Evaluating leadership, wellbeing, and belonging in students over teaching periods

Development of student behaviours is an important component of creating the conditions for students ready to engage with their post-university personal and professional life; particularly student leadership (Dempster & Lizzio, 2007). This project takes the theories of authentic leadership (Crawford et al., 2019), wellbeing (Tennant et al., 2007), engagement (Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006), and belonging (Arslan & Duru, 2017) and seeks to test changes in students’ behaviours or sense of wellbeing over time.

Students enrolled in term three 2019 within the University College’s Associate Degree in Applied Business were invited to participate in a two-stage survey. Four units of study across first and second years of the Applied Business course were chosen. All four units have cohorts located on Cradle Coast, Newnham and Sandy Bay campuses. Students received an initial survey at the start of term and were asked to complete a second at the end of term. This survey assessment tool was developed using best practice in scale development (Crawford & Kelder, 2019).

The two-phase survey aimed to shed light on the pedagogical approaches and teaching structures across the Applied Business course that lead to leadership development and contribute to positive student mental health and sense of belonging within the cohort. This initial survey series tested if changes can be detected across a short study period. In the mid-to-longer term, the results aim to identify opportunities to improve curriculum based on evidence of what pedagogies or approaches work most effectively to develop leadership, wellbeing and belonging.

The implication of the research is an ability to measure the propensity for teaching staff to use pedagogical approaches that facilitate positive authentic leadership development among other positive individual-level outcomes.