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This qualitative study investigates how the views of student leaders (and some of their staff advisors) illuminate the discussion in the broader literature around issues of student leadership, conflict, diversity and social justice in secondary schools. Eighteen one-hour, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve student leaders and six teachers from six provinces across Canada. This study contributes to educational research by considering the ways student leaders (rather than adult administrators) can impact social justice. While students envision their leadership role in terms of social justice with the goals of inclusion and societal change in mind, the present schooling structure, established expectations and strategies chosen for initiatives often hinder the realization of such a role. Schools also seem to avoid local controversial issues by encouraging student leaders to focus on international concerns. This study explores opportunities for schools to address equity issues through reconceptualizing student leadership and its goals.

This thesis explores the connections between dialogue, education and democracy. It begins by asking: ‘what are the implications of dialogic theory for democratic education’? In doing so it draws on concepts from the work of Arendt, Biesta, Dewey and Wegerif: dialogic space as a productive metaphor for education; an ontology of difference in which meaning emerges through dialogue; and authentic democratic action as ‘coming into being’ in negotiation with others. It then asks, ‘Can we teach for democracy?’ by looking at recent practices of citizenship education in Britain. It argues that genuine democratic education must consider students as already being citizens rather than as citizens-in-training, and must offer them opportunities to express their values in action. A theory of ‘responsible leadership’, based on a ‘pedagogy of challenge’, is proposed as a means to enable students to develop the skills and dispositions needed for democratic participation. Short courses in leadership education for teenagers are identified as sites to test this theory. Two empirical studies are detailed, which use a longitudinal case-study approach primarily based on student interviews. The first was a two-day school-based course for academically able 13-18 year olds; the second was a five-day outdoor residential course for 16-18 year olds. Both studies found significant development in students’ skills and dispositions for learning, including: openness to others’ ideas, confidence, greater self-knowledge and better communication skills. In both cases, students’ personal dispositions and insights endured. However, lack of opportunities for democratic action after the courses meant that learned collaborative skills were not strongly embedded; this also meant that ‘responsible leadership’ was not often demonstrated subsequently. Nonetheless, the studies present strong evidence for the transformative power of a pedagogy of challenge, which demands further research.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Twomey / As our world continues to evolve as a global community, schools must prepare students to live, work, and thrive in a diverse society. Teaching the acceptance of diversity to our students is a significant step in building a safe and peaceful culture within our school communities. Teaching the acceptance of diversity to a generation of young people is a significant step in building a peaceful world. This qualitative case study examined an anti-bias education initiative that empowered students to become leaders and activists in their high school. The findings of this study revealed that the diversity education initiative did not have an immediate impact on school culture, but the students who took active leadership roles encountered a transformational experience. The student leaders demonstrated substantial growth in the skills and understandings essential to anti-bias activism. Significant to this development was heightened awareness of discriminatory language and behavior, a more comprehensive view of diversity and its role in community, and the ability to engage peers in dialogue about challenging diversity topics. In a dialogic exploration of individual differences, student leaders discovered the commonality that connects all humanity. This insight led them to affirm individual identity, to conceptualize the richness that diversity adds to community, and ultimately to embrace diversity as fundamental to community. The findings of this study point to the incremental nature of school culture change and the need to institutionalize a diversity education/student leader effort as a long-term initiative in order to achieve substantive school improvement. The findings compel educators to provide leadership opportunities for students, cultivating their ability to become productive citizen-leaders in an increasingly global community. This is the subject matter of their lives, an authentic curriculum that activates their knowledge, their ability, and their responsibility to transform their world (Starratt, 2008). This dissertation captures the lived experiences of a group of students who led this diversity education initiative, and how their reflections inform educational policy, practice, and leadership. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration.

