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EDLE407 to EDLE639

 

EDLE407 Leadership for Organisational Cultural Change                                                                    10 cp

 

This unit examines the nature and characteristics of the organisation’s culture and the challenges of encouraging, implementing and sustaining change in entrenched cultures in a changing world. This unit begins with an account of the forces for change that operate today in the wider global context and considers the influence of these forces on organisational culture. The dynamics of change are analysed and strategies to initiate modification to the organisation’s culture explored. The links between learning and change are identified and the notion of learning and change partnerships are explored. There will be opportunities to critique various models of change in the light of Catholic social teaching and Christian social principles.

 

EDLE408 Values, Cultures and Organisations                                                                                      10 cp

 

This unit focuses upon making sense of organisations in today’s world. The unit starts by looking at the social, economic and interpersonal changes of society and draws on developments in organisational theory to explain the emergence of new organisations. Here it is argued that this current period of sharp, discontinuous change requires a new paradigm of leadership and new organisational configurations. This unit offers an opportunity to critique emergent theories of organisation and leadership in the light of Catholic social teaching and Christian social principles. There is also an opportunity for participants to develop a personal theory of organisation that promotes human development for the common good within a specific organisational setting.

 

EDLE409 Personal and Professional Integrity and Authenticity                                                            10 cp

 

This unit focuses on a number of issues related to personal and professional integrity and authenticity. From a psychological view this unit explores the link between the deeper Self, motives, values, attitudes and authentic action in the world. It identifies personal integration as a primary goal of human development and authentic action. Discussion within this unit is situated within a framework of Christian spirituality and ethics and probes questions and dilemmas of good and evil, personal values and communal values, and authority versus conscience. This unit provides an opportunity for participants to begin a journey of self-discovery and to reflect on personal agendas in the workplace. Participants will be encouraged to develop action plans to promote personal and professional integrity and authenticity.

 

EDLE410 Promoting Professional Organisational Cultures                                                                   10 cp

 

This unit is designed to emphasise the critical role of leadership in supporting professionalism and the promoting professional development. The unit explores the twin concepts of professionalism and professional development and identifies the structures and strategies that create professional organisational cultures. In particular, it emphasises values-based human resource practices that assist professionals to articulate what constitutes good professional practice and contributes to the common good. There is an opportunity for participants to consider the issue of professional organisational cultures in the light of Catholic social teaching and Christian social principles. There will also be an opportunity for participants to identify structures and strategies for the promotion of professional development in their work situation.

 

EDLE601 Human Resource Management and Development                                                                10 cp

 

This unit is designed to help students develop and customise a human resource management and development (HRMD) system for their school or system. This unit encourages students to understand HRMD in the context of Catholic school and system as well as recognise the influence of the wider environment. Students are also introduced to emergent theories of HRMD and to contemporary theology and Catholic social teaching. This unit will also help students to devise strategies and actions to ensure the effective implementation of their human resource management and development policies. Significant dimensions of human resource management and development, including human resource planning, professional learning, career development, performance management and industrial relations, will be explored.

 

EDLE605 Leading Educational Change                                                                                                10 cp

 

Leaders in schools and educational systems are faced with the challenge of operating in a rapidly changing world. Economic globalisation, rapid technological advances and society’s increased expectations of education have replaced past certainties with new and uncertain frameworks. Dynamic change has become the order of the day. Within this context, educational leaders need to understand the forces for change operating at three different levels, namely; within the wider global environment; within the school and education systems; and within individuals. Theological perspectives on change may also assist educational leaders to situate their work within the Creation Story and the call for Christians to participate in God’s continuous creation. Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on and analyse change in schools and educational systems using a number of different models and frameworks for planning, implementing and evaluating change processes and outcomes. These change perspectives will be used to assist leaders in Catholic systems and schools manage change in ways that are meaningful, ethical, compassionate and productive.

 

EDLE608 Perspectives on Educational Leadership                                                                              10 cp

 

Participants examine perspectives and theories of leadership in general and specifically in Catholic educational institutions. The challenge of leading in an administrative, teaching/learning, pastoral, cultural and symbolic context is addressed. Various approaches to leadership as a visionary, transforming, ethical and yet administrative and managerial pursuit are investigated. Participants will analyse personal perspectives of leadership and education in general and in particular challenges facing their specific educational context.

