Course Catalogue

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This course will focus on: leadership styles and their appropriateness; the application of emotional intelligence; cohering an effective team; stages of team formation; the implementation dip and considering conflict and its resolution. These issues will be considered in the context of the students analysing their capacity and impact as leaders at various scales in their career.

Two hours twilight (with a pre-recorded resource supplied one week in advance of each session) session normally taking place on a Tuesday evening for six consecutive weeks

As published: https://www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/childhoodpractice/

NA

Professional Values for leadership in Childhood Practice

Leading in integrated children's services

Students will:

1. In pairs, create an academic poster selecting one leadership style. Students will explain characteristics of the chosen leadership style (e.g. advantages and disadvantages) through their reading, using that to explain how and why that style of leadership would be appropriate for a childhood practice scenario. Part of the poster contents should analyse why one other leadership style would not be appropriate to that situation.

Posters must be formatted in A1 size (594mm x 841mm) and saved as a PDF file. Posters must be created using a desktop publishing app (e.g. MS Publisher, MS PowerPoint) which are available to you as part of your student MS Office resource.

Between 1,100-1,300 words should be utilised. In addition, other elements such as tables, diagrams, charts, etc should be used as appropriate: the word count for those aspects will not need to be. Both student numbers should be clearly indicated on the poster.

A reference list should be included at the bottom of the poster formatted according to Harvard protocols. (50% weighting)

An alternative assessment will be provided where it is not possible for a participant to work in a pair due to extenuating circumstances, such as ill health.

2. Individually, author an essay discussing a leadership strength and a leadership development need (arising from their analysis of the '360 degree exercise' feedback). Focusing on how they could develop their leadership style/s as a result of that analysis, students will critically examine how developing their leadership style/s could result in improved outcomes for their practice and leadership capacity.

The analysis of the feedback must utilise the 'Collation of Responses' tables (available on Moodle) along with two associated 'typical' sample comments for parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the '360 degree exercise'.

The essay should be 1500 words, +/- 10% (50% weighting)

The course aims to:

■ develop knowledge and understanding of leadership theory and practice as it applies to Childhood Practice settings

■ engage learners in critically reflective learning by evaluating and analysing their leadership impact and capacity (including for progress in leadership attributes and understanding) in professional contexts

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ discuss a range of leadership styles and their relevance to the student's Childhood Practice experiences

■ analyse feedback they receive as part of a '360° exercise' highlighting one strength and one development need relating that to consideration of their leadership style/s

■ build upon their analysis to explain why or why not they need to change their leadership style/s and the potential resultant improved outcomes

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.