This explorative study offers much needed perspective on students' role and development as instructional leaders (Halverson & Clifford, 2013) through answering the following questions: (a) How can students be involved in distributions of instructional leadership in a studio learning environment; (b) What is the value of their contribution; and (c) What patterns of distributed instructional leadership (DIL) facilitate student involvement? I chose an animation studio at a large western university for the setting, on account of its collective-leadership structure involving students. I randomly sampled a pre-recorded data set of participants' studio interactions and participant interviews to use for the study; participants involved students, faculty, and industry mentors involved in studio productions during qualitative data collection of studio interactions.My method of data analysis involved pairing the DIL framework with additional approaches, per analysis focus: An ethnographic approach (Merriam, 2002) for a birds-eye overview of the setting influencing studio interactions, Interaction analysis (Jordan & Henderson, 1995) for in-depth exploration of studio interactions, and Spradley's (1980) recommendations for qualitative analysis ensuring trustworthiness of codes and themes.The study's findings answered each of the three exploratory questions, revealing that students voluntarily took ownership for their learning, and engaged in an instructional leadership capacity over support for their needs and interests. They were valuable in negotiating mutually beneficial compromises as contributed to member capacity and organizational development in academia and industry. Studio leadership and policies facilitated students' interdependent development as instructional leaders through providing guided autonomy in their supportive and formal roles in the studio. More specifically, the studio's deliberate focus on students' development of leadership virtues shaped students' experience and approach toward interpersonal and technical problem solving as contributed to studio production and overall development.Pairing the DIL framework with additional methods per analysis focus was a useful approach in exploring in exploring the study questions. Future research should replicate the study in different contexts to add perspective to the questions asked. It should also assess the verity of patterns DIL that this study delineates as contributing to individual and organizational capacity, and school development.

The current study assessed the convergent validity of the Situational Assessment of Leadership – Student Assessment (SALSA©), a situational judgment test (SJT), with multi-source ratings. The SALSA© was administered to MBA and Ed.D. in Educational Leadership students via Blackboard; multi-source ratings, which paralleled the leadership dimensions of the SALSA©, were administered online. Each student completed the SALSA© and was rated by his or her supervisor, 3-5 peers, 1-5 subordinates, and him/herself. SALSA© scores were not correlated with any of the corresponding dimensions on multi-source ratings. This finding may suggest that the multi-source ratings and SALSA© are not measuring the same leadership construct; or these results may be due to low variance in SALSA scores and low variance in the ratings. Self ratings were not significantly higher than other ratings, with three exceptions. Also, no difference was found between SALSA scores for MBA and Ed.D. students. This study was limited by the small sample size.

This study explored the implementation of Image Theatre as a means to developing systems thinking in a co-curricular student leadership development program at the University of Victoria. The research question asked: In what ways does the implementation of an arts-based pedagogical approach, such as Image Theatre, illustrate the potentiality for undergraduate students to better understand ‘the bigger picture’ and the interconnections of their intersecting social systems? This inquiry was conducted through an arts-based methodology and used the Social Change Model of Leadership Development (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996) as a theoretical framework for designing the student leadership program. The study was conducted during a workshop in which Image Theatre and graphic recording were used in parallel to trace connections among the characters portrayed by six undergraduate students interested in environmental sustainability. The themes that emerged included the tensions of individuals ‘caught in the middle’, or system’s integrators, and the role of activism. The study’s findings suggest students’ understanding of systems as fragmented units and identifies the potentiality for further research and intentional practice emphasizing the interconnections and relationships among systems within the curriculum. / Graduate / 0745 / 0727 / 0516 / vcortes@uvic.ca

This qualitative study investigates how the views of student leaders (and some of their staff advisors) illuminate the discussion in the broader literature around issues of student leadership, conflict, diversity and social justice in secondary schools. Eighteen one-hour, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve student leaders and six teachers from six provinces across Canada. This study contributes to educational research by considering the ways student leaders (rather than adult administrators) can impact social justice. While students envision their leadership role in terms of social justice with the goals of inclusion and societal change in mind, the present schooling structure, established expectations and strategies chosen for initiatives often hinder the realization of such a role. Schools also seem to avoid local controversial issues by encouraging student leaders to focus on international concerns. This study explores opportunities for schools to address equity issues through reconceptualizing student leadership and its goals.