 

EDLE609 Policy Formation and Analysis                                                                                               10 cp

Students in this unit investigate the nature, principles and processes of educational policy formation and analysis at macro and micro levels. Models of ethical policy formation are analysed. The characteristics of ‘good’ policy statements and effective processes of policy development are demonstrated. Strategies for influencing policy development at various levels of social systems and the role of politics and power in leader group relations are discussed. These are all considered within the context of a Catholic educational system.

 

EDLE612 The Context of Catholic Educational Leadership                                                                  10 cp

 

This unit analyses the social, cultural, educational and ecclesial context in which Catholic educational leadership must function. The unit builds upon the participants’ existing educational, philosophical and theological perspectives of Catholic education and helps them to reflect upon and clarify their responses to challenges facing a post–Vatican and post-modern Church. The implications of these challenges for those involved in giving leadership to them in educational ministry will link this unit to other areas of study in the program.

 

EDLE619 Educational Administration: Study and Application                                                              10 cp

 

This unit provides an introduction to educational administration as a field of specialised study. It examines traditional as well as emerging paradigms in the study of educational administration, with specific emphasis on the theoretical and conceptual constraints important for understanding administration of Catholic educational learning environments. The unit will help students develop a critical awareness of the values underlying various approaches to the study of administration in learning environments. Students will be challenged to reflect on their own administrative practice in the light of relevant research findings in the literature with a view to improving their practice.

 

EDLE620 Values and Ethics for Leadership                                                                                          10 cp

 

The transmission of values and ethics to the next generation is one of the important leadership tasks. In a cultural environment, which is experiencing radical change, the task of passing on life enhancing values and ethical practices is more formidable than in relatively stable societies. This unit offers an opportunity to consider the question of Christian values and ethics and their application in Catholic education. After exploring the meaning of Christian values and ethics, students will be given an opportunity to develop leadership strategies to nurture Christian values and ethics to these leadership practices.

 

EDLE622 Theory and Practice of Educational Administration and Leadership                                    10 cp

 

This unit presents student with the opportunity to examine, critique and apply the basic concepts of organizational and leadership theory to specific educational contexts. Emphasis will be placed on understanding administrative structure and the functions and processes of leadership and administration within educational organizations both inside and outside Pakistan.

 

EDLE623 Leading the Caring Community                                                                                            10 cp

 

This unit examines the role of the leader in developing a quality of care in the Catholic school community. A leader’s vision and skills will be an empowering influence in shaping the direction and culture of the school community. Themes in this unit will include a study of models of community, a vision of authentic community, pastoral care in the community and how leaders may animate the members of the school community through cooperative and participative endeavours to develop the school as a vital community.

 

EDLE628 Educational Planning for Change and Development                                                            10 cp

 

In this unit attention is given to current views on education, its meaning and importance along with the role it plays and the impact it has on the social development of a country and its citizens. Theories, classifications and indicators of development, its meaning and importance are considered along with the impact developmental processes have on individuals within their social, economic, political and ethical milieux. The relationships that exist between planning, change, development and education and their overall impact on sustainable human development and change in the society are also considered along with the forces working against such efforts for change.

 

EDLE630 Project B                                                                                                                               10 cp

 

This unit offers the chance to undertake a practical independent study of an area of contemporary concern in the field of educational leadership. Students in the project, work under the supervision of a school member.

 

EDLE631 Professionals as Educational Leaders                                                                                   10 cp

 

This unit has been designed to give students an understanding and skills for leading a Catholic organisation with learning as its focus. Professional leadership in organisations is a process whereby the talents and creativity of individual professionals are cultivated and is demonstrated in the peculiar dynamic of official leaders becoming followers and followers becoming leaders. The unit incorporates personal profiling for leadership including participant’s attitudes, style and attributes; the identification and articulation of their personal educational platforms for the empowerment of groups and teams of learners; and career path development using mentoring, networking and reflective practice to gain a realistic image of themselves as educational leaders.

 

EDLE632 Leadership Spirituality                                                                                                          10 cp

 

This unit is a core unit in the Master of Educational Leadership and the Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Leadership. This unit investigates the relationship of spirituality to leadership within the faith-community of the school in Australia.

 

EDLE633 Leading Authentic Learning                                                                                                  10 cp

 

This unit acknowledges the challenge facing educational leaders as they try to support authentic learning in the midst of state-mandated school curriculum reform and administrative restructuring. This unit explores the nature of authentic learning and focuses on the ethical and moral dimensions of leadership that support this understanding of learning. This unit assumes that authentic learning involves moving beyond the assumptions of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery and performance of learning to an understanding of learning as essentially a moral activity that integrates human, economic and civic concerns. Similarly, leadership for authentic learning needs to move beyond notions of efficiency and effectiveness to include a commitment to ethical leadership in order to meet the moral imperatives in the learning situation.

