Developing Leadership for Sustainability: action research as education

1. Developing Leadership for Sustainability: action research as education Conference: Action Research to promote the social stewardship of Ecosystem Services University of Bath, UK, 19 February 2009 Judi Marshall Professor of Leadership & Learning Lancaster University Management School, UK

2. This presentation is dedicated to the River Dart & its surrounding woodland (Devon, UK) Pictures are courtesy of members of the MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice (Univ of Bath) network, who, with tutors, have ‘walked’ the river on their deep ecology workshops Where do you hold dear? What & who do you answer to?

4. Action research as a ground of education Because educational form is part of ‘the problem’ ‘The crisis we face is first and foremost one of mind, perceptions, and values; hence, it is a challenge to those institutions presuming to shape minds, perceptions and values. It is an educational challenge. More of the same kind of education can only make things worse.’ David Orr, Earth in mind, 1994, p.27

5. Action Research because: • Educational form can then match content -promoting ‘experiential learning’ • Practice can be developed alongside understanding • Education can become radically participative • Action research can become a discipline for living in challenging times – inquiring, acting & being

6. Examples: MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice, currently University of Bath – but on the move www.bath.ac.uk/carpp/msc 1st intake 1997 – now 257 graduates & course participants MA in Leadership for Sustainability www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/L4S Lancaster University Management School 1st intake May 2009

7. Action research fundamentally influencing: • Course design – eg openness of some aspects of ‘curriculum’; Qing purposes • How topics covered – eg mapping, Qing, review • Educational philosophy & processes - incorporating a pervasive spirit of inquiry - & developing practices • Learning objectives & formats – eg structuring in cycles of action & reflection • Assessment formats & criteria – course as learning journey, quality criteria include inquiry & practice • Course management: eg tutors & participants mutually manage significant aspects of course process & content • Tutors’ conduct

8. Seeking to create radical educational spaces that: Are: Question-posing Critical Reflective Participative Values-aware Applied Can become liberating structures in Torbert’s terms (1991) with inherent paradoxical qualities ‘that cultivate empowerment through development’ (p.98) Have to be lived anew by tutors & course participants each day

9. MSc in Responsibility & Business PracticeDeep Ecology workshop

10. Fitting into nature, living in context – embodied knowing Along the River Dart, clambering four-limbed over mossy slippery boulders under low hanging tree branches round thorny bushes at the water’s edge well stretched & tired from the day one slip would take me into the strong current I experience fitting into nature, & move differently afterwards One image of a future form of leadership

11. Thank you for your attention