Leadership is a fundamental function in all organizations and societies; It is the act that makes others get missions completed. However, to lead is a difficult act to master and those who lead professionally seem to have one thing in common: they have experience in the field of leadership. Based on earlier understandings and research, the authors have recognized the importance and motivation of student leadership; Individuals who enter in a leadership act from a young age. It is a time of period where the learning and development of leadership is recognized. Student leadership is therefore an arena for young individuals to develop their leadership skills and attributes, make mistakes and learn from them. It is considered essential to acknowledge this kind of leadership is not related to what kind of educational programs these individuals receive in their own studies, instead the focus in this thesis is leadership outside the university programs. The purpose of this study is to acknowledge the qualities and experiences young individuals receive by actively being involved in a leadership role. The analysis chapter discussed the theories of traditional leadership and modern leadership in accordance with the meaning of student leadership and compared them with empirical findings from 5 different respondents that were included in the term of Student leadership. An interview with an international corporation was conducted as well in order to receive another perspective and the need for student leadership. Valuable information regarding student leadership has been concluded by using a qualitative research method where students in a leadership position were interviewed and by using a deductive approach. In conclusion, essential attributes of student leadership include high confidence in social media, high rate of relational bonds and an international model of leading. The practical implications of this study recognize the importance of a development stage that exists in the role as a student leader; for both individuals that are set to enter an international corporation and the society.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The study of student politics in Africa has evolved in the last decade from a focus on non-institutionalised student activism and student movements to institutionalised student political participation in institutions of higher education. Thus it followed a development route in which student leadership had to find new ways in which to organise their movements in institutional, national and continental political organisations to influence policy and remain relevant in students’ lives. Since this study focuses on one particular dimension of this change, the study seeks to understand the relationship between student leaders in Makerere University, Kampala, and political parties in Uganda. The specific focus of the study is on highlighting the reasons for establishing and maintaining the relationship; the arrangements necessary for the relationship to exist, and how the relationship impacts on the ability of student leaders to represent students’ interests. Following an analysis of the relevant literature in line with the topic, it was decided that a mixed methods approach would be suitable for the study. Hence in-depth interviews were conducted with student leaders and leaders of national political parties and an online survey targeting all undergraduate students at Makerere University was done (as part of a larger study). Theoretically, the study adopted a framework originally proposed by Schmitter and Streeck (1999), and adapted it to study the relationship between student leaders and political parties, drawing also on the insights of studies that had previously used adaptations of the same framework to study student leadership in other contexts. The study found a continuing historical relationship between student leaders of Makerere University and political parties in Uganda. It found that a significant number of students are members of a political party, whereby student leaders are most likely not only to be ordinary party members, but party leaders. Political parties use the student guild elections to recruit new members. As part of being members of a political party, student leaders tend to be more influential in weak political parties, in contrast to a ruling party which is more influential in student politics given its ability to provide access to government resources. Moreover, the relationship is such that student leaders from Makerere University are most likely to end up in powerful political positions in the country (e.g. Byaruhanga, 2006; Mugume and Katusiimeh, 2014); this situation corresponds to the reasons that student leaders give for establishing relationships with political parties in the first place, as most student leaders have future political ambitions. The most influential organisations in student politics appear to be political parties, followed by cultural groups on campus. The study also highlights weaknesses in formal institutional governance structures given that student leaders believe their problems are better addressed in personal networks with members of university management staff than through the committee system. The relationship between student leaders and political parties generally leads to positive developments such as student leadership training in democratic politics; consequently they are even able to satisfy their personal interests in the process. It is further argued that students who are not in leadership positions mostly gain indirectly from the benefits that student leaders may derive from their relationship with political parties. For example, student leaders may govern their organisation better. However the evidence also strongly shows that such indirect gains are highly compromised in cases where student leaders have future political ambitions, as they may sacrifice the students’ interests in order to maintain their good reputation in the party. Since most student leaders aspire to be politicians in future, the study concludes by acknowledging that the relationship between student leaders and political parties has some positive consequences to students not involved in leadership, but they are outweighed by negative consequences. Hence it is argued in the conclusion that, taking into account the scope of this study, the relationship is largely a distraction to the student leaders rather than assisting them in enhancing their ability to represent students’ concerns.