Reflections on enabling transformative educational change

This article is the outcome of a HEDG (Heads of Educational Development) initiated collaborative writing group. We came together to critically reflect on our practices in leading educational change across our universities. We share values of leading change through facilitating collaborative learning in inclusive communities-of-practice, rather than through top-down management of change. We found Pleschová et al (2021) valuable as a point of reflection about our approaches to leading change. However, Pleschová et al focus primarily on promoting small-scale change between individuals. We wanted to test these ideas when applied to leading faculty and institution-wide change initiatives – could they still be applied? Did they need to be adapted? What other frameworks were needed? Pleschová et al identify five key elements that are necessary for conversations that lead to meaningful change: cross-disciplinary participation, trustful relationships, conducive spaces, co-construction practices, and caring attitudes. We identified case studies that would enable us to reflect on the elements that were most relevant to our experiences leading change in our different institutions, highlighting the way our case studies shed new light on the framework, as well as its limitations in articulating our approaches to leading institutional change.