in a reflective journal;
• you will set reflective essays;
• you will ask students to write essays that compare and contrast different aspects of leadership;
• you will ask students to analyse case studies;
• you will require students to participate in role plays;
• you will set assignments that require students to analyse examples of leadership in the media, film and television; and
• you will develop team or group projects that provide rotating leadership roles.

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