Introduction to Leadership
Welcome to the learning object on leadership. This learning object is in two parts. The first part begins with the question: what is leadership for learning? We then begin a gentle exploration of the concept of leadership through an interactive game: Leadership or Management – Spot the Difference! Along the way there are plenty of activities to prompt individual reflection and make links to practice. A major outcome of the first part is to help you develop your own vision of practice learning tailored to your own role and practice context. We’ll finish by looking at the role of people who use services and carers in practice learning as citizen leaders. This first part of the learning object will be particularly relevant for those studying at Level 7 and Level 9 of the Award.
The second part of the learning object takes us into more theoretical terrain. First we take a tour of some of the major strands in leadership theory, providing prompts to aid reflection and analysis and make links to practice. A generally positive view of leadership is presented in this learning object, one that sees in leadership a real opportunity to transform social services for the better – for people who use services, carers and staff at all levels and roles. The learning object ends, however, with an opportunity to consider some critical texts on leadership which should help you develop your own perspective on the topic. Again, the various activities allow you to develop your own ideas and compare these to the view of leadership presented here. This second part of the learning object will be particularly relevant for those studying at Level 10 and Level 11 of the Award.
Author and Copyright
© 2009 Scottish Social Services Council. This material was written for the SSSC by Neil Henery. This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 UK : Scotland License. This means you are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work; and to make derivative works on condition that you credit SSSC and do not use the work for commercial purposes. For full details of the licence please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/scotland/