 

EDLE634 Employment Relations and the Legal and Economic Context in Education                          10 cp

 

This unit has two strands. The legal strand provides students with a working knowledge of law as it affects education. It will give students an opportunity to apply basic legal principles to practical situations in schools and systems. Sources of law will be examined by studying relevant aspects of common law [e.g. torts law] and statute law [e.g. anti-discrimination legislation and child protection legislation.

The employment relations strand deals with matters relating to the employment of staff in education, for example enterprise bargaining and agreements. It also seeks to develop some of the skills necessary to effect harmonious employment relations.

 

EDLE635 Authentic Leadership                                                                                                            10 cp

 

This unit will nurture the understanding of the participants on leadership in general and its presence in education. It will lead to the identification, development and articulation of their personal approach to leadership through reflection on various inter-related dynamics that contribute to a sophisticated understanding of leadership. This unit sets the scene for the study of leadership in schools, focusing on leadership as a relational, spiritual and value-based community experience and will cause participants to analyse the importance of their understandings in the context of the challenges facing school leadership. Where appropriate, leadership and its understanding in education settings (eg Catholic school) will be addressed.

 

EDLE636 Leading the Catholic School                                                                                                 10 cp

 

This unit acknowledges that the Catholic school operates within a wider context of radical social change leading to uncertainty, ambiguity and paradox within all aspects of public and private life. This unit also acknowledges that the Catholic school also exists as a result of an historical coalition of Church and government. As a consequence, Catholic schools have cultures that are in some respects similar to state or publicly provided education while remaining distinctive as faith-based institutions. This positioning of the Catholic schools between the secular and the sacred in the context of societal change represents an interesting paradox and challenges for leaders in Catholic schools. Consequently, leaders in contemporary Catholic schools need frames of reference that can help them to understand and manage a changing situation.

 

EDLE637 Shared Leadership                                                                                                                10 cp

 

Current approaches to leadership suggest that developing shared and collaborative leadership structures and practices enhances the quality of leadership within educational organizations. This unit focuses on those aspects of leadership which are implied in the use of such terms as shared leadership, parallel leadership, teacher leadership, collaborative leadership and team leadership. The unit also addresses issues associated with the development of leadership capabilities amongst all members of the school community and suggests that the development of a culture of leadership within the school is a necessary component of school improvement and leadership succession-planning. There will be a particular focus on effective leadership through teams, shared decision-making and responsibility, and the development of leadership density within the school community. Participants will explore the values involved in nurturing effective relationships, including care, compassion, respect, justice and inclusivity. An awareness and understanding of the ethical dimensions of interrelationships within the school community is also included. The importance of developing personal and organizational capabilities in such areas as emotional intelligence, team development, conflict management, effective communication and negotiation is also addressed.

 

EDLE638 Faith Leadership                                                                                                                   10 cp

 

Faith leadership focuses on sharing the Catholic faith with the intention of influencing and enriching the lives of students, staff and other members of the school community. This dimension of leadership provides educational opportunities for members of the school community to encounter the Catholic faith, to experience its gift and to enhance life decisions in response to it. Guided by faith, hope and love, faith leaders support a community of life and worship though which to recognise, to accept and to cooperate with the mysterious action of God in our lives (A framework for leadership in Queensland Catholic schools, 2004, p. 23).

This unit investigates the relevance of faith and the contested concept of the Catholic school as a faith community in post-modern, multicultural Australia. The challenges of exercising faith leadership at every level within the school will be explored. Current literature, scripture, theology and Church documents will inform this study.

 

EDLE639 Educational Leadership and Responsible Governance                                                         10 cp

 

This unit has been designed to give participants an understanding of the issues concerning leadership and governance in contemporary educational contexts. These issues are especially important at a time when Catholic education authorities are exploring appropriate forms of governance which will ensure school policies and practices are congruent with the educational mission of the Church in a context of increasing social, ethical, legal, and financial complexity. The concepts of governance and leadership are considered from both Church and civil law perspectives, and their practical application in a variety of educational contexts is explored. Responsibilities for good governance, leadership and management are distributed throughout the Catholic school community so this unit also addresses the related responsibilities of bishops, religious congregations, Diocesan authorities, parish priests and canonical administrators, governing councils, principals, school boards and school communities.